Is youressays or dissertation complete, are you ready for submission. Haven’t you forgot something, is it your Grammar mistake or sentence structure, I suppose you did not proofread your content. Am I right! No!! Before doing all that you must add another section down the last page. References you silly!
The main crust of research paper is to add citations and reference section for differentiating yourself with plagiarism. I know the students problems they do not on how to cite each citation in text format and where to write it. They main question they ask is why is it even important. So, I am have been their done that and now capable of explaining small details about references and citations.
What basically is references?
Do you know what references are? Do you know when to use them? Well, first let me tell you reference is the requirement of University committee that is an academic practice. Through these citations and reference sections you give credit to the author or writing done by the previous researchers. for instance, if you are writing an argumentative essay the main focus will be getting authentic information and citing all the related sources you have taken help from.
The main point is you give a chance to new beginners to redevelop and transform the research into another meaningful content. This part also shows how rigorous and authentic your paper is which help in follow a set of rules for others.
What is the purpose of doing it?
One who do not think it is purposeful then they might face some serious consequences though. Taking out ideas from others research is not wrong however, portraying it as if it is yours is totally wrong. The element of acknowledgement is essential. So, while writing anything whether it is academic or your own blog try to keep in mind crediting authors. If you do not do so it might go against you.
What is the main difference of bibliography and references?
The simple answer of this question is the bibliography is basically a source or a link you direct copy and paste from the website. The references that is done at the end of the text, the topic or the content you used for your understanding or the link that is more depth and informative for readers to understand is referred for the paper.
On the other hand, the references are first cited in the in-text with whatever style it recommends. The references help you give credited to your study and make it more authentic.
Create a rough reference section before writing
While you are writing your essays or dissertation one thing you need to do, always! Firstly, which ever source you are taking out ideas from have to be noted down. Whether it is in rough paper or making a separate section. Most of the time students forget to save the links of the information or the sources or find not necessary to add a separate section of it. I myself did not properly cite references or if I found some of the sources which I had took help from. I would instantly add in my essays. However, I did not know this is the wrong way to credit someone.
Is it helping in avoiding plagiarism?
Yes, it is absolutely helpful in avoid plagiarism. First of all, let me tell you what exactly is plagiarism? Plagiarism also have many types that need to be noted down. Perhaps you need to buckle up and get ready to get more information.
Presenting others ideas and pretending to be as yours is unethical and academically considered unlawful. This practice can end up with failures or rejection of your persuasive essays. Students need to understand the main agenda of how the content become plagiarized.
- If you do it unintentionally perhaps did not add quotes or authors name in the text is considered copy content.
- Swiping the words or exchange their places without giving credit to the original writer.
- Changing the meaning of the sentence and recreating it in their own words.
- Adding information but miss out the original sources.
Where these sources come from
The sources you probably get your information from can be many. The most important source is everyone’s Guru Google the father of each content citied or can obtain knowledge from. The second big thing in the prospective of research paper or journal is Google scholar where you can find all sorts of related papers and articles. The other sources can be as following:
- Academic books (students mostly take guidance from their source subject related books)
- Unpublished manuscripts (The manuscripts accepted for publication but still in process)
- Journal conferences (The conference where researchers present their papers whether published or about to be released showing logical facts and figures about their studies)
- Websites (The blogs or articles written by authors or content writers)
- Online journals (the published journals written by researchers that is compose of data and logical reasoning)
Is your source credible enough?
Do you believe in credibility of sources for citations? This credibility is important in essays and dissertation, as the information is free from unbiased acts and is supported by logical reasoning plus evidences. Remember if you do not add on credibility your essays and dissertation will not prove the reliability of your work. Okay!! The important note, why this credibility is essential in references?
Well, good question… see you need to make your research or data authentic. How this can be done is by citing the trustable sources that can straight goes to reference section. How can you determine the sources you have chosen are authentic enough…..through my dos and don’ts list.
Dos (sources that should be considered) | Don’ts (sources that should be avoided) |
Materials published within 5 years or recently published. (10 years are acceptable) | Out-dated websites and material publication more than 10 years or more is acceptable. |
Research articles written by well-known authors. | Online articles published for. |
Domains that are reliable and registered by government or educational institute(.edu, .org, .ac) | Research articles without citations. |
Academic journals such as JSTOR, Springer, Sage journal and Taylor & Francis. | Only Google or websites working playing online content. |
Do you have an idea of citation and how to cite
Talking about the same again and again will make things boring not unique. You got an idea of what references is all about, and get things cleared as discussed above. However, where these citations will come in handy through sources okay…..what else is important, citing your references in your text or in between the content.
How it is done?
Well, the citation is composed of author or authors’ name, date, Publication Company, journal title and DOI (Digital Object Identifier). The sequence of the citation is constant but things can vary according to different styles. Just note the punctuation or the formatting need to be carefully added.
What are these referencing styles and how to add them in your text?
Okay….now is the time for debating about which of these referencing is better than whom. But first let me tell you what these referencing styles are…..
- APA Citation style
- MLA Citation style
- Harvard Citation style
Talking about these three styles they are the most popular and recognized styles that are used by universities. Well, every University is not specific which they choose for research purpose and also that there are many referencing styles used. I will generalized the style into three main ones as it is kind off difficult to explain each of them individually.
Citing your sources in text through APA referencing style
Basically, every citation we do have three basic elements as discussed above author’s name, date and publications name. And this information is selected in parenthesis or brackets. Let’s not further ado start with APA styles in text and referencing section.
You gathered the information now is time for citation first is In-text citation. The easy way out for creating such styles is make use of reference generator. These generators are convenient way to tackle all your worries and make your work quicker too.
The in-text citation is not that long just some information about the author, and year if publication for instant.
In-text for just one author,

