Reference & Citation

References
A reference list is a list of the resources that you used when writing your assignment or doing
your research. These resources may include:
 books, including electronic books, journals (online an paper based)
 online sources including websites, blogs and forums
 speeches
 personal communications
 conference papers, proceedings and theses
 other sources of information such as film, television, video, etc.
Reference lists come at the end of an assignment, and are arranged in alphabetical order, usually
by author or editor. If there isn’t an author or an editor, the title is used. References appear at the
end of a manuscript. They follow a who–when–what–where 

Citations
Citations or in-text citations are similar to references, but occur in the body of the text with direct
quotes and paraphrases to identify the author/publication for the material you have used.
Citations are used:
 To show which reference supports a particular statement.
 For direct quotes – when you repeat a passage from a text (or speech, video, etc.) in your
assignment without changing any words.
 When you paraphrase – this is when you use your own words to restate the meaning of a
text in your assignment.
One of the most important things to remember is that every citation should also have a
corresponding entry in your reference list.

Difference between Citation and Reference

Main Difference – Citation vs Reference
In academic writing, whenever you are talking about someone else’s ideas, opinions or findings,
etc, you have to use citation and referencing. You cannot mention another’s ideas as your own;
using someone else’s ideas and not including reference or citation is considered an academic
theft, which is known as plagiarism. Citation is mentioning the source of the idea in the text
itself whereas reference is a list of sources given at the end of the work. This is the main
difference between citation and reference.
Why reference?
 To avoid plagiarizing
 To pass your essays and assignments
 To demonstrate that you have used a variety of sources during your research
 To tell your reader where to find your sources
 To back up your own points with recognized sources of information

What is a Citation?
A citation indicates the source of your information. It tells the readers from where you took the
ideas and information. This is done in the text itself. There are different ways of adding citation
to your work. One of the most popular ways is mentioning the name of the author/s and the year
of publication. This method is followed in APA style.
The process of heating wine for preservation purposes has been known in China since 1117.
(Hornsey, Spencer, and Bacon, 2003)
This can also be phrased as,
Hornsey, Spencer and  Bacon (2003) report that the process of heating wine for preservation
purposes has been known in China since 1117.
Some of the academic departments or disciplines and the referencing method they usually
subscribe to are presented in the table 1 below.

Table 1: Distribution of Academic Departments and Their Likely Referencing Methods

Methods The Subscribing Departments/Disciplines
Harvard Method
All Language Studies, History, Arts, and Literary studies,
Theology, Sociology, Criminology, etc.
APA Method
Social and behavioral sciences such as Education Library
and Information Science, management Sciences, Nursing,
other behavioural and Social Science disciplines.
Vancouver Method
Medicine, Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics,
Physics, Zoology, Plant and Biotechnology Departments,
etc.
MLA Method
Linguistics and Literary Subjects
Basics of citing a personal communication
Personal communications may include private letters, memos, some electronic communications
(like e-mails), personal interviews, and telephone conversations. The defining characteristic of a
personal communication is that it does not provide recoverable data. For example, when you are
conducting a personal interview, the reader would never be able to access a transcript of that
interview.
When you are citing a personal communication in text, APA asks that you always use the
source's first initial and full last name, like this: J. Smith, K. Cho, or N. Ramachandran.
Even though this person might be a friend or someone you know personally, APA still requires
you to use the person's first initial and full last name. This rule applies to every instance where
you use the source's name in your paper.

How to Cite an Interview in APA

APA reference lists only include works that can be found by the reader. As a personal interview
is not published or “findable,” it should not be included in an APA reference list. Instead, a
personal interview should be referenced as a parenthetical citation. For example: (J. Smith,
personal communication, May 17, 2008).
If you would like to include a personal interview as part of your APA reference list, then include
the interviewee, the date of the interview, and the type of interview.
Personal communication in the text of your document should include:
 Date of communication.
 Type of communication - oral, written or email (include email address).
 If appropriate, the affiliation of the correspondent to a University or organization
Structure:
Last name, FI. (Year, Month date). Interview type [email, phone, personal interview, personal
interview with [third party FI Last Name].
Example:

 Cloyd, A. (2014, July 29). Personal interview.

 Fruity candy is much better than chocolate (J. Smith, personal communication, October
10, 2010).
  J. Smith proudly stated that fruity candy is much better than chocolate (personal
communication, October 10, 2010).

Conversation
 In a conversation with J. T. Marsh, MD (March 2013) ...

Letter
 According to a letter by T. B. Patterson (Assoc. Prof., Dept of Microbiology, Monash
University) in September 2012 ...
 According to M. J. Beach, PhD (written communication, August 2011) ...

Email
 In an email from X. Rogers, PhD (xavier.rogers@monash.edu) in July 2012 ...

