Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

SESSION IX:
LITERATURE SEARCH AND
REFERENCES
 Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Referencing Literature: Reference

Styles

De Montfort University, Leicester

University of Auckland
 Objectives of the Lecture

• To understand what references are and the need to

reference in scientific reports

• To learn the reference styles with particular focus on the

Harvard style of referencing
 What is a reference?

• “Give credit where credit is due”

• It is important to give credit to authors whose ideas,

words, etc are used in scientific write-ups or reports

• A reference is a detailed bibliographic description of the

item from which you gained your information

• References are briefly cited within the text, and then

given in full at the end of your work in a reference list
 In cases of no in-text referencing

• Any other items read for background information but not

referred to in the text should be given in full at the end of
your work in a bibliography
 Why does one need to reference?

• Enable the reader to locate the sources you have used

• Help support your arguments and provide your work with

credibility

• Show the scope and breadth of your research

• Acknowledge the source of an argument or idea

– Failure to do so could result in a charge of plagiarism
 What is Plagiarism

• Also known as “academic theft”

• It is using someone’s words and/or ideas without due

credit to holders of such ideas, thus presenting it as
one’s own
 What is Plagiarism

• Copying and pasting verbatim from a source (internet,

textbook, journal etc.)

• Incorporating a direct phrase or sentence that sounds

nice into your work without citation and/or quotation
marks
 Forms of Plagiarism

• Direct lifting without citation (Common type: Copy and

Paste)

• Direct lifting/quote with citation but no quotation marks

(Common among those who think they are not
plagiarizing)
 Forms of Plagiarism…

• Superficial rewording with citation (Copy, paste, edit)

• Complete paraphrase without citation

• Bunch of quotes pooled together or in sequence

All are unacceptable and represents scientific

misconduct
 Less obvious plagiarism

• When you take a sentence directly from a paper, without

quotation marks, even if there is a citation, it’s plagiarism

• If you take multiple sentences from different sources

with only minor changes (or none), it’s still plagiarism,
even with referencing

• You must read and SYNTHESIZE the material and write it

all in your own words
 Paraphrasing
• It’s not just simple rewording

• It involves complete change of

– phrases, clauses,
– sentence structure,
– order of reasoning
– only ideas are retained

• Sometimes summary of a text will do

– You should still provide reference

However for highly technical language especially those from

primary sources, paraphrasing sometimes become
burdensome
DIRECT QUOTING IS YOUR BEST OPTION
 Quoting
• Quote only
– For highly technical language
– When the writer’s choice of words or sentence clearly express an idea in
a unique way
– Can be phrases, clauses, or whole sentences

• After quoting, explain the significance of quotations

• Too much quoting is not acceptable

• Use brackets to show added phrases and ellipsis (…..) for

omitted texts

• REMEMBER to use quotation marks (“ ”) and

• Don’t forget your citation

 These also warrant Citation

• Results of others’ research

• Look up tables
• Charts
• Pictures
• Diagrams
 Where is Citation Unnecessary?

• Common Knowledge (contextual). It’s common

knowledge when
– The information is assumed to be known by your reader and/
or majority of people in the field

– Common knowledge from the original text, when paraphrased

could be left without citation

• Your own reasoning, ideas, deduction, re-analysis, or

inference from others’ ideas

• Your own writing in other sources, although you may

want to quote yourself to establish priority. Caveat:
Copyrights!!!
 Avoiding Plagiarism: An Effective Note-
Taking Process

• Think through the material as you read along before

hurrying to write it down

• Write main ideas and make linkages

• Index cards or jotters may be helpful

• Write full citations during the note-taking period or use

EndNote/Mendeley/Refworks, etc

• Make it a habit to paraphrase every relevant sentence

you write down from a source
 Objectives of the Lecture

• To understand what references are and the need to

reference in scientific reports

• To learn the reference styles with particular focus on the

Harvard style of referencing
 Reference Styles

• Literally hundreds of different referencing styles

• Differs with academic discipline and publishing houses

– Emerald, Taylor and Francis, Elsevier, etc

• Whichever system you use, it is important that you are

consistent in its application
 Some discipline specific reference styles

• Arts
– Harvard, Chicago, MLA, APA, University of Auckland Style

• Business and Economics

– APA

• Creative Arts and Industries

– APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA

• Engineering
– Harvard, Chicago, etc

• Medical and Health Sciences

– Vancouver, APA
Some discipline specific reference styles in
the Sciences
Department Style
Biological Sciences APA
Chemistry ACS
Not prescribed, although APA and IEEE styles may
Computer Science be used
Environmental
Science Not prescribed
Food Science Harvard
Forensic Science APA
Geology Harvard
Marine Science APA
Mathematics Not prescribed
Physics Harvard
The University of Auckland, 2013
 The Harvard Style

