UNIT 3 ACADEMIC REFERENCING

3.1 Introduction
Academic referencing defines aspects of academic writing. Different forms of write-ups are
produced in university learning, the common being essays/assignments, reports, thesis/theses
and research papers. In most cases these rely on published or unpublished documents.
Following good academic practice, students and any producers of such write-ups are
expected to appropriately acknowledge any ideas, borrowed from unpublished and published
sources. This entails that when creating authentic pieces of academic write-ups, we are
expected to;

 Undertake research on what is already known i.e. published or written.

 Analyse the research in the context of the work to be produced.
 Compare and/or contrast existing knowledge against our own
findings/thoughts/opinions.
 Synthesise and create write-ups in which information is appropriately presented for
the expected audience.
 Acknowledge all contributing sources appropriately.

When writing essays/assignments, it is a norm to use other people’s words, work, thoughts,
ideas etc. to agree or demonstrate divergent thinking. In doing so, it is vital that we indicate
whose words and work/ideas or line of thinking we are using/not using or have used. Any
reader benefits from seeing just how the other person’s work contributes to ours.

3.2 Definition of academic referencing

Academic referencing is ‘a system used by academics to acknowledge ideas/sources used in

coming up with an essay, assignment or thesis’ (Saidi 2018,6). In summary, academic
referencing is;
 A system of acknowledging sources of information used in academic writing
 When one indicates that information he/she has used comes from specific sources
critically read.
 Part of a sound academic practice and a skill that has to be mastered by all university
students and academics without excuse. One must provide references whenever one
quotes/ paraphrases someone else’s ideas.
 Generally thought of as citations, i.e. the practice of referring to the works of other
authors in the text of your own assignment.
 Every citation in the body of an essay/text needs a reference at the end that gives the
full details of the source and should enable it to enable the reader to verify claims
made.

3.3 Why reference?

There are a number of reasons why academics reference and some of these are to;
 Show evidence of research and demonstrate academic maturity.
 Support arguments by referring to already published works on the subject.
 Clarify ideas that are crucial to the argument.
 Establish your own position in the context of other writers.
 Strengthen an argument.
 Critique the views of others on an issue.
 Avoid plagiarism.
 Enable readers to be able to locate the original sources used
 Justify controversial issues raised in the write-up.

3.4 Key terms in referencing

i. Plagiarism
This is failure to acknowledge sources of information used in an
essay/assignment.
It is academic theft since published materials are protected by copyright
laws.
ii. Ellipsis/Ellipses
Use of three dots /…/ to indicate that the writer has deliberately left out
certain information when directly quoting/citing.
iii. Indention
The leaving out of justified space on the margin(s) usually done to show a
long (more than three lines) direct quotation/citation.
iv. In-text referencing
This is referencing done inside the text or within the body of the
assignment. It can either be a paraphrase(s) or direct quotation(s).
v. Direct quotations
Direct quotations can be short (less than three lines or 40 words) and
indicated by open commas / ‘’/ single or double / “”/. They can also be
long (more than 3 lines or above 40 words).
vi. End-text referencing
This is referencing/citation done at the end of the write-up. It can either
be named References/Reference List or Bibliography.
vi Source referencing
Common sources (found in the library or online) used in preparing an
essay/assignment are: Books, Journal Articles, Newspaper (stories)
Articles, Reports, Dissertations, Internet Sources, Electronic media etc
vii End-text referencing
 This is referencing/citation done at the end of the write-up. It can either
be named References/Reference List or Bibliography.

TASK:
a. From the lists above, which information about a source is used in academic
referencing?
b. Where within a source would you find the information listed in (a) above?

Task:
i. Establish the difference between the five sources above. Which two types of
sources would you want to use more often and why?

3.5 Referencing Models

Models are specific styles a specific discipline or department or lecturers recommend
students should use when writing an essay/assignment. There is no model which is
superior to another choice is merely a matter of convention. There are two groups of
referencing models into which respective referencing types fall in;

i. Author-date or name-date
ii. Notational or numeric
The following are examples of some of the prominent referencing types usually
recommended
a. Harvard
b. American Psychological Association (APA)
c. American Medical Association (AMA)
d. American Political Science Association (APSA)
e. American Sociological Association
f. Chicago
g. IEEES
h. Modern Languages Association (MLA)
i. Oxford Standard Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA)
j. Vancouver
You will be expected to master a referencing system, without excuse, recommended in your
area of study.

3.6 References/ Bibliography

This is listing of all sources used in the essay in alphabetical order or numerically depending
with the model.

i) The following are examples of End text referencing and appearances for name/ date
system:
 Ashworth, G and Graham, B. 2005. Sense of place: Sense of time, New York:
Ashgate.
Bosso, H. K. 1996. “Wisdom sits in Place: Notes on a Western Apache Landscape”,
in Feld, S. (editor) Sense of Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Koass, F. 2019. “The Dilemna of Students”, www.students.dilemna/hot/cheeky//htm

(date accessed 23 septenber 2020).

Moyo, F. 2020. “The Classic University Overseas” The Citizen, 5th October, page 3.

Chihera, H. 2018. “The Stupidity of Women” Gender and Feminism Journal, Volume
5; Issue 2, pp 305-310.

ii) The following are examples of End text referencing and appearances for numerical
system:

1. Curran GM, Bauer M, Mittman B, Pyne JM, Stetler C. Effectiveness-implementation

hybrid designs: Combining elements of clinical effectiveness and implementation
research to enhance public health impact. Medical Care. 2012;50:217–226.

2. Denzen NK. The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods.

2nd McGraw Hill; New York: 1978.

3. Duan N, Bhaumik DK, Palinkas LA, Hoagwood K. Purposeful sampling and optimal
design. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services
Research. this issue.

4. Glaser BG. Theoretical sensitivity. Sociology Press; Mill Valley, CA: 1978.

5. Morgan DL. Focus groups as qualitative research. Sage; Newbury Park, CA: 1997.

Task:
 Compare and contrast a name-date referencing model and a numeric one.
 Which of the above referencing models is recommended in your area of
study? State whether it is a name-date or numeric and why?

4 How to reference using model(s) recommended in your area of study?

To reference you need to practice doing so noting the various formulations for in text and
end text referencing using various sources chosen. Please note, as you practice, your
abilities are not to answer questions asked for this module but your abilities should be
reflected each time you write an assignment in your area of study. Never submit an
assignment to your lecturer without citations both in the in text and in the end text. Be
truthful all the time and cite sources which you have READ not seen cited by your
homie or bestie.

5 Referencing & Technology

We now live in a technological world as such there are various software which one can
use to speed up referencing issues. One such is Mendeley. For you to successfully use
such software basic knowledge of how referencing works as discussed and practised
above is vital. Further, anti-plagiarism software such as Turnitin have also been
developed to check whether assignments or dissertations submitted for marking are
original.