Citation Skills

Coverage

 Defining citation
 Various citation styles
 The APA style: in-text and reference list
 Evaluating information on the internet
 Defining Citation
 When writing assignments you will use
ideas, theories, word-for-word quotations,
facts and figures, as well as illustrations and
even diagrams that are not your own.
Defining Citation
 These ideas, theories, quotations, etc. -
written by different authors will come from
a variety of sources, including :
◦ books and ebooks
◦ articles from journals or newspapers
◦ reports
◦ websites.
 Defining Citation
 The sources of the information you use
must be acknowledged (cited or
referenced):
◦ within the body of your essay or report (in-text or
footnotes), and
◦ in a list at the end of your essay or report
(reference list)
 Defining Citation
 Example of in-text citation:
◦ Construction projects often suffer from poor
performance in terms of time delays, cost
overruns and quality defects (Jericho, 2013).
 Example of reference list:
◦ Jericho, G. (2013). The rise of the Fifth Estate:
Social media and blogging in Australian politics.
Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com
 Defining Citation
 Citation is another word for a reference
 Elements of information to locate resources
 Shows your reader(s)

◦ Where the information in your paper was

originally published.
◦ When the information was published
◦ Who the author of the information is
◦ which journal or group published the information
◦ which version the information was published in
 Defining Citation
 All citations information is important
because
◦ They make you avoid plagiarism
◦ Help to prove to your reader that you know your
topic – you researched
◦ Help your reader to locate the resource
◦ Show respect for the work of others
◦ Establish credibility and authority of your
knowledge and ideas
◦ Help your reader to distinguish your work from
the work of others who have contributed to your
work
 Citation Styles
 Most common citation styles developed:
◦ The APA (The American Psychological Association)
mostly used in social science
◦ The MLA (Modern Language Association), mostly
used in humanities
◦ Chicago (published by the University of Chicago),
mostly used in history
◦ CSE (Council of Science Editors), mostly used in
history
◦ IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers)
◦ The Harvard Style etc.
 Defining Citation
 Citing is an academic practice to
acknowledge works or ideas of others
 Academic writing encourages paraphrasing

information you cite

 Paraphrasing means re-wording something

you have read in to your own words

When to cite?
 When you use words, thoughts, ideas, etc.
of someone else
 When you directly quote
 When you paraphrase
 When you use or reference an idea or

thought that has already been expressed

 When you make any reference to another

source
 When another’s ideas, words or thoughts

have influenced your writing and research

The APA Style (based on
6th Edn. Guide Book, 2017)
 APA stands for American Psychological
Association.
 Style that you are to learn since it is used

by DIT.
◦ But remember to ask your instruct or supervisor
what style to use before you start writing your
work.
 We will learn few basic and important skills
by examples
 In-text Citation
 When citing in text within an assignment,
use the author/s (or editor/s) last name
followed by the year of publication.
 Example:

◦ Water is a necessary part of every person’s diet

and of all the nutrients a body needs to function; it
requires more water each day than any other
nutrient (Whitney & Rolfes, 2011). or
◦ Whitney and Rolfes (2011) state the body requires
many nutrients to function but highlight that water
is of greater importance than any other nutrient. or
 Reference list
 A list of publication information for the
sources you cited in your work.
 It is intended to give the reader all

information they need to find that source.

 The list may also be called bibliography,

◦ A wider list of readings including both in-text

references and other sources consulted, not
necessarily cited.
 Reference list
 Example:
 Whitney, E., & Rolfes, S. (2011). Understanding
nutrition (12th ed.). Australia: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning.
 Watson, R., McKenna, H., Cowman, S., & Keady, K.
(Eds.). (2008). Nursing research: Designs and
methods. Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill
Livingstone Elsevier.
 Work with three, four or five
authors
 Cite all authors the first time and from then
on include only the last name of the first
author followed by the words et al. (‘et al.’
is Latin for ‘and others’)
 Example:
 Work with three, four or five
authors
 Research can be defined as a systematic method of
creating new knowledge or a way to verify existing
knowledge (Watson, McKenna, Cowman & Keady,
2008).
 Deciding on a research method demands the
researcher consider carefully the problem or area of
investigation being researched (Watson et al.,
2008).

