A Friendly Guide To Effective Citing and Referencing

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A (Somewhat)

Friendly Guide to
Effective Citing and
Referencing
IB English A: Language and Literature
IB English B
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Contents

What is citation?....................................................................................................................................4
Why should I cite sources?....................................................................................................................4
What kind of sources are these?...........................................................................................................4
When do I need to cite?........................................................................................................................5
How do I cite?........................................................................................................................................5
In-Text References.................................................................................................................................5
Citing an Author or Authors...................................................................................................................7
Images, figures and tables.....................................................................................................................9
List of References................................................................................................................................11

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What is citation?
A citation is the way you tell the reader of your research that some of the ideas and concepts you
have used in your paper came from a source. This also includes pictures, graphs or any other visual
material you have not made yourself. It could also include a direct quote from an author or an
example to clarify a point you are making. It also gives your readers the information necessary to
find that source again, including:

 Information about the author.


 The title of the work.
 The name and location of the company that published your copy of the source.
 The date your copy was published.
 The page numbers of the material you are borrowing.

Why should I cite sources?


Giving credit to the original author by citing sources is the only way to use other people’s work
without plagiarizing. But there are a number of other reasons to cite sources:
 Citations are extremely helpful to anyone
who wants to find out more about your ideas
and where they came from.
 Not all sources are good or right – your own
ideas may often be more accurate or
interesting than those of your sources
 Citing sources shows the amount of research
you have done.
 Citing sources strengthens your work by
lending outside support to your ideas.

What kind of sources are these?


As creators/authors, we are expected to acknowledge any materials or ideas that are not ours and
that have been used in any way, such as quotation, paraphrase or summary. The term “materials”
means written, oral or electronic products, and may include the following.

Text Artistic Letters


Visual Lectures Broadcasts
Audio Interviews Maps
Graphic Conversations

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When do I need to cite?
Whenever you borrow words or ideas, you need to acknowledge the source. The following
situations almost always require citation:

 Whenever you use quotes.


 Whenever you paraphrase or summarize a piece of text.
 Whenever you use an idea that someone else has already expressed.
 Whenever you make specific reference to the work of another.

How do I cite?
When we cite, we should make clear what it is that we are citing. It must be clear to the reader just
what it is that we owe to someone else, and whether we have quoted exactly or have used our own
words and understanding of the original material.
The reader must be able to distinguish clearly between our words/work and the words/work
of others. Quotations—the exact words as used by others—are indicated either by quotation marks
or by displaying (indenting) the quotation.
Paraphrase and summary of others’ work should similarly be distinguishable from our own
words and ideas.

In order to cite consistently, a style guide is used. There are


several style guides, such as MLA, Chicago and APA. You should
use APA regulations. See below for a couple of examples and for
a full guide on APA regulations see the APA guidelines:
http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/index.aspx

In-Text References

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics

 Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
 If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters
long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to
short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New
Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.

(Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new
media.)

 When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-
Born Cyborgs.

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 Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of
Hitchcock's Vertigo."
 Italicize the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television series,
documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The Wizard of Oz; Friends.
 Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from
edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia Narration:
Constructing Possible Worlds"; "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and
the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase
that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style,
especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what
implications does this have for teachers?

If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication,
and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199),
but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

Long quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words, or longer, in a free-standing block of typewritten lines,
and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin,
i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new
margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the
new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the
closing punctuation mark.

Jones's (1998) study found the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their
first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that
many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for
help. (p. 199)

Summary or paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author
and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide
the page number (although it is not required.)

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According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time

learners.

APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).

Citing an Author or Authors


1. A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each
time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and
use the ampersand in the parentheses.

Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...

(Wegener & Petty, 1994)

2. 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 the 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)

Note: In et al., et should not be followed by a period.

3. 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)

4. 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 or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks.

A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using
APA," 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.

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5. 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)

6. 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)

7. Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last
names.

(E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998)

8. 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...

9. Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface,


Foreword, or Afterwords in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual.

(Funk & Kolln, 1992)

10. 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.

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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 Web pages,
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 Web pages you print out; different computers print
Web pages with different pagination.

Images, figures and tables

The International Baccalaureate also requires you to reference images. In a Written Assignment
(havo) or a Written Task 1 (vwo), it is best to use a footnote and put the reference in there, as a
caption will often interfere with the lay-out and authentic look of the text type. In a Written Task 2,
you should use a caption.

A caption should include:

 The word Figure (with a capital letter and in italics)


 A number (from 1, in numerical order)
 A title for the figure or brief description of the work
 An in-text citation for the reference of the source (if not your own work), which includes the
Author(s), date and page number for the source, i.e. (Smith, 2010, p.13)

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If you got the image from

 A BOOK, reference it as you would a quotation from a book


 A JOURNAL, reference as you would a quotation from a journal
 A WEB PAGE, reference it as you would a quotation from a web page

Image etc. taken from a book source

Figure 1. Social distances of animals (Fowler, 2008, p. 13)


Reference
Fowler, M. (2008). Restraint and handing of wild and domestic animals (3rd ed.).
Ames, IA: Wiley Blackwell.

Image taken from a journal

Figure 2. Male holotye of Hypsiboas gladiator (Kholer et al., 2010, p. 584).


Reference
Kohler, J., Koscinski, D., Padial, J. M., Chaparro, J. C., Handford, P., Lougheed, S.
C., & Riva, I. (2010). Systematics of Andean gladiator frogs of the Hypsiboas
pulchellus species groug (Annuar, Hylidae). Zoologica Scripta, 39(6), 572-
590. doi:10.111/j.1463-6409.2010.00448.x

Image taken from the internet

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Figure 3. Fantail vector (McMillan, 2009).

Reference
McMillan, T. (2009). Fantail vector. Retrieved 25 March 2009, from
http://www.kiwiwise.co.nz/photo/fantail-vector

List of References
An alphabetical overview of all the sources you have used appears at the end of your written work,
on a new page headed by the word “References” (without quotation marks).

You have to use ‘hanging’ indentation. Below, an example is provided that includes the works from
your IB reading lists.

References

Boyne, J. (2012). The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Random House.

Brontë, E. (1992). Wuthering Heights. Ware: Wordsworth Editions Ltd.

Coetzee, J. M. (2004). Waiting for the Barbarians. London: Vintage.

Coleridge, S. T. (1834). The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The Poetry Foundation.
Retrieved 17 January 2018, from
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-
mariner-text-of-1834
Lee, H. (1988). To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing.

Orwell, G. (2008). Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin Books.

Satrapi, M. (2009). Persepolis (Film Tie-In edition). London: Vintage Books.

Shakespeare, W. (2005). Macbeth. In S. Wells & G. Taylor (Eds.),William Shakespeare: The


Complete Works (2nd edition) (pp. 1307–1338). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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