Webliographies

Webliographies provide a curated collection of freely available web sites and online tools in specific subject areas in science, technology, and related fields. Webliographies are substantially different than bibliographies in that they do not include specific literature (journal articles, books) on a given topic.

A webliography should be unique or substantially different from prior webliographies on the topic, and it should be of interest to science and technology librarians. It is strongly encouraged to confirm your webliography topic with the Webliography section editor.

If you wish your webliography to be peer-reviewed, please note that on your submission, and it will be processed accordingly. Otherwise, the Webliographies editor will consult on any changes necessary before submitting it for final publication.

The publication cycle is at the discretion of the Webliographies editor, and priority will be given to pre-approved topics.

Criteria for Webliography Submissions

Introduction - The introduction should include a broad overview and definition of the topic area, and why the webliography is important. The scope and the breadth of the webliography should be defined -- Is the webliography meant to be comprehensive or selective? Are there topics or other aspects that are excluded in the webliography? There also should be a methods section that addresses how the resources for the webliography were found, and the criteria for their selection.

Organization - Resources should be organized by sub-topic or format as appropriate. In the introduction, webliographies should include an index to the organizational structure used.

Resources and Annotations - Resource title should follow consistent formatting, followed by the resource URL; see example below. The resource should include a concise annotation that conveys the scope, coverage, quality, and special features of the resource. Annotations should be approximately 50-100 words, but the length will depend on the nature of the resource.

Title of Resource (Publishing Organization, if applicable)
http://url
Brief annotation of resource.

Length - The number of resources that adequately describe the topic will vary. The absolute number of resources profiled is not as important as whether the topic is well represented by the webliography. On the order of 50 resources may be sufficient, but many more or many less may be appropriate, depending on the topic.

References - Cited references (NOT annotated resources) should adhere to the APA (7th edition) format; see examples below.

ISTL uses the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition format for in-text citations and the reference list (not the paper formatting). See this guide from the APA Style Website or the APA Publication Manual for examples.

References should be cited in the text in the following form:

Smith (2002)
Smith (2002a, 2002b)
Smith (2002, 2005)
Smith and Jones (2005)
(Smith & Jones, 2008)
(Smith, 2009)
(Jones, 2008; Smith, 2005)
(Smith & Jones, 2008) for two authors
(Smith et al., 2010) for three or more authors
(Williams, n.d.) - for sources with no date (use in the end reference as well)
Note:
  • Inline references should come at the end of a sentence, before the period. Avoid repeating the same inline reference in one section of text.
  • Include DOIs (preferred) or URLs in the References list wherever possible.

At the end of the paper references should be listed alphabetically in the section entitled "References" in the following standard form, giving journal titles in full. Please italicize titles of books and journals. Include DOIs whenever possible.

Book:
McCormac, J. S., & Kennedy, G. (2004). Birds of Ohio. Lone Pine.

Book Chapter:
McDaniel, T. K., & Valdivia, R. H. (2005). New tools for virulence gene discovery. In Cossart, P. et al., (Eds). Cellular microbiology (2nd ed., 473-488). ASM Press.

Journal Articles (Print/Online with DOI):
Markham, J. W., & Hagmeier, E. (1982). Observations on the effects of germanium dioxide on the growth of macro-algae and diatoms. Phycologia, 21(2), 125-131. https://doi.org/10.2216/i0031-8884-21-2-125.1

Journal Articles (no DOI):
Leng F., Amado, L., & McMacken, R. (2004). Coupling DNA supercoiling to transcription in defined protein systems. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 279(46), 47564-47571. http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/279/46/47564

Articles from ISTL
Gunapala, N. 2014. Meeting the needs of the "invisible university": Identifying information needs of postdoctoral scholars in the sciences. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 77. https://doi.org/10.5062/F4B8563P

Web Pages (no author listed):
ASAP: Systematic annotation package for community analysis of genomes. (2013). University of Wisconsin-Madison. http://www.genome.wisc.edu/tools/asap.htm

WEBLIOGRAPHIES EDITOR

Edward Eckel edward.eckel@wmich.edu