Hey guys don’t be confused!!! See one a source is from an author who is the sole owner of their research we need to add in this way. There are two steps to add this citation
- By putting parenthesis when you compete your sentence and then add the citation
- When you are about to complete a sentence then you can put your citation within brackets/parenthesis.
The next technique is without parenthesis go for citation, as defined above. But the brackets should be mentioned in years.
When there are two or more authors……

When there are two or more authors in your source list then how to add it in your text? The above picture explains the Authors name is in the brackets or parenthesis when added in the end of the sentence. And when we need to mention it at the beginning you do not need to add parenthesis.
Most important point to note:
Citations in Parenthesis form should have Ampersand (&). And without Parenthesis you should add normal ‘AND’ as mentioned above.
Quotations and block quotations
Let’s go further into details on how to add the citations in other forms. We sometimes paraphrase the information or take just the concept of the information and put it into our words. Sometimes, the exact wordings of the author defines more specific context. We add on quotations, but in a proper formatted style. There are two types of quotations direct and indirect.
The direct quotations are put under (“’’) quotation marks means it is directly said by the author.

Okay there are two methods to put citations when adding quotations, one at the beginning and one at the end. When adding citations in the beginning you must add the authors name and the year not the page number. For instant, Milgram (2010) note that, “the ….” (p.5).
The second quotation type is when there is no need to put quotation marks if the quotation is longer than 40 words. This quotation style is also known as block quotation. The quotation is intended instead.

The last resort for APAcitation style isreferences section. The references which are the detailed information about the source you have used. Talking about the references pattern it is quit complicated for some of them, as per my opinion it was complicated enough. However, no worries there are many substitutes that can do your work within no time, the cite generator which can cite your references for you.

MLA Citation style just for you students!!!
The MLA is the common most styling of journals or websites and newsletters etc. This is used by students in academic or research authors too.
Let’s further discuss how to cite in text of any essay or dissertation.
The MLA citation of In-text the full author name is not used and at the end of the sentence the citation is included plus the full stop is added after the brackets are closed. For instant,
45% of the students have been under anxiety and pressure due to studies and teachers torture (Vonnegut 36). |
There is another way to incorporate the authors name into text, the citation will moved outside of the bracket and within the text such as.
Vonnegut explains 45% of the students have been under anxiety and pressure due to studies and teachers torture (36). |
The above citation explains the brackets have been disappeared and the name is added in the beginning plus the full stop is added after the page number is added.
Sometimes you have multiple authors and no page numbers what should be done by then.
When a source has two authors cite the authors’ last name and break down both the authors name with an AND. Such as,
45% of the students have been under anxiety and pressure due to studies and teachers torture (Smith and jones 23).
When the authors are two or more than with the last name of the first author et al. will be replaced by other authors.
Such as,
45% of the students have been under anxiety and pressure due to studies and teachers torture (Burdick et al. 3).
References list in MLA style
The referencing and bibliography list is given below to help you out how to do it referencing in the section of reference list.
The best part of using MLA is if you have search for sources form New York Times or any other website you can do it like this.

When adding source of book the author name, topic name and contributor and year or volume is added. Most importantly if there is any new edition or other edition or volume you must add those too.

Now if there is article journal we will add the full information till the author and page number. If the authors are multiple as said above write et al. by replacing the other authors.

Students did you check the impact factor
The pro tip for all the beginners if you have chosen the sources that goes for references check the impact factor first. Well, there are tools you can go for by measuring the impact factor. But doing manual can make it easier.
First you need to see if the journals are from the popular or recognized publication websites or not. Then the second is the years you go for, if you are taking years 10 years before you may find related and reliable information. Thirdly, the total number of citation was done under this article within two years of period. Fourthly, total number of articles cited in the journal within two years period.
Can I cite an article twice or more
It does not matter whether if you want to add one cite in multiple paragraph. Just make sure the reader do not get confused or irritated by the fact that what author has said the information given. Most importantly it will greatly affect the readability factor of your content. Whenever you want to cite one author in different paragraph try doing it in such a way.

If you are using the author but not are the same date or year then the citation style will be changed. If an author named Viglione has books and articles in difference years for instant the year are 2010, 2011, 2012. The citation would be as (Viglione, 2010), (Viglione, 2011), (Viglione, 2012).
Wrapping up
I have researched this all information just for students who are basically confused how to use the referencing in the correct format. By the help of my blog you must got an idea how these citations and referencing can be done. Sometime students face such problems while dissertation writing is enforced during the last semester for approval of the degree.