REFERENCING AND CITATION
Dr M. A. Obalola
Dept. of Actuarial Science & Insurance
Faculty of Management Sciences
University of Lagos
INTRODUCTION
Good academic practice requires the use of information, ideas and facts from a
variety of sources to support, evidence and illustrate your work.
The key difference between academic and other types of writing is that it is based
on traceable evidence.
As such, all sources utilised must be acknowledged using a consistent system of
referencing within your work and at the end of your work.
Failure to uphold this convention is tantamount to academic theft (plagiarism), and
leads to poor marks and serious disciplinary measures
PLAGIARISM
 Plagiarism refers to failure to acknowledge works (ideas, writing,
inventions, suggestions, etc.) of others that were used in the course of your
research, and presenting them as if they were yours
 Plagiarism is a serious academic offence (academic cheating) and attract
serious penalty, depending on the extent of copied materials or works
 Plagiarism can be intentional and accidental
 Intentional plagiarism – wilful copying and presentation of other
people’s works as yours (e.g., copy and paste from the internet,
buying of prepared works/essay from the websites
 Accidental plagiarism – unintentional copying of other people’s work
as a results of carelessness, hastiness, and lack of knowledge
AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
 You can avoid plagiarism by –
• Directly quoting an author
• Paraphrasing the idea
• In both instances, the author must be recognised in form of
citation and referencing
• Using plagiarism checking software (e.g., Turnitin)
• Noting your sources by writing them down
 An acceptable paraphrasing involves a significant re-write of the original
idea without a significant loss in meaning
 Merely changing the words, using thesaurus or reordering the words without
mentioning the author(s) does not amount to acceptable paraphrasing and
avoidance of plagiarism
 Paraphrasing –
• Shows your understanding of the concepts and ideas from the original
text
• Gives your reader a broad idea of the key ideas without having to read
the all the source material
• Demonstrates your capability for critical thinking
CATEGORY OF PLAGIARISM - COMPLETE
OMISSION OF THE SOURCE
 ORIGINAL – Most accidents are alcohol-related: 50% are fatalities but not
necessarily of those under alcoholic influence (Annual Police Statistics,
2004; in Milne, 2006)
 STUDENT’S TEXT – The majority of road accidents are alcohol-related
and 50% of theses cases result in a death, but not always of the person who
has consumed the alcohol
 REVISION – A study of police statistics by Milne (2006) reported that
approximately half of road accidents results in a death because one of the
parties involved has been under the influence of alcohol
 COMMENTS = The student has rearranged the order slightly without noting
the source of the data he/she cited. Put plagiarism aside, the students has
failed to explain how the figures were derived and as such represented
heresy and not facts
CATEGORY OF PLAGIARISM – WORD
SUBSTITUTION & MINOR RE-ORDERING
OF ORIGINAL
 ORIGINAL – Post-operative physiotherapy is vital to the improvement in
the quality of life of the elderly patient (Kay, 2003)
 STUDENT’S TEXT – Therapy after surgery is critical to the recovery of the
older patient and their quality of life (Kay, 2003)
 REVISION – Kay (2003) attributes the improved quality of life levels of
elderly patients who have undergone surgery to physiotherapy treatment
(Kay, 2003)
 COMMENTS = The student has used thesaurus to find synonyms and
reversed two points. This action does not convey a good understanding of
the issue. The use of the word ‘attributes’ suggests that the claim is made by
Kay and that the view is not necessarily shared by the reporter
CATEGORY OF PLAGIARISM – USING
WORDS WITH CITATION BUT OMITTING
QUOTATION MARKS
 ORIGINAL – It could be assumed that undergraduate students wrote what
they could write and not what they actually know (Sim, 2006)
 STUDENT’S TEXT – Sim (2006) asserted that students wrote what they
could and not what they actually know
 REVISION – Sim (2006) asserted that students ‘wrote what they could and
not what they actually know’
 COMMENTS = Though the student has cited the source by lifting the exact
words taken from the text , he/she is only doing half the job. The entire word
lifted must be place under inverted commas or quotation marks
CATEGORY OF PLAGIARISM – USING
WORDS WITH QUOTATION MARKS BUT
OMITTING CITATION
 ORIGINAL – It could be assumed that undergraduate students wrote what
they could write and not what they actually know (Sim, 2006)
 STUDENT’S TEXT – Essentially, what was noted was that the students
‘wrote what they could and not what they actually know’
 REVISION – Essentially, it was noted that students ‘wrote what they could
write and not what they actually know’ (Sim, 2006) or Sim (2006) noted that
students ‘wrote what they could and not what they actually know’
 COMMENTS = Though the student has put inverted commas but by not
including the source, he/she has failed to give recognition to the intellectual
property of the author (Sim) and failed to realise that the citation brings
credibility to his/her own work
CAUSES OF PLAGIARISM
Poor time management
Procrastination
Poor sense of prioritisation
Lack of knowledge, though, not an acceptable excuse
CITING & LISTING REFERENCES
 It is conventional in academic that you support your discourse of a
construct or topic with ideas or evidence from other sources or relevant
literature by citing and referencing them
 Therefore, citation and referencing is  To say thank you - when you use something that belongs to someone
else, you normally say thank you. The same principle applies when
you use information and ideas too; it is just good manners!
