Citing Kindle text in formal papers

[cheyanne040277]

I have purchased text books and other references on my Kindle but I do not know what the proper citation in a formal paper would be? Does anyone know how to cite from Kindle?

[weatherman]

Well this is a problem. Kindle has its own pagination system that I haven't quite figured out (lines? between CR?) but in any case it would change somewhat depending on what font size you are using. I doubt citing kindle works would be permissible in an academic setting, so you're probably better off using the "look inside" feature to look up the print version and citing that.

That said, the Kindle version is like any other edition and ultimately it may be acceptable to cite it. My initial thought is that you would cite the pagination range displayed at the bottom of the particular page under the "standard" font.

[pilotbob]

Actually, the Kindle would be very easy to cite from... just Location X - Y.

Of course, Kindle isn't readily available in a reference library. So, I don't quite know how this would go over in Academia.

BOb

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by weatherman

That said, the Kindle version is like any other edition and ultimately it may be acceptable to cite it. My initial thought is that you would cite the pagination range displayed at the bottom of the particular page under the "standard" font.

What you are referring to is the location. It doesn't change with the text size. A location x is a fixed distance from the beginning of the file.

Originally Posted by cheyanne040277

I have purchased text books and other references on my Kindle but I do not know what the proper citation in a formal paper would be? Does anyone know how to cite from Kindle?

I would use one of the standard citation styles and replace the page number with:

Kindle Edition x(location number)

[cheyanne040277]

I'm not sure what you mean by the "look inside" feature?

[Slow_hand]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

.

Of course, Kindle isn't readily available in a reference library.

BOb

Mine is. (I work in one). When I got there, I worked in a section with a Librarian who had one also. She has since left, and I think I am the only one there with a Kindle. Everybody is curious of course, but unfortunately (nearly) all of our electronic material is in PDF form.

[sirbruce]

There's no standard yet. You should bring it up with your professor or whomever you're submitting a paper to to agree upon a format.

[DixieGal]

If it were me, I might do something like:

Alcott, Louisa May. "Little Women." Publisher name and city. Latest copyright renewal date. Kindle version, chapter ______, subheading ________, 4th paragraph.

If I were grading you, I'd let that pass. The whole point of references is to make it easy for someone to find that material. As long as I could reasonably find that reference in a pbook, then shoot, I'd give it a gold star!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by weatherman

Well this is a problem. Kindle has its own pagination system that I haven't quite figured out (lines? between CR?) but in any case it would change somewhat depending on what font size you are using. I doubt citing kindle works would be permissible in an academic setting, so you're probably better off using the "look inside" feature to look up the print version and citing that.

That said, the Kindle version is like any other edition and ultimately it may be acceptable to cite it. My initial thought is that you would cite the pagination range displayed at the bottom of the particular page under the "standard" font.

It is easy to cite just using the location. The real problem is that the Kindle book is not just lika any other edition. I seriously doubt that they will issue a new variant of the book if they fix OCR problems or other problems. So the real problem with citing is to specify the exact edition so that people can find just that edition.

[S.Canton]

I can't comment on citing an ebook directly, but I just want to say that I find it incredibly interesting that a "problem" like this has arisen; this is something I would have *never* thought of. I'll be interested to see what else ebook technology ushers in.

[Nate the great]

Although citation of electronic sources has long been standardized, I hadn't thought of it either.

[Damætas]

Since online data changes, official citing of Internet data must include "date last accessed." Along with the location numbers, you would have to include the date of your last download or delivery via whispernet. I bet the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style includes a Kindle section.

[weatherman]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

What you are referring to is the location. It doesn't change with the text size. A location x is a fixed distance from the beginning of the file.

That's not really true. Depending on text size the numbers do change because they display either more or less of a range. The first number remains the same, but the last does not.

For example, I'm reading Mitchell Smith's Snowfall. Okay, that's not the most cite-worthy book, but it's what I happen to be reading. Anyway, I'm 35% of the way through at Chapter 9. Using the standard font the first page of chapter 9 number displays as 1260-1265. On the small font it displays as 1260-1269.

Citing the position of the quote or idea cited in a standard text would simply be using the page or the page range, but on the Kindle it's always going to be a range. So the cite would probably be the range displayed at the bottom of the Kindle, or from the beginning of the first section cited to the end of the last if the quote or idea covered multiple pages. So you can see that the range will change depending on the font being used, which will affect the citations.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by weatherman

That's not really true. Depending on text size the numbers do change because they display either more or less of a range. The first number remains the same, but the last does not.

For example, I'm reading Mitchell Smith's Snowfall. Okay, that's not the most cite-worthy book, but it's what I happen to be reading. Anyway, I'm 35% of the way through at Chapter 9. Using the standard font the first page of chapter 9 number displays as 1260-1265. On the small font it displays as 1260-1269.

The location isn't changing... you're just seeing more locations per "page" (screen). Location 1266 still points to the same spot.

[weatherman]

Originally Posted by cheyanne040277

I'm not sure what you mean by the "look inside" feature?

"Look Inside" is a feature that Amazon offers on some books - it allows you to search within the book and actually see the scanned page of the physical edition. On books for which this feature is available, you'll see a search box on the book's page.

For example, if I wanted to cite Rock, Scissors, Paper, and I'd been reading the Kindle version (which is not out yet, but for the sake of argument... ) I could just find the bit that I want to quote in the Kindle edition, then type a bit of the text into the search box. So the paragraph beginning with "This applies even when the social convention..." might be sections 206-212 on the Kindle version, by typing it into the Look Inside feature it shows that the print version is on page 30.

Here's the link directly to Look Inside for Rock, Paper, Scissors, just to give you an idea.

That's not going to work with every book, so the next step would be going to the library or bookstore to check cites.