Referencing Guidelines

Bibliographic Citation or Reference

A bibliographic citation is a brief reference that a researcher includes in the text to the sources of material they used. It is helpful to demonstrate that the idea that a researcher presents in his or her writing—whether it be through a direct citation, summary, or paraphrase—comes from another researcher or researchers whose works are consulted. In academic writing, referencing a source demonstrates the breadth and quality of the research project.

Reasons of Referencing
  • Acknowledge other peoples’ ideas.
  • It is evidence of the substantiality and factual foundation of study.
  • It provides support for the validity, dependability, and/or trustworthiness of the study's conclusions and findings.
  • It enables curious readers to keep track of and pursue the referenced works in order to expand their knowledge.
  • It is the only valid way to avoid plagiarism as an academic offence.
  • Provide proof of the level and scope of reading.
Various Referencing Styles as Follows
  • American Psychological Association style popularly called APA style and American Sociological Association (ASA) style.
  • Modern Language Association (MLA) style. It is used in the Liberal Arts and Humanities.
  • Chicago Manual of style called Kate Turabian style.
  • Vancouver Style. It is used in the field of Medicine.
  • American Chemical Society (ACS) Style.
  • Council of Biology Editors (CBE) Style.
  • Colombia Guide on Online Style (CGOS).
  • British Standard Style.
  • Institutional Styles also called In-House Styles such as the University of Ibadan Manual of Style (UIMS).

Popularly Used Referencing Style

APA as Most Popular Referencing Style

Citations in APA style are made by putting the year of publication and the last name of the author directly into the article's body. This is known as the author/date approach. It is the approved style of the American Psychological Association and is widely used in the social sciences. The American Psychological Association has a separate handbook that covers new electronic media. For more knowing about the referencing style please visit https://apastyle.apa.org/

Harvard Referencing Style

In UK universities, the most widely used referencing style is Harvard. The author and year are mentioned in-text in Harvard style, and a reference list contains all of the source's information.

In-text Citation and Reference List Entry
In-text citation Referencing is an essential academic skill (Pears and Shields, 2019).
Reference list entry Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite them right: The essential referencing guide. 11th edn. London: MacMillan.

For automatically generating accurate Harvard references, Click Here.

For more information, please visit: https://www.mendeley.com/guides/harvard-citation-guide/.

MLA Referencing Style
  • Titles of whole books, plays, films and artworks should be in italics. In the context of using EndNote, this style is referred to MLA-italics.
  • Titles of chapters, articles, essays and poems that are part of longer works should be in “quotation marks” with no italics.
  • ‘Title case’ should be used, i.e. capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles (the, an), prepositions or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle: Gone with the Wind, The Art of War, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
  • The first line of a reference should have a hanging indent.

For more information, visit: https://style.mla.org/.

Some Referencing Methods or Style and Relatable Disciplines
Methods Applicable Departments and Disciplines
Harvard Method All Language Studies, History, Arts and Literary studies, Theology, Sociology, Criminology, etc.
APA Method Social and behavioural 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

Reference Management Software

Mendeley (Desktop):
  • Absolutely No Cost
  • Simple To Utilize
  • Contains Different Citation Styles
  • Suitable for a variety of devices
  • Possesses greater room for storing repositories
  • Extract Pdf Data Automatically
  • Multiple Operating Systems are supported

To deal with Mendeley properly and build up In-Text Citation, some procedures or guidelines need to be followed. To Get the Guidelines click on the following link: Mendeley Guidelines.

And to Get More Information about Mendeley Click the Mendeley Desktop Button.