 To be academic - one of the most significant differences between
academic and other sorts of writing is that academic writing is based
on evidence. If your reader cannot see your evidence, then your work
is not academic.
 To be traceable - As well as being able to see that you have used
evidence your reader needs to be able to go back and look at it
themselves, should they want to. Therefore the in-text reference
signposts people to the reference list and that directs them to the
source. If your reader cannot go from your writing to the source, and
be sure that they are looking at what you looked at, then your
referencing is incomplete.
CITING & LISTING REFERENCES
 In essence, you cite and reference in order to  acknowledge the source of an idea;
 acknowledge other people’s words;
 show what you have read and what has influenced you;
 make it clear that you are not presenting someone else’s ideas or work
as your own;
 provide information to allow the reader or yourself to find the original
source;
 support your assertions, points and arguments;
 show your reader how well you’ve understood a topic by integrating
all of your sources clearly; and
 Show you imbibe good academic practice.
CITING & LISTING REFERENCES
 Referencing is a feature of most academic works and has two components –
 citation - referencing within the text at the point where you use information
from another source. Also referred to as ‘citing in text’, ‘in text citation’,
‘text citation’
 reference list/bibliography – listing of sources at the end of your work. The
two are interrelated but not necessarily the same
 a reference list is an alphabetical list, by author, of all the materials
used directly (all text citations) in the writing of your work.
 bibliography may also include material that you have read to help
develop your understanding, but that you might not have used directly
in your own writing.
CHOOSING SOURCES – INTERROGATION
Relevance and bias
 To what extent is the source relevant and applicable to your
assignment/research project?
 Does the information presented give a partial or restricted view of the
subject?
 How balanced and objective does the language in the source appear to be?
 Are counter-arguments to the author’s own ideas treated with respect? If not,
why not?
Currency
 When was the source originally published? Are the ideas, practices,
assumptions etc. still valid? You need to ask if the ideas expressed are a
product of a particular time and place in history that no longer applies today
 Has the author revised or changed his or her views since the date of the
original source? If so, when, why and how?
Authority
 Is the source authoritative enough to be included in the assignment/research
project? E.g., is the source a credible one - a reputable publishing company
or a peer reviewed journal?
 Do other authors refer to and discuss this source?
 How credible is the source to you? You can turn your own reservations into
a starting point of critical enquiry about it
Scope
 How universal or general are the ideas,
the source?
models or practices described in
 Do they have a limited geographical or occupational application?
 Do the ideas in the source span a range of cultures or are they just applicable
to particular groups?
GOOD POINTS TO NOTE IN
REFERENCING
 Reference list is often used to assess the validity and quality of a piece of
academic work, so you need to bear the following in mind:
 An academic source –
 is one that has been peer reviewed (i.e. other specialists in the
field have read and reviewed it before publication).
 has evidence in the form of citations in the text and/or reference
list from which you can find out information about the author as
a specialist and/or academic in the field about which they are
writing.
 Wikipedia is an example of a non-academic source –
 the information is not peer reviewed and does not always have
citations while those that have are themselves not always
reliable.
 the authors are usually unknown, so you cannot check their
academic or professional backgrounds.
 the source may be a good place to start to obtain basic
information on a subject.
 When using the web, learn to read web addresses. Usually, for
example, .co or .com is a commercial site, .org is a charity or NGO
(non-government organisation) and .gov is a government site.
Countries are also often indicated in the web address. For example,
.co.uk is a British company, while .gov.ng is from the Nigerian
government site. .ac and .edu are educational institutions; .edu is
usually from Nigeria and can include schools; .ac usually denotes
further and higher educational establishments and is followed by
country information.
STAGES OF REFERENCING
Stage 1
NOTING the details of
your sources
Stage 2
INCORPORATING the
references in the text
as you write
Stage 3
COMPILING the
reference list
Stage 4
ENSURING
consistency between
your in-text
references and the
reference list
NOTING THE DETAILS OF YOUR
SOURCES – STAGE 1
 Author - this should be a named person/people, otherwise, the author will
be the name of the company, organisation or newspaper / magazine.
