Hello, I'm going to tell you about referencing. Why to reference, What to reference, and How
to reference First why should you reference -- You should
already know it's to make your essays and presentations stronger and more persuasive.
Next what to reference? What sources can you use?
Most people look first on the Internet -- and there's lots of information; maybe too much
information; some good; a lot not so good. So, what can you find online?
Blogs - usually not very reliable -- who wrote it? Are they an expert? Has anyone checked it?
So, this is most probably a no. Wikipedia -- ok- there's lots of information;
sometimes it looks good as well; but is it reliable? In some ways it is less reliable
than a blog. Because at least we sometimes know who wrote a blog, while with Wikipedia,
it could literally be anyone, from the world famous professor at MIT to the kid who lives
two doors down from you. So, Wikipedia, it's possibly another no.
Newspapers? Well, they are ok. Information in them has usually been checked, so they
are fairly trustworthy, but think of how far you would trust them. And another problem
with newspapers, they report current issues, while at university, we are looking at issues
in far more detail. So, a newspaper is a source you can only sometimes use.
Ok, next then, academic journals. This is like an academic magazine, published every
3 or 4 months or so. What's different about a journal, is that to be published in one,
your work has to be checked by another expert. So, if your writing isn't reliable, it will
not be published. This is an extremely good reliability measure, so this makes journals
perhaps one of the best sources you can use. Finally, books. To publish a book, it costs
a lot of money, so, publishers usually check the books very carefully first; check for
errors; make sure it is accurate; so, books are also a good source to use.
Good, now we have our sources, but how should you reference?
There are two basic styles, the author year one, such as APA and Harvard, and the number
system, such as IEEE or Vancouver. I'm going to look briefly at both styles, it's also
important that you are aware of them as you will come across different styles in different
subjects and as you read different literature. However, always check with your subject teacher
as to what style you should use in your assessments. Ok, here's an example of APA in-text citation;
in-text means that the referencing is part of the essay. You can see here the author's
surname and the year highlighted. And here's an example of IEEE in-text citation;
here there is no year; instead each reference is represented by a number in square brackets.
OK, remember when you reference, you should use your own words. You should summarise or
paraphrase the original source. If you don't do that, you are copying -- in which case
you should quote and use double quotation marks.
Here's an example of a quote in APA style with double quotation marks; see that you
also need to give the page number for a direct quotation.
For a quote in IEEE or Vancouver style, the page number should be put in the reference
list. You still need the quotation marks. See this example.
One more thing about in-text referencing. There are two types-integral and non-integral.
Here is an integral example in APA style, and one in IEEE style. Notice that you can
use the author's name in both examples and you use a referencing verb. Try to learn a
range of verbs in the coming weeks as they will be useful in your writing. You use an
integral reference when you want to give prominence to the view of the author.
The other type of in-text reference is non-integral. See the first example in APA style, and the
second in IEEE style. Notice in APA style, both the author's surname and year are in
brackets but still part of the sentence; the full stop comes after the final bracket. For
non-integral references in IEEE style you just have a number in square brackets. Again
it is part of the sentence. You use non-integral when the information is more important.
Ok, finally the reference list. Each style has small differences, but remember for APA
and Harvard, they are in alphabetical order -- so from A to Z. Here's an example.
In IEEE and Vancouver they are in numerical order - the first reference in the essay is
labelled number one, and that is number one in the reference list. You can see an example here.
To make sure your reference list and intext
references are accurate, you can use Online bibliographic management programs available
in the PolyU library, but remember to also double check against the ELC Referencing Style
Guide for the specific style you are using. Well, that's it, happy referencing!