|
One of the things that confound first-time writers of research
papers and dissertations is how to cite references. The two most
common methods for citing published work:
You should be consistent and stick to one of these citation styles.
The system you use will also determine how you compile and present
the Reference list. Which one you use will depend on institutional
guidelines or regulations.
The Number System
With this system, references to published work is via the use of
numbers, e.g.
There are many undergraduate texts on Process
Control [1-4]. The most popular seems to be the book by Luyben
[2]. However, the only one to deal with process design and process
control in an integrated manner is that by Marlin [4].
or
There are many undergraduate texts on Process
Control 1-4. The most popular seems to be the book
by Luyben 2. However, the only one to deal with process
design and process control in an integrated manner is that by
Marlin 4.
In both examples above, three citations were made. The first referred
to publication number 1, 2, 3 and 4; the second citation referred
to publication number 2; while the last citation referred to publication
number 4. The fact that the numbers relate to items in the reference
list is indicated by the square parentheses [...] or by the superscripts.
Again, which convention you follow will depend on the guidelines
and regulations of your institution.
When using the number-system citation style, the order of the corresponding
reference list is important. By convention, the first cited publication
will be the first on the list and assigned the number "1".
The second cited publication will be the second on the list and
assigned the number "2" and so on. That is, the publications
in the reference list is presented in the order that they were cited.
However, the reference list must not contain duplicates.
This means that you will have to keep track of the publications
that you have cited and their associated order in the reference
list, so that you use the appropriate number when you cite a publication
more than once, as in the above examples.
| Tips |
-
If all you are told is that you should use the
number-system, you should choose the one that is
easiest to type and correct. Using square-parentheses
is probably easier, as you do not have to mess about
with subscripts.
-
Compile the reference list as you write your chapters,
keeping it open in the word processor but in a separate
file. Add new cited pulications to the list as you
work, and refer to it for the number to use with
publications that have been cited.
- Check for duplicates whenever you add publications
to the reference list. Making corrections to citations
when duplicates are discovered later is a most painful
and frustrating process.
|
|
The Name-Year System
Using the name-year citation style, the above example becomes:
There are many undergraduate texts on Process
Control (Coughanowr, 1991; Luyben, 1990; Marlin, 1995; Shinskey,
1988). The most popular seems to be the book by Luyben (1990).
However, the only one to deal with process design and process
control in an integrated manner is that by Marlin (1995).
The first citation named 4 authors using their surname (last name).
Associated with each surname, is the year of the publication. Notice
that they are presented in alphabetical order, within round
parantheses, (...). The author part is separated from the
year part by commas, ','. Author-year pairs are separated
by semi-colons ';'. The next two citations named the authors using
their surnames with the year of the cited publications enclosed
in parentheses. Therefore, there are two ways to use the "name-year
citation style. When using this citation style, the reference
list is presented in alphabetical order.
How a publication is cited also depends on the number of authors.
If there are two authors, then cite as follows:
Clarke and Gawthrop (1979) modified the
Minimum Variance objective function to include ...
or
The Generalised Minimum Variance self-tuning
algorithm was proposed in the late 1970s (Clarke and Gawthrop,
1979).
When a publication has more than two authors, cite as follows:
Montague and co-workers (1987) considered
...
or
There are many variations to the algorithm
(e.g. Cox, 1991; Willis and colleagues, 1990).
You can use the phrases "co-workers" and "colleagues"
interchangeably. You can also use "et. al.", the
short form for the Latin phrase "et alii", which
means "and others". The preceding two forms are preferred
as they tend to cause less disruption to the flow of the sentence.
Also, since "et. al." is Latin, it should be in
italics - unnecessary work.
| Tips |
-
If you are not restricted to a particular citation
style, use the name-year system. Most word processors
have a "sort" tool, making the reference
list easy to maintain. Duplicated items are easily
detected, and there is no need to make corrections
to citations when duplicates are discovered.
-
Compile the reference list as you write your chapters,
keeping it open in the word processor but in a separate
file. Add new cited pulications to the list as you
work.
- Check for duplicates by sorting the reference list
alphabetically.
|
|
Now let us move on to the presentation of the reference list.
|