Surnames and the first name initials of all the authors should be noted. For a
chapter in an edited book note the name(s) of the chapter author(s) as well as
the editor(s).
 Year of publication - if this isn’t provided, for example on some webpages,
note ‘nd’ for ‘no date’.
 Title of article/chapter - for journal articles you will also need the article
title and for chapters in edited books you will also need the chapter title.
 Title of publication - this is always needed and may be a journal title, or the
individual titles of an organisation’s webpages.
 Issue Information - this could be the volume and issue number. If there is
no issue number, include the date, for example, for trade press and
newspapers. Note the publication date of certain sources, for example, for
press releases / news reports.
 Place of Publication - this is usually at city/town (not county) level, but
could include the country, if outside the UK.
 Publisher - this is the publishing company and not the printers. In some
instances this could be the name of the website/database.
 Edition - this is only for second edition and beyond.
NOTING THE DETAILS OF YOUR
SOURCES – STAGE 1
 Page number(s) The first and last page numbers need to be noted for
chapters in edited books, journal articles and newspaper / magazine articles.
‘pp’ is an abbreviation of ‘pages’ and ‘p’ is an abbreviation of ‘page’.
 Additionally, you should note specific page numbers which can be
used as part of the in-text citation for ALL applicable source types
(see pages 6 to 12).
 URL - a URL is the web address.
 Do not make use of redirecting sites such as Tiny URL to shorten the
addresses.
 Do not include the web address in the citation; this should only appear
in the reference list.
 Date accessed - a note should be made of the date which an online
electronic source was accessed.
 Database used – a note should be made of the name of the database, for
example, ABI/Inform Global (from ProQuest), EBSCO, Mintel.
INCORPORATING REFERENCES IN THE
TEXT AS YOU WRITE
– STAGE 2
 Referencing within the text (citation) as you write comprises the follow
elements:
 the AUTHOR - this should be surname(s) only (not the first name/initials),
if available, otherwise the name of a company, organisation or
newspaper/magazine;
 the YEAR of publication; AND
 the PAGE NUMBER of what you are referring to.
 Where page numbers are not available, for example for a web page,
then use an appropriate convention such as ‘online’, ‘e-book’, etc.
EXAMPLES OF IN TEXT CITATIONS
Quotations (short & long)
Short (less than three lines)
 Williams (2009, p17) states that a “critical approach to reading starts before
you have read anything.”
Long (more than three lines)
 Students need to learn how to both paraphrase and summarise information
from their reading to use, and reference, in their assignments. It is easy to
confuse the two but Godfrey explains that,
 while a paraphrase expresses all the information contained in a
specific part of a text, a summary gives only the main points from a
much larger section, or from the whole text. Summarising is a
complex skill and one that is central to academic writing and that you
will need both at university and in your future career (2013, p45).
 Use of italics and [ ] bracket in quotations show emphasis and an inserted
word that is not part of the original quotations respectively
EXAMPLES OF IN TEXT CITATIONS
Quotations
 Use of italics and [ ] bracket in quotations
 “Only use quotations sparingly, and for a specific purpose, not as a
substitute for your own summary of the relevant law or the writer’s
arguments” (Wilson and Kenny, 2007, p149 emphasis added) –
 anything in Italics provide a way to emphasise key words within a
quotation
 “The [result] is that referencing has become a real bugbear for many people,
and worse still, students (and tutors!) often fail to distinguish between what
is important in referencing and what isn’t” (Williams and Carroll, 2009, p9)
–
 anything that is within square brackets is indicated as not part of
the original quote
 Use of Ellipsis
 “For most of the second half of the twentieth century there was a very
buoyant system of legal aid … the last decade has seen almost an
abandonment of … legal aid for litigation” (Wilson and Kenny, 2007, p37) –
 ellipsis indicate you quote only parts of a long section of text
EXAMPLES OF IN TEXT CITATIONS
 Paraphrasing
 Williams (2009, p32) argues that while the web can be a highly
valuable source of information it is crucial to learn to be critical of
and evaluate the information that you uncover
 It has been suggested that while the web can be an invaluable source
of information, the user needs to be able to assess the value of the
information found (Williams, 2009, p32).
