Citation and referencing
Citation and referencing
Learning how to write in an academic way is a skill. It requires knowledge of some basic rules and a lot of practice. This doesn’t happen overnight.
The ALLEA Code lists following unacceptable practices:
- Citing selectively or inaccurately.
- Expanding unnecessarily the bibliography of a study to please editors, reviewers, or colleagues, or to manipulate bibliographic data.
- Re-publishing substantive parts of one’s own earlier publications, including translations, without duly acknowledging or citing the original (‘self-plagiarism’).
For all knowledge a researcher uses in new academic work, a correct reference to the original has to be made, whether this is text, images, document structure, online information, etc. This requires an in-text citation and a full reference in the bibliography. Information flows need to be traceable for readers, at all times. If this is not properly done, it can be considered plagiarism.
How information from original sources is being processed can differ and therefore requires a different approach.
With quotations an author wants to use the exact words, copied directly from a source, without any change. This identical use of original knowledge requires additional care in correct referencing: quotations must appear in a noticeable format, e.g. with quotations marks, italic font, … and they need to be cited with in-text citations but also accompanied by the reference page. Also a full reference in the bibliography is required.
It is advised to use quotations when:
- You want to add the power of an author’s words to support your argument
- You want to disagree with an author’s argument
- You want to highlight particularly eloquent or powerful phrases or passages
- You are comparing and contrasting specific points of view
- You want to note the important research that precedes your own.
Source text: The writing center – When to summarize, paraphrase, and quote.
In all other cases you have to use paraphrase. You will then generate new content using or being influenced by ideas from other authors, but you have to write them down in your own words. The general rules for referencing apply (in-text + full reference).
Reference styles
There are many reference styles, often depending on the discipline or journal you write for. In order to know what style to use, ask your research leader, supervisor, colleague, … what style is most common for your discipline, or check author’s guidelines on the journal’s website.
The best-known systems are:
- APA – 7th ed. (American Psychological Association)
- Chicago – 17th ed. (used for footnotes)
- MLA – 8th ed. (Modern Language Association)
- Harvard
- Vancouver (Mainly used in biomedicine)
In some cases, you will refer to an original part of knowledge, however without reading it in the original source. You read it in another document, of which the author read the original source. This is called secondary referencing. Chance exists that information was misread, misinterpreted or cited selectively. By taking over the content without checking the original source, for example because of a paywall, you maintain (or even worsen) the misinformation.
How to handle secondary referencing?
- How to handle secondary referencing?
- You should always consult the original source yourself, check content and use referencing as described above. In addition, you add “Cited in:” and add the reference of the work you read. In case it consists of a quotation, the same, extended, reference is needed.
- The best research practice is to consult the original source yourself, check content and use referencing as described above. To keep efforts reasonable and pragmatic, it is advisable to do so for knowledge or arguments at the core of your work. However, for sideline details, researchers can use similar reference as described above, and add “Cited in:” and add the reference of the work they read. In case it consists of a quotation, the same, extended, reference is needed.
To manage your references in general, over time and over single articles, you can use a reference manager such as Endnote (Clarivate Analytics) (via your university research platform), Zotero (free) or Mendeley (Elsevier).