• Harvard came originally from "The Bluebook: A Uniform

System of Citation" published by the Harvard Law
Review Association

• The Harvard style and its many variations are used in law,
natural sciences, social and behavioural sciences, and
medicine
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text

• Generally, in internal references the surname of the

author and year of publication are cited

• If author name is James Robert Jones and year of

publication is 2012
– (Jones, 2012)
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text…

• If author’s name is part of a statement put only the year

in brackets
– Jones (2012) has provided evidence to support this statement

• For two authors

– (Bellamy and Taylor, 1998)
– Bellamy and Taylor (1998)
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text…

• If there are more than 3 authors cite only the first

followed by “et al.” (which means “and others”)

– “The kernel meal of the cashew is rich in essential amino acids

that are normally lacking in some plants; lysine and methionine
(Ekpeyong et al., 1997)…”

• If used in statement
– Ekpeyong et al. (1997)
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text…

• If an author has published more documents in the same

year, distinguish them by adding lower-case letters
– Smith (2014a, 2014b, 2014c)…
 The Harvard style: Secondary referencing

• When an author quotes or cites another author and you

wish to cite the original author you should first try to
trace the original item

• If it is not possible, then acknowledge both sources in

the text, but only include the item you actually read in
your reference list
 The Harvard style: Secondary referencing

• Example:

• If Jones discusses the work of Smith you could use:

– Smith (2012) as cited by Jones (2013)

– Smith’s 2012 study (cited in Jones, 2013) shows that…

• Then cite Jones in full in your reference list

 How about information found in more than
one source?
• If you find information in more than one source, you may
want to include all references to strengthen your
argument

– Place them in order or publication date (earliest first)

– Separate the references using semi-colon (;)

• Several writers (Jones, 2011; Owiredu, 2013; Smith, 2014)

have reported that…
 The reference list/Bibliography

• Full references of sources used should be listed as a

reference list at the end of your work

• This list of references is arranged alphabetically usually

by author

• You may also be required to include a bibliography which

should list not only all items used within the text but also
any other sources you have read as part of your research
 Examples of a Reference list

• MAIMON, D. and BROWNING, C.R. (2012) Adolescents’

violent victimization in the neighbourhood: situational and
contextual determinants. British journal of criminology, 52
(4), pp. 808-833.

• Borget, J.L., Briggs, G.M. and Galloway, D.H. (1994),

“Nutrition and Physical fitness”, International Journal of
Food Science and Nutrition, Vol. 45, pp. 223-230.

• Olaofe, O.F., Adeyemi, O. and Adediran, G.O. (1994). Amino

acid and mineral composition and functional properties of
some oil seeds, Journal of Agriculture Food Chemistry,
Vol. 42, pp. 867-884.
 What I have talked about so far

• Myriad number of referencing styles

– But be consistent in whichever system you use

• Some referencing styles are discipline specific

– APA is the most commonly used
– Harvard style is what is used in Food Science

• Citation in text
– Secondary referencing

• Reference list
 How to reference books

• Author(s) (Year) Title. Edition – if not the 1st. Place of

publication: Publisher.

– CLARKE, S. (2011) Textile design. London: Laurence King.

– SEIDMAN, S. (2012) Contested knowledge. 5th ed. Hoboken,
New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.

• Note: It is required/very important to include the page

numbers where references were taken
– Nieman, D.C., Butter, W. and Nieman, C.N. (1992), Nutrition: Wm,
C. Brown publishers, Dubugme, pp. 9, 540.
 Books with more than two authors

• Light, G., Cox, R. and Calkin, S. (2009). Learning and

teaching in higher education: the reflective professional.
2nd ed. London: Sage.

• List all the names of authors once in the reference

section
 Chapters in books

• AUTHOR(S) (Year) Title of chapter. In: AUTHOR(S)/

EDITOR(S), (ed./eds.) Book title. Edition. Place of
publication: Publisher, Pages, use p. or pp.

• TUCKMAN, A. (1999) Labour, skills and training. In:

LEVITT, R. et al. (eds.) The reorganised National Health
Service. 6th ed. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes, pp.
135-155.

