REFERENCING

Objective: learn about plagiarism and the reasoning behind referencing.

ACKNOWLEDGING YOUR SOURCES

You must show the source of your information.
Where?
Within the report and at the end of the report: references page.

Reasons for Referencing Sources

1. Plagiarism: When you knowingly or unknowingly use the language, ideas, thoughts,
or graphics of others (cut & paste) without acknowledging your sources.
2. To show where your idea originated from – acknowledge the source.
3. To show that you have done research to find ‘evidence’; it gives academic weight.
Also, it displays that you are aware of the latest developments.
4. To show that you are aware of the opinion/views expressed by writers in the field.
5. To allow the reader to look at the original source if necessary.

HOW TO REFERENCE WITHIN THE REPORT

Objective: learn the steps of referencing within the report, and the ways of referring to a
source.
Procedure for Documenting your Sources within the Text
Notice the spacing and punctuation before and after the brackets!!!
1. Numbering:
• Insert consecutive numbers in brackets, beginning with 1, at the end of each
segment of cited information [1].
• They can also be inserted within a sentence like this [2], without changing the
sentence’s punctuation.
• The reference may be cited directly like this:

According to the 2006 U.S. Census Bureau [3], we see that…

2. Identify the page number of your source unless you are referring to a complete book
or article.
• Write the page number within the brackets after a comma [4, pp. 3-6]

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 • Refer to the pages in your text like this:

However, on page 79 of [5] the author seems to contradict himself when he

states….

• If you have combined information, therefore, you have more than one source in
a paragraph, use semicolons to separate:

[6, p. 496; 7, pp. 29-31; 9, pp. 8, 12].

When you number a source, use the same number for all subsequent references to that source
throughout your work.

Ways of Referring to a Source

1. Quotation: citing the exact words of the author. Copy/paste.
2. Paraphrasing: retelling what the writer said in your own words. You must include
all the details.

3. Summarizing: identifying the point you want to make from your source, and writing
it in your own words. It includes only the key information.

Direct Quotations

When using direct quotations:

1. Use quotation marks
2. Punctuate with the period after the reference

“like this” [8, p. 23].

3. You can also refer to the author or book directly

According to Mathews, “blah, blah, blah…” [9, p. 25].

Paraphrasing or Summarizing

1. Summarize or paraphrase the writer’s ideas and put the number of the citation in
brackets at the end of the sentence.
This is the summary or paraphrase [1].
2. Refer directly to the author in the text and put the number in brackets.

According to Someone, the summary or paraphrase [2].

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HOW TO WRITE THE REFERENCES PAGE

Objective: learning the procedure of how to correctly write the references of different
sources.
References Page
• List your references in numerical order according to when they are first cited in the
text.
• Give the first name initials of the authors.
• Single-space each reference, but double- space between separate references.
• End each entry with a period.
• List the sources only once, even if you referred to the same source more than once.
• Indent the second line using the ruler, so it is parallel to the first.

Book
 One author:
[1] B. P. Lathi, Linear Systems and Signals. London: Oxford University Press, 2001.
 Two Authors:
[2] S. Horner, T. Zimmerman, and S. Dragga, Technical Marketing Communication. New
York: Longman, 2002.
 New Edition:
th
[3] C. Conrad and M. S. Poole, Strategic Organizational Communication, 5 ed. New York:
Harcourt Press, 2002.
Titles of books are italicized and capitalized.

Remember: leave a single space after punctuation, but not before.

Journal Article
[4] N. M. Tahir, A. Hussain, S. A. Samad, and H. Husain, “Shock graph for representation
and modeling of posture,” ETRI Journal, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 507-514, August 2007.

Handbook/Data Book/Manual, No Author

[5] Handbook of Accelerator Physics and Engineering. Singapore: World Scientific
Institute, 1999.

[6] Engineering Ceramics Data Book. New York: Engineering Materials Series, 1998.

rd
[7] ThinkPad T61 Service and Troubleshooting Guide, 3 ed. Morrisville, NC: Lenovo,
2007.

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[8] HMC224MS8GaAsMMIC T/R Switch Data Sheet. Helmsford, MA: Hittite Microwave
Corporation, 2001.

Encyclopedia Entry
 No author given:
[9] “Frequency,” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2001 ed.
 Author(s) given:
[10] D. G. Paxon, D. S. Wood, and W. C. Malden, “Equity,” in The Blackwell Encyclopedia
of Finance, F. Carter, ed. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. 1999.
 Online:
[11] “Thermodynamics.” The New Online Britannica, April 2016.
http://www.britannica.com/science/thermodynamics.
Notice the title of the entry is in quotation marks. Pay attention to the punctuation.

The name of the encyclopedia is in italics.

World Wide Web

[12] “AT&T enters Indiana residential local phone market,” www.att.com Accessed April 5,
2016.

[13] “Nokia introduces the world’s first handset for WCDMA and GSM networks,”
http://press.nokia.com/pr2002-3.html Accessed April 6, 2016.

[14] B. L. Evans, “Brian Evans’ home page,”

www.ece.utexas.edu/~bevans/ Accessed February 12, 2015.

Notice the title of the article on the website is in small letters, except the first word and
proper nouns, and it is in quotation marks. Notice the punctuation.

The Accessed date is the date YOU got the information.