 Reference list entry:
◦ Watson, R., McKenna, H., Cowman, S., & Keady, K.
(Eds.). (2008). Nursing research:
Designs and methods. Edinburgh,
Scotland: Churchill Livingstone
Elsevier.
Work with Six or Seven authors
 Cite only the last name of the first author
followed by et al. each time you refer to this
work.
 Reference list entry: include all names in

the reference list:

◦ Mikosch, P., Hadrawa, T., Laubreiter, K., Brandl, J.,
Pilz, J., Stettner, H., & Grimm, G. (2010).
Effectiveness of respiratory-sinus-arrhythmia
biofeedback on state-anxiety in patients
undergoing coronary angiography. Journal of
Advanced Nursing, 66(5), 1101-1110.
 Eight or More Authors
 Cite only the last name of the first author
followed by ‘et al.’ each time you refer to
this work.
 In reference list entry, include the first

six (6) authors’ names and then use ellipsis

points (...) before concluding with the last
author’s name.
 Example:
◦ Vissing, K., Brink, M., Lonbro, S., Sorensen, H.,
Overgaard, K., Danborg, K., ... Aagaard, P.
(2008). Muscle adaptations to plyometric
vs. resistance training in untrained young
men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning
Research, 22(6), 1799-1810.
 Direct Quotes Citation
APA does not encourage direct quotes, but
when necessary, it should be used only to
emphasis or stress a point in your essay.
 It must be copied exactly as written in the

original work including any punctuation or

incorrect spelling.
 When using a quote, include the author’s

last name, year of publication and page

number/s where the quote appears.
 To indicate a short quote (less than 40
words), enclose the quotation within double
quotation marks.
◦ “Self-directed learning is also a term with which
you will become familiar as you study in Australia
or New Zealand. Students are expected to take
responsibility for their own learning and organise
their own study” (Hally, 2009, p. 7).
 For a quote that is 40 words or more,
include it in your essay as a freestanding
piece of text or block form and do not use
the quotation marks.
 Double-space the entire quote.
 At the end of the quote, include the author’s

name, year of publication and page

number/s after the full stop.
 If the information you wish to use is cited by
another author, acknowledge the source
you have read, showing it is a secondary
source within the text citation by using the
words “as cited in”.
 Example:

◦ Fawcett (as cited in Polit & Beck, 2008) outlined

the four main concepts…
 In reference list entry:
◦ Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2008). Nursing research:
Generating and assessing evidence
for nursing practice (8th ed.).
Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer
Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
 Internet Sources

 Include similar information in the same

order then add the electronic retrieval
information required for people to locate the
material you cited (where).
◦ Author/s of the document or information –
individual or organisation/corporate author.
◦ Date of publication. If no date is available use
(n.d.).
◦ Title of the document or webpage in italics.
◦ Complete & correct web address/URL
Internet – no author, no date
 When using information from the Internet
consider carefully the origins of the
information whether it is credible, valid and
reliable
 Sometimes it is not clear who (author) wrote it

or when (date) it was written; you can do as

follows:
 In-text citation:

◦ (Pet therapy, n.d.)

 Reference list entry:
◦ Pet therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.holisticonline.com/stress/stress_pet-
therapy.htm
 For organisation/corporate author
 Example:

◦ Ministry of Health [MOH], 2014) – first cite for in

text citation
◦ (MOH, 2014) for second and subsequent citation.
◦ Ministry of Health. (2014). Ebola: Information for
the public. Retrieved from
http://www.health.govt.nz/your-
health/conditions-and-
treatments/diseases- andillnesses/
ebolainformation-public as reference list entry
 Evaluating Information
from the Internet
 Internet material may not have been
verified or edited for correctness.
 Not everything you find on the

internet is authentic or accurate.

 You can evaluate a website using the

five criteria: authority, accuracy,

currency, objectivity and coverage.