ACT 3312 – RESEARCH METHODS

Lesson 06
Academic writing and referencing using APA style

The faculty follows the American Psychology Association (APA) referencing system
as the referencing style.
Academic writing: points to note

• Academic writing is important in communicating your research to a scholarly

audience (examiners/ research supervisors/ etc.)
Examples; conference papers, dissertation, research proposals
• It is vital to set the correct tone, use suitable language, and present your ideas
effectively
• The quality of your research will, in part, depend on the quality of your academic
writing
• Each word, sentence, paragraph, and chapter you include in your dissertation would
need to be carefully written
• In academic the idea should be simply told without going to extreme or modest way
is used to express the ideas
• Simple and straightforward/ specific (difficult English isn’t the academic writing)
• Clear, concise, and organized (do not repeat the same thing intentionally)
• Precise information to support your claims with the past literature or with the data
from the field (no opinion can be written)
• Formal tone / not the colloquial language (speaking language)
• Use linking words appropriately
Examples;
Furthermore, additionally, following this interest, more importantly - to elaborate
more and support more ideas and evidences
Notwithstanding - moving from positive to negative
However, nevertheless - bringing the new ideas
• Uniformity in style, including consistent use of language (e.g. U.K. English versus
U.S. English)

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• Short and focused paragraphs
Have one idea in one paragraph. Topic sentence communicate the key idea.
Supporting sentences and concluding sentences will be there respectively. Do not
mix many ideas in a single paragraph
• Supporting documents/appendices marked and referred to in the main body of the
research
• In academic writing and research, it is avoided to write bullet points. However, you
can have in some instances such as, to tell the research questions. Usually paragraphs
are used. Better to minimize the bullet points
Guidelines for the dissertation are in the student handbook. Being bigger the
dissertation means, it is not always good. Do not write for the sake of writing.

Academic writing: What to avoid

• Repetitions
Reinforcing the idea in conclusion is not a repetition. But, if you use the same
point in many paragraphs it is considered as the repetition
• Complicated/ long sentences
• Wordiness/ nice words/ many adjectives to explain same thing
• Vagueness
Example; I think, may be (use the words; it is evident that, accordingly, etc.)
• Jargon
The words/ terminologies that use by particular community, discipline or people at
particular area of work
• Colloquial vocabulary (easily understandable /If there are technique terms,
acrimonies explain them)
Academic writing: What to avoid
• Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. (2010.) 6th ed.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [or newer version]
• Offers guidelines for preparing research papers in social and behavioral sciences
• “APA style” refers to a system of citing research sources

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• For all papers in APA style, use 12-pt, Times New Roman font (adhere to 2010/
newer edition)
• This is more beneficial as every aspect is guided
Importance of citing
• Citing identifies sources used in a research paper/ providing the sources
• Gives credit to those researchers, authors, and writers whose words or ideas you
borrow
• Acknowledges their role in shaping your research
Show how your research is fitting to the existing body of research
• Allows others to follow-up on or retrieve the material
• Adds credibility and provides strength to your arguments
• Avoids plagiarism
Plagiarism
• Unacknowledged use or appropriation of another person’s words or ideas to support
your argument or research
• An academic offense
• By crediting your sources, you avoid plagiarism
• If you do not cite a source intentionally or unintentionally you are guilty of
plagiarism
• Whenever you either paraphrase/quote another author’s material or if you are using
another person’s idea, you must also cite your source
Citing sources
• Avoid plagiarism (giving credit to others will not lessen the credit you get from your
research)
• All sources cited (in-text citations) in the literature review should be listed in the
references (with full reference details in alphabetical order)
• Seek primary sources where possible
• Keep a record of the literature as you collect (adopt a system for storing reference
information)
• Your review is a guide on your topic for others – take care to make it accurate &
complete as another person would trace it for the purpose of their work

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• You may use a citation manager program (e.g. Endnote package)
Journal articles
Intext citation
(Author’s first name, year)
Example; (Hoque, 2014)
Reference
Author’s sur name, First letter of author’s first name. (year). Article name. Name of the
Journal, volume(issue), range of page numbers. doi:
Example;
Hoque, Z. (2014). 20 years of studies on the balanced scorecard: Trends, accomplishments,
gaps and opportunities for future research. The British Accounting Review, 46(1),
33–59. doi: 10.1016/j.bar.2013.10.003
doi means, document object identifier (if it is there only include, otherwise not)
Books
Intext citation
(Author’s first name, year)
Example; (Silverman, 2005)
Reference
Author’s sur name, First letter of author’s first name. (published year). Name of the book,
(edition), Location: Publisher.
Example;
Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research: A practical handbook (2nded.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sometimes, the citations are there in the journal article or in the site including doi. (example;
emerald)
When referring the direct quotes, the page number should not be there in the reference list.
The location of the book might be the country or the city.

