Hi there, I'm Christopher Shepard. And I'm Adrienne Cheng.
And we're here to talk to you about how you can integrate your references into your paragraphs.
But don't worry! Adding citations to essays is not hard when you know how to do it.
And doing it right will help get you higher marks in your assignments!
Absolutely! We use references as a way to show your reader where you found your information.
It also shows your teacher that you have done your research and understood it.
It certainly does, and it can help to show that an "expert" agrees with what you're saying;
this is the supporting evidence in your essay. But the trick is: how to use citations effectively.
First, let's review the structure of a paragraph. Usually it starts with a topic sentence. This
tells the reader what the paragraph will be about
Then you have your supporting evidence. This would include citations and examples to support
the topic sentence And the paragraph should end with a concluding
sentence that links back to the topic sentence and the main idea of the essay.
Right so let's look at an example, shall we? So did the writer do anything right here?
Well, yes, there is correct use of quotation marks, and the citation is correctly referenced.
Here you can see APA style And here's IEEE style.
But, there are quite a few problems. Yes, first, the complete sentence is copied;
it is better to only quote the key words. Second, the quotation starts the paragraph
and it is not related to the rest of the paragraph. And third, the writer does not comment upon
or explain the citation. So now let's look at a good example
Well, as you can see, first this paragraph starts with a topic sentence.
We now know what the paragraph will be about. Next, the quotation is integrated into a sentence,
with only 5 words quoted rather than a complete sentence.
The writer uses "According to" to introduce the views of others.
Another way to introduce a citation is to use a reporting verb such as "point out" or
"believe" But, you need to be careful about what reporting
verbs you use. Verbs like "say" and "tell" should not be
used in academic English. Yes, and be careful with "claim"; if I say
that a student "claims" to have done her homework, but she left it at home, it means I don't
fully believe her. Claim is used in a similar way in academic
writing Using less common verbs is another way to
enhance your writing. Don't only use verbs such as "state".
Finally, the writer goes on to explain the citation.
Remember, your teacher wants to know what you have understood from doing the background
reading. Show this by explaining the citation and giving
examples to illustrate your explanation OK, a few things to remember when using quotations.
Use the exact words of the authors, and put those words in quotation marks.
Try to keep your quotations short. Only quote the most important words.
With APA and Harvard referencing style, you need the author, followed by the year, page
or paragraph number in round brackets, to show where the quote came from.
And with IEEE referencing style, you need the author followed by the reference number
in square brackets. And if your quotation is over 30 words, you
need to indent it like this. But generally in your university assignments,
you should only have a small number of short quotations.
Remember to always check with your teacher or programme leader about any specific referencing
requirements. The other way to add a citation to a paragraph
is to paraphrase the idea of the author. This means you take the idea that someone
else has had, and you rewrite it in your own words.
But remember, this is still someone else's idea, so you still need to reference it.
But, when you use your own words, it shows that you have understood it better than just
using a quotation. Here is an example of the original text
And the paraphrased text below it. Notice how key words and ideas have been rephrased
And remember, you still need to cite the authors. So far we have looked at integral citations.
This means a citation that is part of a sentence. We often use integral citations when we want
to highlight the author. With integral citations you need to introduce
it using a reporting verb, such as "argue", or an introductory phrase such as "in the
view of" However, if you want to highlight the information
in a paragraph, then you can use a non-integral citation.
As you can see in this example, the information is more important than the author, so author
details are put in brackets at the end of the sentence.
With the APA or Harvard style it's done this way;
and with IEEE style, you just need the reference number in square brackets like this.
There are many ways you can integrate citations into your work, and it will always depend
on the sentence grammar and the information. If you're still stuck, don't forget you can
always ask the staff in the CILL for help. Or you can ask your teachers.
And remember to look at the online referencing guides.
We hope this has helped you to understand how you can use references in your writing.
Use this information well, and your academic writing will improve a lot.
Good luck! Bye!