When you use external sources in a paper, the references have to be credited with a citation. There are different specific formats for citing the sources and they have to be strictly followed throughout.
Writing a thesis, dissertation, academic paper or other essay calls for detailed research from different sources. The student is also required to include quotations or at least paraphrase part of the original text as this will lend both clarity and credibility to the academic writing.
However, plagiarism issues enter the picture, and the writer should ideally credit the source by providing a citation. The citation refers to the original work thus maintaining the intellectual honesty of the writer even though it adds weight to the arguments or conclusions presented in the paper.
How to cite a source
A citation usually mentions the author’s name, title of the book/paper, year of publication, publishing house, etc. This can be provided in-text or as a footnote along with a reference in the bibliography. There are certain specified formats – known as citation styles – which dictate how the information about the source should be ordered.
The most common of these are –
Writing a thesis, dissertation, academic paper or other essay calls for detailed research from different sources. The student is also required to include quotations or at least paraphrase part of the original text as this will lend both clarity and credibility to the academic writing.
However, plagiarism issues enter the picture, and the writer should ideally credit the source by providing a citation. The citation refers to the original work thus maintaining the intellectual honesty of the writer even though it adds weight to the arguments or conclusions presented in the paper.
A citation usually mentions the author’s name, title of the book/paper, year of publication, publishing house, etc. This can be provided in-text or as a footnote along with a reference in the bibliography. There are certain specified formats – known as citation styles – which dictate how the information about the source should be ordered.
The most common of these are –
- American Psychological Association (APA) - Author’s last name followed by the year of publication in brackets. A comma separates the name and year.
- Modern Language Association (MLA) – There are different editions of this parenthetical citation style and the latest one requires the author’s surname followed by page number.
- Chicago/Turabian - This supports two styles: Notes and Bibliography, Author-Date. In the former, sources are cited in footnotes at the bottom and full source information is given in a bibliography. The latter cites the source in brackets within the main text and provides full information in a reference list.
These citation styles are generally associated with specific disciplines, and therefore, the choice depends on the subject of the paper. The instructor may also specify a style for the paper. For instance, the field of Humanities (like English, Art History, Philosophy, Music, Religion, Language, Linguistics, etc.) follows the MLA style while APA is used by Education, Psychology, and Sciences. Chicago Notes & Bibliography is considered appropriate for History while Chicago Author-Date is associated with Physical, Natural or Social Sciences.
In addition to this, there are various other citation formats, like Harvard, Oxford, ASA, AMA, IEEE, etc. that are also specific to certain disciplines like Economics, Medicine, Chemistry, Engineering and so on.
Moreover, some of the citation styles also have specific rules for the formatting of the paper itself. This includes the cover page, margins, spacing, font size, titles, headings and also how to write numbers and abbreviations.
Following the citation style
Students are required to strictly adhere to the chosen/specified citation format throughout the paper. Any deviation or errors will make the document look inconsistent and may also be frowned down upon by the instructors.
This is where professional editing and proofreading comes into play. Professional dissertation proofreading will ensure that the references are correct and formatted exactly as required.
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