EndNote (Basic)

EndNote can assist you in:

  • Keep all references, such as tables, figures, charts, and photos, arranged and managed in one location.
  • Utilize many online resources and databases including Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, Ovid, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and others, to import or search for references.
  • To organize and arrange your references, use groups, colour tags, and group sets.
  • Organize, peruse, and mark up your PDF documents.
  • Make and arrange bibliographies according to your preferred style.
  • To create reference lists for photos, tables, articles, and other information in word or other word processing programs, use the CWYW tool in EndNote.
  • Up to 100 researchers can access your library or a specific group using the desktop or web version.
Most Useful Features and Functions:
  • Bringing in references from web-based databases.
  • Searching for references in secluded databases directly from EndNote.
  • Importing PDFs with bibliographic data extracted automatically.
  • Annotating PDFs.
  • Choosing a style from a collection of over 7000 styles or your own customized style.
  • Organizing references in groups or via color tags.
  • Finding Full text articles.
  • Updating references.
  • Citing references while writing (CWYW).
  • Creating a bibliography or recommended reading list.
  • Using EndNote creatively for other purposes, such as systematic reviews, etc.
What’s New at EndNote 21 (Basic):

Visit this video to watch Clarivate's video introducing the new features of EndNote 21, the most recent version of the program.

To Get More Information Visit: EndNote Tutorials.

Zotero

Zotero is software for managing references and bibliographies. It works with a variety of web browsers and is free.

Functions of Zotero:
  • Gather sources for referencing
  • Organize the resources for citation and reference
  • Sort citations according to various styles
  • Integrate Zotero with the internet to create a reference or bibliography in a word document
Zotero

Functions of Zotero:

  • Gather sources for referencing
  • Organize the resources for citation and reference
  • Sort citations according to various styles
  • Integrate Zotero with the internet to create a reference or bibliography in a word document
Facilities of Zotero:
  • Hold all references together in one place
  • Straightforward references taken from databases
  • Automatically formats citations and bibliographies in various styles
  • APA, IEEE etc using Microsoft Word and Open Office
  • Syncing and remote access to the Zotero library are possible
Important Links:
Literature Review for Research (in details)

A literature review is a description, summary, and critical evaluation of scholarly works on a certain topic. A literature review combines both summary (a recap of important information) and synthesis (a reorganization of that information which reflects your approach to a research problem). You may be asked to write a literature review on a certain topic for a class, or you may need to include a literature review as one part of a research paper, thesis or dissertation.

Types of Literature Review that Affect on Research Procedure:
  • Argumentative Review
  • Integrative review
  • Historical review
  • Methodological review
  • Systematic review
  • Theoretical review
Steps that need to be followed in Literature Review:
  • Determine the focus of your literature review
  • Find literature to review that is related to your research topic
  • Evaluate the contribution of each source
  • Synthesize
    • Thematic
    • Chronological
    • Methodological
  • Write the literature review

Why In-Text Citation?

An in-text citation serves the purpose of indicating to your reader where your material is sourced. It includes:

  • Recognize the original author's contribution to avoid plagiarism.
  • Allows readers to verify your claims and do follow-up research.
  • Demonstrates your engagement with the literature in your area of study.

Scholars are perceived as having constant conversations on academic writing, both inside and across different disciplines of study. To keep this dialog continuing, you must demonstrate precisely how your own study connects and borrows from preexisting sources.

An in-text citation should be included whenever you quote or paraphrase a source in your text.

Bibliography

A list of written sources that were utilized to prepare a thesis or research report is called a bibliography. There are several ways to use the bibliography. Such as:

  • Reference: This comprises the list of references to the documents that the work actually uses and cites.
  • Source Consulted: These comprise a comprehensive list of sources, which is not confined to the subject itself.
  • Selected Bibliography: This comprises references that are both cited and pertinent to the topic.
  • Bibliographical Notes: This includes notes along with sources that are referenced.

The bibliographical entry follows an alphabetical order. The alphabetization is based on the last name (surname) of the author. The comprehensive list is divided mainly into two major parts. The first part records the primary sources namely basic texts and classics etc. The second part takes the list of secondary sources such as modern works, articles, unpublished materials and such other works. A separate alphabetical order may be followed for both categories.