• Note: Electronic books should be cited exactly the same

as print, following the rules above
 References from journal articles

• AUTHOR(S) (Year) Title of article. Title of journal, Vol. no.

(Part no./Issue/Month), Pages, use p. or pp.

– MAIMON, D. and BROWNING, C.R. (2012) Adolescents’ violent

victimization in the neighbourhood: situational and contextual
determinants. British journal of criminology, 52 (4), pp. 808-833.

– Maimon, D. and Browning, C.R. (2012). Adolescents’ violent

victimization in the neighbourhood: situational and contextual
determinants. British journal of criminology. 52 (4): 808-833.

– Maimon, D. and Browning, C.R. (2012), Adolescents’ violent

victimization in the neighbourhood: situational and contextual
determinants, British journal of criminology, 52 (4): 808-833.
 References from journal articles

• When journal is taken from internet or a database, it

should be cited as print using the rules earlier discussed

• Only include the web address or database name if there

are no page numbers and just use the main web address,
not the unique address of the individual article

– Stamm, M.C. (2013). Information forensics: an overview of the

first decade. IEEE Access, 1. Available from http://www.ieee.org/
IEEEAccess.
 Referencing Newspaper articles

• AUTHOR(S) (Year) Article title. Newspaper title, Day and

Month (abbreviated). Pages, use p. or pp.
– Aldrick, P. (2014). It’s not just academic: universities could make
a difference to Britain’s exports. The Times, 9th Jan. p. 45.

• Where there is no page number e.g. for an online

newspaper use the source, and add the date accessed
– Goodley, S. (2012) Bank of England cuts UK growth forecasts.
Guardian, 8th Aug. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk
[Accessed 20/10/13].
 Papers in conferences

• AUTHOR(S) (Year) Title. In: Title of conference

proceedings. Place and date of conference (unless
included in title). Place of publication: Publisher, Pages,
use p. or pp.

• Chan, T.M. (2011). Three problems about dynamic

convex hulls. In: Proceedings of the 27th Annual
Symposium on Computational Geometry, Paris, June
2011. New York: ACM, pp. 27-37.
 Publications from a corporate body (e.g.
Government publications)

• NAME OF ISSUING BODY (Year) Title. Place of

publication: Publisher, Report no. (where relevant).

– FAO (1990). Report on malnutrition. Elsevier. London: HMSO, Cm

413.
 Still on references…

• Acts of Parliament
– Title of the Act and year (chapter number of the act; abbreviated
to ‘c.’). Place of publication: Publisher.
– Environment Act 2005 (c. 25). London: The Stationery Office.

• Market research reports

– NAME OF ISSUING BODY (Year) Title, date (if available). Edition
(if available). Place of publication: Publisher, Report no. (if
relevant)
– MINTEL (2012) Coffee: Mintel marketing report, April 2012.
London: Mintel International.
 Still on references…

• Standards (GSA, ISO, etc.)

– NAME OF AUTHORISING ORGANISATION (Year of publication)
Number and title of standard. Place of publication: Publisher.
– BRITISH STANDARDS INSTITUTE (2008) BS ISO 8178-2:
Reciprocating internal combustion engines – exhaust emission
measurement. London: British Standards Institute.

• Theses and dissertations

– AUTHOR (Year) Title. Designation (Level, e.g. MSc, PhD.),
Institution.
– FENG, W. (2010) Remote service provision for connected homes.
Unpublished thesis (PhD.), De Montfort University.
 Referencing webpages (Electronic
referencing)
• Electronic references should contain the following elements
– AUTHOR(S) (Year) Title of document. [Type of resource]
Organisation responsible (optional). Available from: web address
[Accessed date].

– NHS (2012) Mobile phone safety. [Online] NHS. Available from: http:
//www.nhs.co.uk/conditions/Mobile-phone-safety/Pages/
Introduction.aspx [Accessed 08/08/12].

• If you are referencing an electronic journal article, newspaper

article or book, use the standard referencing format for that
item.
 How to reference a Software

• Individual authors are rarely acknowledged

• If you cannot find a named author of an electronic

source then use the organisation or title in place of the
author

• AUTHOR(S) or ORIGINATOR(S) (Year) Title. [Software]

Version/series etc. Place of publication: Publisher.
– SPSS (2004) SPSS for Windows. [Software] Version 12.0.1.
Chicago: SPSS.
Introduction to Endnote
(A reference tool)