In-Text One Work by One Author [6.11]

In-Text One Work by One Author [6.11]

 Use the author’s surname, the date of publication, page and/or paragraph numbers
 Do not include initials or full0 names of the author’s first name

 
Examples one work by one author in narrative and paraphrase:
Capps (2008) noted…
 
Capps (2008) reported…
 
In 2008, Capps found…
 
 
Example of one work by one author in paraphrase:
The field of social work covers many areas (Hughes, 2008).
 
 
Example of one work by one author in narrative and quote:
Milgram (1963) reported, “Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social
life as one can point to” (p. 371).
 
 
Example of one work by one author in quote:
 “Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to”
(Milgram, 1963, p. 371).
 
 
 
In-Text One Work by Two to Five Authors [6.12]
In-Text One Work by Two to Five Authors [6.12]

 Use the authors’ surnames, the date of publication, page and/or paragraph numbers
 Do not include initials or full names of the authors’ first names
 When using a narrative, write out the authors’ surnames with the word and
 When not using a narrative, write out the authors’ surnames and use an ampersand
[&]

 
 
Examples of two to five authors in narrative and paraphrase:
Berry and Sabatier (2010) noted…
 
Francis, Berger, Giardini, Steinman, and Kim (2009) reported…
 
In 2009, Mason and Duba found…
 
 
Example of two to five authors in paraphrase:
The field of social work covers many areas (Hughes & Green, 2008).
 
 
Example of two to five authors in narrative and quote:
Bronstein, Mizrahi, Korazim-Korosy, and McPhee (2010) noted, “Social workers are
often participating in or leading collaborations at the micro level, including clinical
teamwork” (p. 459).
 
 
Example of two to five authors in quote:
“Social workers are often participating in or leading collaborations at the micro level,
including clinical teamwork” (Bronstein, Mizrahi, Korazim-Korosy, & McPhee, 2010, p.
459).
In-Text One Work of Six or More Authors [6.12]
In-Text One Work of Six or More Authors [6.12]

 Use the first author’s surname, then write et al., the date of publication, page and/or
paragraph numbers
 Do not include initials or full names of the authors’ first name
 When using a narrative, write out the first authors’ surname and then write et al.
 When not using a narrative, write out the first authors’ surname and then write et al.
 
 
Example of six or more authors in narrative and paraphrase:
Woodhouse et al. (2010) noted…
 
Austen et al. (2009) reported…
 
In 2009, Steinman et al. found…
 
 
Example of six or more authors in paraphrase:
The field of social work covers many areas (Hughes et al., 2008).
 
 
Example of six or more authors in narrative and quote:
Hien et al. (2010) noted, “When treating patients with combined PTSD and substance
abuse, a prevailing clinical concern has been that discussion of past trauma or PTSD
symptoms could increase arousal and stress and could either exacerbate substance
use or cause patients to flee treatment” (p. 617).
 
 
Example of six or more authors in quote:
“When treating patients with combined PTSD and substance abuse, a prevailing clinical
concern has been that discussion of past trauma or PTSD symptoms could increase
arousal and stress and could either exacerbate substance use or cause patients to flee
treatment” (Hien et al., 2010, p. 617).
Citing an Author or Authors
A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses each time
you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the
ampersand in parentheses.
Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...
(Wegener & Petty, 1994)
A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses
the first time you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text
and use the ampersand in parentheses.
(Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993)
In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal
phrase or in parentheses.
(Kernis et al., 1993)
In et al., et should not be followed by a period.
Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in
parentheses.
Harris et al. (2001) argued...
(Harris et al., 2001)
Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal
phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized;
titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. APA style calls for capitalizing
important words in titles when they are written in the text (but not when they are written in
reference lists).
A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using Citations,"
2001).
Note: In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name
(Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.
Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention
the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the
source.
According to the American Psychological Association (2000),...
If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first
time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.
First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000)
Second citation: (MADD, 2000)
Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two
or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically),
separated by a semi-colon.
(Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)
Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.
(E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998)
Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the
same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in
the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.
Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that...
Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface,
Foreword, or Afterword in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual.
(Funk & Kolln, 1992)
Personal Communication: For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person
communication, cite the communicator's name, the fact that it was personal communication, and
the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list.
(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).
A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (personal
communication, November 3, 2002).
Citing Indirect Sources
If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal
phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the
parentheses.
Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).
Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try
to locate the original material and cite the original source.
Electronic Sources
If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date
style.
Kenneth (2000) explained...
Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal
phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for
"no date").
Another study of students and research decisions discovered that students succeeded with
tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.).
Sources Without Page Numbers
When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will
help readers find the passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered
paragraphs, use the abbreviation "para." followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001, para. 5).
If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes headings, provide the appropriate
heading and specify the paragraph under that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like
webpages, people can use the "find" function in their browser to locate any passages you cite.
According to Smith (1997), ... (Mind Over Matter section, para. 6).
Note: Never use the page numbers of webpages you print out; different computers print
webpages with different pagination