• Paraphrase versus direct quotation.

The idea of the author is told with the aid of your words while direct quotation
means, copy and paste the author’s words as it is.
- Paraphrase key ideas by expressing them in your own words
- Paraphrase versus direct quotation
⬧ author's definitions of important terms
⬧ assumptions underlying the author's choice of words
⬧ an author's specific view which is difficult to paraphrase
⬧ well-expressed opinions, which a paraphrase will not capture

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 Citing sources
• Paraphrasing versus Quotations
Use more the paraphrase in the work
• In-text citations within the body of your research paper
• List of full citations in the references page at the end of research your paper
• You must provide information that will allow the reader to exactly locate your
sources
• All in-text citations need to be listed alphabetically with full reference details
• Each entry in the reference list must be cited in the text
In-text citations
In text citations are I the body of the research paper. Such in-text citation has two types;
1. Author prominent
Shows what author said or prominence is given to the author.
Example;
In contrast, Hoque (2010) found that ……. - indirect quote
Furthermore, Andon, Baxter, and Mahama (2005, p. 36) has noted, “… - direct quote
2. Information prominent
First provide the information and provide author details later.
Example;
There is a widespread interest on ABC in the literature, with a lot of journal space and
conference time being devoted to it (Clarke, Hill, & Stevens, 1999).
• It is good to use a combination/mix of above both.
• However, If there are many authors to support one information, go for the
information prominent, mention all of them give their names at the end.
Example;
…(Hoque, 2014; Madsen & Stenheim, 2015)
• If the particular idea is only supported by one author, then better to use author
prominent
• If it is one to two authors mention as above. However, if there are three to five
authors, then name all at their first citing, including the year of publication. At

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 subsequent citings in your paper, include only the first author and replace the others
with “et al.” et al means, and others.
Example;
At first time;
Wickramasinghe, Gooneratne, and Jayakody (2008) believe that ……...
Subsequent times;
Wickramasinghe et al. (2008) have identified …………. - author prominent
(Wickramasinghe et al., 2011) …. - information prominent
• When there are 6 or more authors, use first author, surname and “et al.” for the others
in all citing instances.
• Do not italicize et al.
• Referring to more than one source in your in-text citation. Place them alphabetically,
separated by a semicolon ( ; ) Usually use the information prominent.
Example;
……… (Bhimani & Pigott, 1992; Clarke et al., 1999; Joshi, 2001; Major & Hopper,
2005; Malmi, 1997).
• Two or more works by the same authors (in the same order) - by year of publication
Example;
(Kaplan & Norton, 1992, 1996)
• Works/ different works by the same author/s with the same publication date -
suffixes a, b, c, and so forth, after the year
Example;
Assume Kaplan and Norton wrote a book and article in the same year of 1996
(Kaplan & Norton, 1996a) (Kaplan & Norton, 1996b)
Compiling a reference list
• Sources are listed alphabetically at the end of the journal, proposal or article
• Indent all lines after the first ½ inch for each reference listed
• The entire References page is double-spaced
• All citations end in a period (.), except those with a doi or URL

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 Compiling a reference list
Journal articles by one author
Author, A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name,
Vol(Issue), p-p. doi:xxx.xx/xx/x/xxx
Example;
Tuomela, T. (2005). The interplay of different levers of control: a case study of
introducing a new performance measurement system. Management Accounting
Research, 16(3), 293-320.

Journal articles by two authors

Author, A., & Author, A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name,
Vol(Issue), p-p. doi:xxx.xx/xx/x/xxx
Example;
Kapiyangoda, K., & Gooneratne, T. N. (2018). Institutions, agency, culture and control:
A case study of a multinational operating company. Journal of Accounting &
Organizational Change, 14 (4), 402 -428. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAOC-07-2017-
0056

Journal articles by two authors

Author, A., Author, A., & Author, A. (Year) Title of article. Journal Name,
Vol(Issue), p-p. doi:xxx.xx/xx/x/xxx
Example;
Waweru, N. M., Hoque, Z., & Uliana, E. (2004). Management accounting change in
South Africa: Case studies from retail services. Accounting, Auditing &
Accountability Journal, 17(5), 675-704.

A book
Author, A. (Year). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
Example;
Uyangoda, J. (2010). Writing research proposals in the social sciences and humanities:
A theoretical and practical guide. Colombo: Social Scientists’ Association.

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A book (edition)
Author, A. (Year). Title of book (2nd ed.). Location: Publisher.
Example;
Yin, R. K. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.
These references and intext citations are not tested at the exam. However, use them in your
dissertation or the academic writing