Quick question about citation...
 

If I am talking about a known historic fact, in this case, the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 caused by Rosa Parks, where should I cite that from?

My profs say to use a scholarly source, but I'm having trouble finding one that just gives a historical account of the event.

I'm not really sure what to cite, or if I even really need to.

So I guess my bigger question is, where is the line drawn for stuff like this? I mean, its not like someone did a bunch of research to come up with this information, its historical fact.

I've never understood that about citing...help me please!

(APA format also, if that matters -_-)

I guess it depends on how in depth you go with the information. I would think Rosa Parks refusing to get up would be common knowledge, and therefore wouldn't need citation. If you directly quote her, or go into more detail, though, you'd need to cite.

In this case, maybe a book about the boycott, or a biography on Rosa Parks, depending on what angle you're taking.


hmmm...maybe an encyclopedia would work. Unbiased, and all that. All of my former English profs have seemed to have the idea (and I agree, at least for research papers) that an encyclopedia was a good starting point, but in no way should it be your primary source.

And sorry, I know nothing about APA format... I've always used MLA.

an encyclopedia works. Then there is always official websites. I say official because you should never quote wikipedia, or some personal website.

As for formatting citations, the easiest thing ever is installing the zotero plug in for firefox.

Zotero: The Next-Generation Research Tool

I don't know how helpful it would be in this case (I'm a science man, and this method works wonders for scientific topics), but if you're really desperate, look up the event on Wikipedia and take a look at whatever sources are cited in the article. Obviously, don't just steal citations, but rather try to find the sources, give them a read, then use them yourself if at all possible. This is my preferred method for finding just-in-case sources for things that are freaking obvious and/or common knowledge. (I once got points marked off because I didn't cite that the mammalian heart has 4 chambers. I've never been more insulted academically.)

an article contemporaneous to the event in a journal of record should do it too.

See if you can find the report in the NY Times.

Not that I'm advocating it, but if you know the day it happened, you can be fairly sure it was in the times that week, and fairly sure people wont look up your references, so if you were foolish enough to make the up, you'd not be found out in most cases, but on the downside it is accademic fraud.

Try this:
Wright, H. R: The Birth of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Charro Book Co.,Inc.,1991. ISBN 0-9629468-0-X

The other option would be to find an article that covers it on an online journal database such as JSTOR.org.

it really depends on the role the situation you're talking about plays in the paper.


typically, you do not need to cite if all you're doing is mentioning that such-and-such even happened in the world at this point in time.
citations are usually linked to interpretations of events or situations rather than to the events of situations themselves.
but if your paper is about rosa parks (say) and establishing the sequence of events around the bus actions in montgomery is a matter of some dispute--or if it's the analytic center of your paper, then you just cite the material that you're using to construct the narrative. you can usually do this at the end of a paragraph.

i've taught history at university for quite a while (tho not at the moment)--that's why im a bit confused about the question and what exactly you're asking about.

I have a related question: To what extent does your intended audience affect the need for citation? In the OP's example, would there be any difference in writing a paper for an African-American studies class taken in the U.S., as opposed to a general history class at a foreign university? (ignoring any differences in citation style.)