Sources of Information that Assist in Research:

Documentary Sources

Primary Sources of Information:

Unprocessed data, interpretations of previously understood concepts or facts, fresh experiments or observations, etc. are examples of primary sources. Primary sources come in a wide range of forms, are numerous, and are dispersed extensively. Periodicals, newspapers, technical reports, dissertations, conference papers, trade and product bulletins, patents, standards, and conference papers are examples of primary sources.

Secondary Sources of Information:
  • Abstracting periodicals
  • Indexing Citation index
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Bibliography
  • Hand Book
Tertiary Sources of Information:
  • Guide to Literature
  • Directory
  • Year Book
  • List of Research in Progress
  • Bibliography of Bibliographies

Non Documentary Sources

Formal
  • Research organizations
  • Societies
  • Industries
  • Government departments
  • Universities
Informal
  • Conversation or discussion
  • Visitors
  • Year Book
  • Attendance at professional meetings informal sources

Plagiarism Guide

What is Plagiarism?

Using someone else's words or ideas without giving them credit is called plagiarism. Even if you are paraphrasing someone else's thoughts and putting them in quotation marks, you still need to provide credit to the original author and sources.

Types of Plagiarism:
  • Word for Word Plagiarism: Accurately replicating the written content of a source.
  • Paraphrasing: Putting another person's work into your own words without giving credit.
  • Copy & Paste Plagiarism: Utilizing text that you have copied and pasted from an electronic source as your own.
  • Word Switch Plagiarism: Merely changing a few words of a statement taken from a source.
  • Style Plagiarism: Replicating the style and format of a source’s writing.
  • Metaphor Plagiarism: Interpreting analogies or metaphors from another source as your own.
  • Idea Plagiarism: Using someone else's own creative concepts.
  • Self-Plagiarism: Repurposing sections of earlier works in later works, either as a paper with a new title or as an assemblage of earlier works.
Why should you be concerned about plagiarism?
  • If you are plagiarizing, you are lying to yourself. You don't learn how to write about yourself or get feedback catered to your own needs and skills. Plagiarism-filled writing is akin to employing a pal to play tennis for you—you'll never earn an ace!
  • Since it presents someone else's work as your own, plagiarism is dishonest.
  • The original work of others is devalued by plagiarism.
  • Taking or using someone else's property—a writer's work—without giving them credit or compensating them fairly is immoral. Moreover, violations of copyright may result in fines or damages.
How to avoid Plagiarism:

In order to avoid plagiarism, you must give credit when:

  • You utilize someone else's concepts, viewpoints, or hypotheses.
  • You employ data such as facts, figures, illustrations, music, drawings, and so on, or any other kind of information that is not generally known.
  • You quote verbatim or from written works written by others.
  • You interpret someone else's written or spoken words.
  • You use writing samples from your own past.
Things to Avoid When Writing:
  • Entire documents from electronic sources copied and pasted.
  • Pasting text from electronic sources without putting it in quotations and giving due credit to the original source.
  • Using third parties to write all or some of your papers.
  • Recapitulating concepts without providing reference.
  • Excising passages from sources without enclosing them in quote marks.
  • Precisely summarizing.
  • Statistical quotations without attribution.
  • Using unfamiliar terminology and sections that you are unable to explain.
  • Utilizing images, recordings, or voiceovers without consent or recognition.
  • A translation from one language to another that does not correctly attribute its source.
  • Not referencing personal interviews, lectures, video chats, or other non-traditional sources.

For Plagiarism Checking please log on to: Turnitin

For Free Plagiarism Checking, Visit Grammarly

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Based on these notions of open, Wiley et al. (2014) provides the following definition of OER: “Educational materials which use a Creative Commons license or which exist in the public domain and are free of copyright restrictions are OER.”

Similarly, UNESCO states: “OER are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.”

Some OER Repository List:
OER Search Engine Aggregators:

The Creative Commons search website adds an open license filter to searches that are begun here and links to other search engines that offer this feature. Creative Commons Search.

Some OER Platforms: