Academic writing relies heavily on the understanding and the use of other authors’ideas. Students must often draw arguments, evidence, concepts, and theories from other sources to support their own argumentation. Like all academic writers, they are required to give credit for the information they have used by providing proper references.
Anything that is borrowed from another author must be referenced, including but not limited to:
·a direct quotation, summary or paraphrase,
·another author’s idea, concept, theory, chart, image, etc.
·information that is not “common knowledge”.
As to the basic rules of referencing, remember the following.
·References must provide readers with the information they need to find the sources used.
·Referencing styles vary according to discipline.
·Referencing must always be done according to the professor’s requirements.
All fields of research agree on the need to document scholarly borrowings, but documentation conventions vary because of the different needs of scholarly disciplines. Three commonly used styles are introduced in this section, namely APA, MLA and Chicago(CMS).
MLA Style
The Modern Language Association (MLA) has been for decades one of the leading developers in the humanities academia.
MLA style referencing uses parenthetical in-text citations to refer to an alphabetical list of Works Cited at the end of the paper. Generally, MLA style is used in the humanities, particularly in literature studies.
An in-text citation names the author of the source, often in a signal phrase, and gives a page number in parentheses. At the end of the paper, a list of works cited provides publication information about the source; the list is alphabetized by authors’ last names (or by titles for works without authors).
APA Style
The style of the American Psychological Association (APA) is primarily used in scientific literary works. They, like the MLA produce guidelines that dictate the accepted norms for basic and advanced literary work. The majority of the work done in the APA style has to do with the disciplines of the sciences, social sciences and mathematics. The APA has developed their own style of documentation that is very different than that of the MLA or the Chicago Press.
APA recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of references. An in-text citation gives the author of the source (often in a signal phrase), the year of publication, and at times a page number in parentheses. At the end of the paper, a list of references provides publication information about the source.
Chicago (CMS) Style
In history and some humanities courses, you may be required to use the documentation system set forth in The Chicago Manual of Style.(Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
In Chicago style, superscript numbers in the text of the paper refer readers to notes with corresponding numbers either at the foot of the page (footnotes) or at the end of the paper (endnotes). A bibliography is often required as well; it appears at the end of the paper and gives publication information for all the works cited in the notes.
For more information on the above three documentation styles, you can refer to this website: dianahacker.com/writersref.
Activity 3-1: Figuring out in-text citation and works-cited formats
Study the sample essays with your partners and try to find out the differences in their in-text citation and works cited/referencing formats. Then try to summarize the basic features of the three documentation styles—MLA, APA and CMS.
Activity 3-2: Citing sources within and at the end of texts in APA style
Look at the following example, and try to figure out the basic rule of citing sources within and at the end of the text in APA style.
Citing Authors in the text
(1) According to Holemes and Smith (1986), gender is an important feature in language.
(2) Gender is an important feature in language (Holmes & Smith, 1986).
Referencing at the end of the text
Stephens, RL (1992). Imagery: a treatment for nursing student anxiety. Jounal of Nursing Educatin 31, p. 314-320. Retrieved Auguse 15, 2001, from CINAHL database.
Minnesota Department of Health. (2005). Fertility. In 2003 Minnesota health statistics annual summary. Retrieved March 10, 2006, from http://www. Health. State.mn.us/divs/ chs/03annsum/fertility.pdf
Notes
APA follows an author-date pattern for citing authors. In the body of your assignment, this involves recording the author’s surname (or family name) followed by the year in which their work was published. This author-date pattern can be used in the body of a sentence, or in brackets at the end of the sentence. It is worth noting that by using the former, the reference becomes part of the sentence, and, therefore, clarity of attribution is often increased in the mind of the reader.
(1) According to Holemes and Smith (1986), gender is an important feature in language.
(2) Gender is an important feature in language (Holmes & Smith, 1986).
Author Citation Tips
There is no rule concerning which citation method—whether citing authors in the body of a sentence or in brackets—is best. Either method is fine. However, it is always useful for the reader to provide variety when citing authors in your assignment. So, try to alternate between these two methods.
Year is in brackets, immediately following authors. The full “and” is used. The full stop goes after the brackets. A comma separates authors and year. The ampersand“&”is used.
What You should Know
Identifying Academic Sources
The sources of information you can document in university assignments are typically those from an authority.
In an academic setting, an authority is usually someone who has been the author of published material. This material may come in the form of:
Books
Journal articles
Published reports
Online sources ...
This kind of information is useful in that it provides evidence, which may be in the form of—theoretical ideas, critical evaluations, research findings, and scholarly opinions
Academic sources of information, or evidence, differ from:
Your own opinions,
Conclusions or outcomes of discussions on the issue with friends or relatives,
A celebrity’s opinion,
Articles in popular magazines, like the Women’s Weekly,
Opinion columns in newspapers (as opposed to newspaper articles).
You can certainly draw on these materials for ideas to be developed in your assignment, but do not use them as sources of evidence, unless requested to in the assignment instructions.
Integrating the Ideas of Published Authors
Having identified acceptable academic sources, the next section considers how to integrate these sources into your writing.
One of the primary features of academic writing is using the literature to support your ideas. This requires you to read widely in order to seek out the different sides of a debate within a particular field of inquiry.
In a sense, university assignments can be considered as vehicles for exploring the literature and finding out points of difference, agreement, and variability amongst different authors.
What this means is that you need to demonstrate evidence of your literature exploration by including these authors in your writing and mentioning their points of view. This technique of referring to authors in your writing is often termed citing, documenting or in-text referencing.
Quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing are helpful for us to avoid plagiarism when borrowing other’s ideas, evidence, data, etc.
A paraphrase is a rewording of an author’s ideas into one’s own words. It demonstrates an understanding of the material and is often used to support one’s own arguments.
How to do it:
Be selective. Use only what is needed for your own purposes.
Use your own style of writing without changing the meaning of the original text.
Any of the author’s key terms must be put in “quotation marks” or italics.
A summary is a brief account, in one’s own words, of what an author says. How to do it:
Follow the same order of ideas as the original text.
Remain true to the original author’s intent.
Any of the author’s key terms must be put in “quotation marks” or italics.
A direct quote is when an author’s exact words are borrowed. It is used when another author expresses an idea in a way that you feel should not be changed.
How to do it:
Reproduce the original text exactly, and put it in “quotation marks”. Any changes to the quote must be placed in [square brackets].
Use quotes to reinforce your own ideas, not to introduce or make new arguments.
Use quotes sparingly.
Language Focus
Language Features of Citation and Referencing
To avoid relying on the same verbs when introducing authors into your sentence, as in the case of “McDonald (1992) says ...” or “Anderson (2003) states ...”, a list of verbs is provided to add variety to your sentence embedded citations within the text of your paper.
agrees
asserts
believes
claims
comments; concedes that
challenges; concludes; compares
defines; delves deeper
describes
examines; explains; explores; echoes
feels; felt that
focuses on
goes further
holds that
insists; includes; identifies
is clear that; was clear on
maintains; mentions
notes
observes
points out; points to
prefers; poses
provides evidence
qualifies
recalls; recounts
refers to
reminds; responds
reports; reveals
says; sees
shows
speaks of
states; suggests
summarises; supports
tells; tells of
touches on
verifies
writes that
Assignment
1.Read the following paragraph and table, and decide which original text quotation could be used at each numbered space.
Drugs and the Olympic Games
It is no secret that performance-enhancing drugs have been used by Olympic athletes for decades. Despite rigorous drug testing of Olympic athletes, the use of banned performance-enhancing substances has become more widespread than ever. (1) It is clear that if athletes want to win, they must consider using drugs. (2) The Dutch doctor further stated that he had prescribed anabolic steroids to hundreds of world-class athletes over a period of twenty-five years. (3)
Adapted by Lois Smith from http://unilearning.uow.edu.au
2.Use reporting verbs, or a phrase, and rewrite the above paragraph. Include date of publication and page numbers. Use correct punctuation.
3.Try to paraphrase the following paragraph with your partners.
Original text
... the climate in most groups and organizations does not encourage open expression of feelings. The necessity of hiding feelings, Organizational Development practitioners believe, has a negative effect not only on group member’s willingness and ability to solve problems constructively, but also on job satisfaction and performance.
From: Stoner, J. A. F. & Wankel, C. (1986) Management. (3rd Edition), New Jersey:
Paraphrase
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4.Write a paper and make sure it’s sources are all correctly documented both within and at the end of the text. You should try one of the three styles: MLA, APA or CMS.