Citing

Citing and Referencing

• The sources of information you can document in university assignments
are typically those from an authority.
• In an academic setting, an authority is usually someone who has been the
author of published material. This material may come in the form of……
• Books
• Journal articles
• Published reports
 Citing and Referencing (cont.)

• This kind of information is useful in that it provides evidence,

which may be in the form of –
theoretical ideas,
critical evaluations,
research findings, and
scholarly opinions (even in the form of formulae, diagrams etc)
- to back up the points you are making.
 Citing sources
• There is therefore need to demonstrate evidence of your
literature exploration by including authors you have read in
your writing and mentioning their points of view.
• This technique of referring to authors in your writing is often
termed
citing,
documenting,
or in-text referencing.
 Citing (cont.)
• Example of 2 different ways to cite sources within a sentence:
• According to Masey University (2006), an Engineering student should be
armed with the sound theoretical and practical knowledge in engineering.
• In brackets
An Engineering student should be armed with the sound theoretical and
practical knowledge in engineering (Masey University, 2006).
 Cont.
• To avoid relying on the same verbs when introducing authors into your sentence,
as in the case of “McDonald (1992) says that…” or “Anderson (2003) states
that…”, a list of verbs is provided to add variety to your sentence embedded
citations.

• agrees; asserts that; believes

• claims; comments; concedes that; challenges; concludes; compares

 Citation cont.

defines; describes

examines; explains; explores; echoes

feels; focuses on; goes further; holds that

insists; includes; identifies

 Language
Simple and direct language
• Always choose the simplest way of saying something. Choose a simple
word rather than a difficult one, a concrete word in preference to an
abstract one, a familiar word instead of a rare one.
• Complex, hard-to understand sentences are rarely good sentences. Good
scientific writing communicates in simple terms, even though the subject
may be complicated. Repeated use of unnecessarily difficult, abstract
words and phrases makes the subject hard to understand.