Citation and Referencing Help

The correct use of citation and reference in academic papers has become the backbone of academic publishing and the foundation for scholarly work (Boyack & Klavans, 2010; Dawe et al., 2021). Modern writers then are faced with difficult citation styles and find themselves juggling accuracy and coherence in their writing (Divecha et al., 2023; Hellqvist, 2010; Leydesdorff, 1998). The best way to do citation management is to know what your field and desired publication asks for in terms of citations (Masic, 2013; Nicolaisen, 2007; Nigel Gilbert, 1977). There are certain citation that are relevant for each academic discipline and that also have to be followed strictly in order to meet the academic standard (Santini, 2018).

Citation Best Practices

  • Style guide adherence (APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard)
  • Primary and secondary source integration
  • Digital source citation requirements
  • Cross-referencing and internal citation consistency

Also read Reference Managers (SB3-3 L2)

Learn more in Book Indexing Databases (SB2-3 L3)

See the Impact of Citations (SB5-4 L2) for more resources

Further Reading: Top Cited Publishers (SB6-2 L3)

References:

Boyack, K. W., & Klavans, R. (2010). Co‐citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and direct citation: Which citation approach represents the research front most accurately?. Journal of the American Society for information Science and Technology, 61(12), 2389-2404.

Dawe, L., Stevens, J., Hoffman, B., & Quilty, M. (2021). Citation and referencing support at an academic library: Exploring student and faculty perspectives on authority and effectiveness. College & Research Libraries, 82(7), 991.

Divecha, C. A., Tullu, M. S., & Karande, S. (2023). The art of referencing: Well begun is half done!. Journal of postgraduate medicine, 69(1), 1-6.

Hellqvist, B. (2010). Referencing in the humanities and its implications for citation analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61(2), 310-318.

Leydesdorff, L. (1998). Theories of citation?. Scientometrics, 43(1), 5-25.

Masic, I. (2013). The importance of proper citation of references in biomedical articles. Acta Informatica Medica, 21(3), 148.

Nicolaisen, J. (2007). Citation analysis. Annual review of information science and technology, 41(1), 609-641.

Nigel Gilbert, G. (1977). Referencing as persuasion. Social studies of science, 7(1), 113-122.

Santini, A. (2018). The importance of referencing. The Journal of Critical Care Medicine, 4(1), 3.