All references for written material must include the author, the year it was written or published, and the title. If the reference is in a magazine or a book with more than one article, the name of the book or magazine also needs to be included.

Internet sources are notoriously unreliable. If the reference is from a web site, the owner of the website and the web address needs to be included. Include the author’s name if it is listed. Include a date for each internet reference. The date may be the year the article was written, the last day the web site was updated, or the student may need to ask the site owner for a date for when the information on the web site was written. If the student cannot find this information about the reference, it is probably not reliable.

One of the references can be a local expert interviewed by the student(s). The person’s name, job title, and company must be listed. Some indication of when the contact occurred, such as the month and year, should also be included.

Examples:

Web site:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1999, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program: accessed August 27, 1999, at URL http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/tmdl/intro.html .

Book:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000, Ambient water quality criteria recommendations, rivers and streams in nutrient ecoregion VI: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Report 822/B-00-017, 28 p.

Magazine article:
Clark, G.M., Mueller, D.K., and Mast, M.A., 2000, Nutrient concentrations and yields in undeveloped stream basins of the United States: Journal of the American Water Resources Association, v. 36, no. 4, p. 849-860.

Book article:
Hirsch, R.M., Helsel, D.R., Cohn, T.A., and Gilroy, E.J., 1993, Statistical analysis of hydrologic data, in Maidment, D.R., ed., Handbook of hydrology: New York, McGraw-Hill, Inc., p. 17.1-17.55.

Local expert:
Boese, R., 2003, Personal communication on March 15, 2003 with Ms. Boese, Groundwater Program Coordinator, Spokane County Water Quality Management Program.

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