 It has been highlighted (Williams, 2009, p32) that while the web can
be an invaluable source of information, the user needs to be able to
assess the value of the information found
 Summarising
 Williams (2009) offers a useful guide to critical thinking and why it is
important at University
 In this example, the reference relates to the whole book, so page
numbers are not needed in the citation
EXAMPLES OF IN TEXT CITATIONS
 Citing more than one authors
 Williams and Reid (2011) strongly believe that an important study skill is
time management, and planning for the tasks that you need to undertake –
two authors
 Research can be defined as a systematic method of creating new knowledge
or a way to verify existing knowledge (Watson, McKenna, John, Cowman &
Keady, 2008) – up to five authors first time
 Deciding on a research method demands the researcher consider carefully
the problem or area of investigation being researched (Watson et al., 2008) up to five authors subsequently
 If a work has six (6) or more authors, cite only the last name of the first
author followed by et al. each time you refer to the work
EXAMPLES OF IN TEXT CITATIONS
 Multiple sources
 Pettigrew (1979, p574) and Schein (1984, p5) were two of the earlier writers
to discuss the concept of organisational culture based on shared beliefs and
meanings of the organisation. Watson (2006, pp254-5) considers this
concept in relation to an organisation as both a dynamic living being and a
fixed structure
 Early writers developed ideas on organisational culture based on shared
beliefs and meanings about that organisation (Pettigrew, 1979, p574 and
Schein, 1984, p5). These ideas were then considered in relation to an
organisation both as a living being and a fixed structure (Watson, 2006,
pp254-5).
 Citing an author(s) cited in another work or source
 “…most students will use sources inappropriately before they learn how to
use them appropriately” (Pecorari, 2003 cited in Davis and Carroll, 2009,
p59)
 It is always advisable to refer to the original source/work if possible
EXAMPLES OF IN TEXT CITATIONS
 No named person as author (e.g., a newspaper editorial, webpage or
company document)
 The Guardian (2012, online) reported that even the president of Hungary
was not able to avoid an allegation of plagiarism, resulting in his resignation
 The student make-up of UNILAG comprised over 50,000 students last year
of which 40% are female and 60% male, 27% are on part-time courses and
43% are on full-time and 30% on ODL mode (Punch, 2017, online).
 Citing several works by the same author(s) in the same or different
years
 Over the spring of 2012, interpretation of the International Monetary Fund
statements seemed to suggest that policies in the UK would allow it to ride
the global economic storm (Flanders, 2012a, 2012b). Summer updates in the
same year, however, put this into doubt (Flanders, 2012c)
 It is important for lecturers to be explicit in what they expect from students’
work (Carroll, 2002, 2008).
COMPILING THE REFERENCE LIST
– STAGE 3
 Compiling the list of references should be undertaken in two steps.
 Construct the individual reference for each source used. The precise format
depends on the source’s type
 book (print)
 book (electronic)
 chapter in an edited book
 journal article,
 report, etc.); and
 Construct the list of references
 All references or information sources cited in any written work (i.e.
essays, reports, research papers, etc.) need to be listed in a reference
list on a separate page at the end of your assignment, headed
‘References’ or ‘Reference List’.
 The reference list provides all the details necessary for the person
reading and/or marking the assignment to locate and retrieve any
information source cited.
 An accurate and properly constructed reference list provides
credibility to the written work it accompanies.
THE REFERENCE LIST – BOOK
Author/s or Editor/s last name (surname) appears first, followed by initials
(Bloggs, J.).
Year of publication in brackets (e.g., 2019).
Full title of the book. Capitalise only the first word of the title and the subtitle, if
any, and proper names. Italicise the title. Use a colon (:) between the title and
subtitle.
Include the edition number, if applicable, in brackets after the title or subtitle (3rd
ed.) or (Rev. ed.).Note: No full stop, after the title, if there is an edition.
Place of publication. Always include the city and 2-letter state code when
published inside the USA, and the city & country, if published outside the USA
(Fort Bragg, CA or Auckland, New Zealand or Benalla, Australia or Weybridge,
England). If there are two or more places included in the source, then use the first
one listed.
Publisher’s name. Provide this as briefly as possible. Do not use terms such as
Publishers, Co., or Inc. but include the words Books & Press. When the author and
the publisher are the same, use the word Author as the name of the publisher.
THE REFERENCE LIST – BOOK
Collier, A. (2008). The world of tourism and travel. Rosedale, New Zealand:
Pearson Education New Zealand – one author
Airey, D. (2010). Logo design love: A guide to creating iconic brand identities.
