In our research, technical, or science papers, it is common that we have a lot of sources from different books and publications. We need them in order to gather some facts, ideas, images, and many other important information. You may also see essay writing examples.
Using words or ideas from other authors without acknowledging them and citing them is a form of plagiarism, the act of stealing someone’s ideas and using it as its own. This is something that every writer must avoid not only to have a good credibility but also to come up with fresh and novel ideas and notions. You may also like short essay examples & samples.
Citing the authors or the publications in your essay is one thing that you must not forget to do. There are a lot of citation styles that you can use depending on the subject area that you are working on and on the paper that you are writing, and this will be fully discussed in the succeeding sections. You may also check out what are the parts of an essay?
For now, below are some examples of reference essays that you might find useful for your write-up. Additionally, there are other examples of essays that might interest you.
A citation is a way to show within the body of your text a published work such as a book, an article, a chapter of a book, or website, informing the readers that they are your source or sources from which you took your words, ideas, figures, images, and many other important information. The details of these citations can be found in bibliographies and reference lists and are also collected in article and book databases. You may also see essay writing examples & samples.
A citation consists of standard elements, the information necessary to identify and track down a certain publication. The elements in a citation are as follows:
There are a lot of different presentation on this elements depending on the reference style that the author is using, and this will be discussed in the later part of this article. You may also like concept essay examples.
Citations are important in many ways because they are used:
1. To let your readers know that you’ve done proper research in order to get the information that you present in your paper
2. To be a responsible scholar by acknowledging and giving credit to other authors
3. To let your readers be informed for them to be able to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper through footnotes, a bibliography, or reference list. You may also check out sample essay outlines.
There are two elements of referencing that you must know and apply in your papers. They are as follows:
This indicates to the reader that certain ideas, concepts, phrases, or words are attributable to other authors.
This provides the full citation details for all sources referred to in the document such as those basic elements of a citation mentioned in the previous section. You might be interested in tips for writing an effective essay.
There are two systems that are commonly used for referencing, and they are the following:
This involves the use of sequential numbers as in-text markers such as footnotes, the notes included at the end of each page, and endnotes, the notes that can be found at the end of a paper. This is typically used in Chicago 16th Edition and Vancouver Reference Styles. You may also see descriptive essay examples.
This is also known as the author-date referencing and involves the use of a partial reference, only the author and the date, contained within a parenthesis with the complete details on the last page of the whole document. This is commonly used in APA, Harvard, and MLA reference styles. You may also like persuasive essay examples & samples.
There are different referencing or citation styles that an author can use in his or her write-up depending on the requirement or author’s preference. The common reference styles are APA, MLA, Oxford, Harvard, and Chicago Reference Styles. Here is a brief discussion with regard to the different reference styles that you can use in your paper. You may also check out self-introduction essay examples & samples.
The in-text citation must contain basic information of the source which are as follows:
For example:
When testing the usability of a website, it is necessary to gather demographic information about the users (Lazar, 2006).
This is needed when the information or idea you are using is from another source. Similarly, when you paraphrased, summarized, or quoted another author, you must also provide a citation in the text, hence, and in-text citation. You might be interested in descriptive essay examples & samples.
There are some cases when there are two different sources but the same author and year of publication are the same. To distinguish them, a lower-case letter must be attached to the year.
The quotations must be enclosed in quotation marks with the reference citation following the quotations.
For example:
When gathering data it is important to remember that “only relevant types of demographic information should be requested” (Lazar, 2006, p. 52).
Quotations must be identical to the original source, but some small changes are acceptable. You may also see informative essay examples & samples.
Usually, the reference list is presented at the end of the paper. Each reference must have the following parts:
For example:
Bowker, N., & Tuffin, K. (2002). Users with disabilities’ social and economic development through online access. In M. Boumedine (Ed.), Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Information and Knowledge Sharing (pp. 122–127). Anaheim, CA: ACTA Press. You may also like samples of formal essays.
The in-text citation must contain basic information of the source which are as follows:
For example:
Billy has the ability to relate to others with his voice (Vonnegut 36).
Similarly, this is needed when the information or idea you are using is from another source. Similarly, when you paraphrased, summarized, or quoted another author, you must also provide a citation in the text, hence, an in-text citation. You may also check out high school essay examples & samples.
The quotations must be enclosed in quotation marks with the reference citation following the quotations.
For example:
When gathering data it is important to remember that “only relevant types of demographic information should be requested” (Lazar, 2006, p. 52).
Quotations must be identical to the original source, but some small changes are acceptable.
Usually, the reference list is presented at the end of the paper. Each reference must have the following parts:
For example:
New Zealand Writers Guild. “Writing for television: A beginners guide.” New Zealand Writers Guild. 2005. Web. 28 June 2011. You might be interested in personal essay examples & samples.
The in-text citation must contain only a footnote.
In-text example:
Every living creature in the sea contains iron.
Footnote example:
Stella Cottrell, The Study Skills Handbook (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). You may also see photo essay examples & samples.
Usually, the reference list is presented at the end of the paper. Each reference must have the following parts:
For example:
Cottrell, Stella, The Study Skills Handbook (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
The in-text citation must contain basic information of the source which are as follows:
For example:
When testing the usability of a website, it is necessary to gather demographic information about the users (Lazar 2006).
This is similar to APA Reference Style but without comma between the name of the author and the date. You may also see evaluation essay examples.
The quotations must be enclosed in quotation marks with the reference citation following the quotations.
For example:
When gathering data it is important to remember that “only relevant types of demographic information should be requested” (Lazar, 2006, p. 52).
Quotations must be identical to the original source, but some small changes are acceptable. You may also like analytical essay examples & samples.
Closely similar to Oxford Reference Style, in this style, the authors are identified by a number in the text, and the details are indexed in the form of a footnote or an endnote.
When a source is first used, the complete information must be presented such as the author, title, publisher, year, and page number. If it is cited again, a shortened version can be used. You may also check out argumentative essay examples.
For example:
Cottrell¹ emphasises the use of outside source materials in academic writing. When writing an assignment, this will form the crucial second step.²
The footnote or endnote will appear as follows:
1. Stella Cottrell, The Study Skills Handbook, 3rd ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 181.
2. Cottrell, The Study Skills Handbook, 176.
These are the common reference styles that you can use in your paper, and hopefully the discussion and examples presented above enlightened you and helped you a lot.
