Understanding a Search Result

The following is a sample search result for an article in an online journal:

• The first element is the title of the article, “How graphic novels … in children”
• The second element is the name of the author in inverted order (last name, first name)
• The third element is the source, in this case a journal called Literacy. More specifically, it is volume 47, issue 2, of the journal that was published in July 2013. When you cite a source like this, you must include some or possibly all of the information about the source, depending upon the requirements of the citation style that you are using in your paper (MLA, APA, Chicago).
• The fourth element is a brief excerpt from the content of the text, such as part of the abstract or a summary of what the article is about.
• The fifth element tells you the type of source, in this case a journal article that is available in full text online.
• If you have a More information element, it may show you more information about the resource, including page numbers, DOI (Digital Object Identifier—like a URL that is unique for this article, but more permanent), and keywords used to describe the content of the article.

The next sample search result  is for a book published in electronic format:

• The first element is the title of the book, including both the title proper, and following the colon, the subtitle of the book.
• The second element is a complete list of authors or creators displayed by last name, first name and middle initial, with individual creators separated by semi-colons. The presence of the More option indicates that one or more names are omitted from the display. (Note that it is unclear what roles these creators played. Are they editors, contributing editors, authors of a part of the book, or illustrators? Viewing the cover image or possibly the title page and table of contents may be necessary to clarify the roles of the named creators. It may not be necessary to name all of them depending on your chosen citation style.)
• The third element is the year of publication, 2013.
• The fourth element is a note about the book that in this case contains the beginnings of the list of contents, starting with part 1.
• The fifth element tells you the format i.e. this is an ebook that is available in full-text online.

In order to cite this work properly, you may need more information than what is shown. For example, the name of the publisher is required by most citation styles. If your search engine includes a citation tool, you may find suggested ways to cite this work. Remember that the suggested citation may contain errors and you should carefully verify the information that it provides.