Berkeley, CA: New Riders. - place of publication
Stein, R. (2001). Rick Stein’s seafood. London, England: BBC. – as above
Wepa, D. (Ed.). (2005). Cultural safety in Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland, New
Zealand: Pearson Education New Zealand. - editor
Collins, C., & Jackson, S. (Eds.). (2007). Sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand society
(2nd ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: Thomson. - editors & edition
Mid-Central District Health Board. (2008). District annual plan 2008/09.
Palmerston North, New Zealand: Author. - author & publisher are the same
Dear, J., & Underwood, M. (2007). What is the role of exercise in the prevention
of back pain? In D. MacAuley & T. Best (Eds.), Evidence-based sports medicine
(2nd ed., pp. 257-280). Malden, MA: Blackwell. - Chapter in an edited book
THE REFERENCE LIST – JOURNAL
 Author/s last name (surname) first, followed by initials.
 Year of publication in brackets. (2012)
 Title of article. Capitalise only the first word of the title and the subtitle, if
any, and proper names. Use a colon (:) between the title and subtitle.
 Title of the serial/journal in full in italics.
 Volume number, in italics. Do not use “Vol.” before the number.
 Issue number. This is bracketed immediately after the volume number but
not italicised.
 Month, season or other designation of publication if there is no volume or
issue number.
 Include all page numbers.
 Include any Digital Object Identifiers [DOI].
THE REFERENCE LIST – JOURNAL
Thompson, C. (2010). Facebook: Cautionary tales for nurses. Kai
Nursing
New Zealand, 16(7), 26. – one author
Tiaki:
Gabbett, T., Jenkins, D., & Abernethy, B. (2010). Physical collisions and
injury
during professional rugby league skills training. Journal of
Science and
Medicine in Sport, 13(6), 578-583. - more than one authors
Gabbett, T., Jenkins, D., & Abernethy, B. (2010). Physical collisions and
injury
during
professional rugby league skills training. Journal of Science
and Medicine in Sport, 13(6), 578-583. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2010.03.007
Mikosch, P., Hadrawa, T., Laubreiter, K., Brandl, J., Pilz, J., Stettner, H., &
Grimm, G. (2010). Effectiveness of respiratory-sinusarrhythmia
biofeedback on state-anxiety in patients
undergoing coronary
angiography. Journal of Advanced
Nursing, 66(5), 1101-1110. – seven
authors
Vissing, K., Brink, M., Lonbro, S., Sorensen, H., Overgaard, K.,
Danborg,
K., ... Aagaard, P. (2008). Muscle adaptations to plyometric vs. resistance
training in untrained young men.
Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research, 22(6), 1799- 1810. - eight authors
THE REFERENCE LIST – CONFERENCE
PAPERS
 Williams, J., & Seary, K. (2010). Bridging the divide: Scaffolding the
learning experiences of the mature age student. In J. Terrell
(Ed.),
Making the links: Learning, teaching and high quality student
outcomes. Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the
New
Zealand
Association of Bridging Educators (pp. 104-116). Wellington,
New Zealand. - print
 Cannan, J. (2008). Using practice based learning at a dual-sector tertiary
institution: A discussion of current practice. In R. K. Coll, & K.
Hoskyn
(Eds.), Working together: Putting the cooperative into
cooperative education. Conference proceedings of the New Zealand
Association for
Cooperative Education, New Plymouth, New Zealand.
Retrieved from
http://www.nzace.ac.nz/conferences/papers/Proceedings_2008.pdf
 MacColl, F., Ker, I., Huband, A., Veith, G., & Taylor, J. (2009, November
12-13).
Minimising pedestrian-cyclist conflict on paths. Paper presented
at the Seventh New Zealand Cycling Conference, New Plymouth, New
Zealand.
Retrieved from
http://cyclingconf.org.nz/system/files/NZCyclingConf09_2A_MacCol
l_Ped CycleConflicts.pdf
 Online
ENSURING CONSISTENCY BETWEEN INTEXT CITATIONS AND THE REFERENCE
LIST – STAGE 4
 This will take very little time but it ensures you do not have missing entries
in the reference list.
 Simply work your way through the text of your research project and
whenever you come across an author/date reference check to ensure that the
full citation can be found in the reference list
 In addition, before you submit your project, work through the following
checklist:
 I have referenced all sources of information, including facts, figures,
ideas and arguments that I have used
 I have cited all sources quoted directly or used indirectly in my work
 All citations are complete
 All quotations are clearly indicated
 All references are complete
 I have used original sources rather than relying on lecture notes
 My reference list corresponds with all sources cited in the text
 My reference list is in alphabetical order
 Another person could find my sources with the information I have
provided
CONCLUSION – REFERENCING IS “NICE”
Noting
Incorporating
Compiling
Ensuring