A Note from Me to You 24.04.2020

My Dear Students,

If you are reading this then remember, India has over 3 million children living on the

streets. Over 150 million children work as bonded labourers and one out of every six girl child does not live to

see her 15th birthday. Despite having a national policy for compulsory primary education, only 50% of children

have access to education and you make up for that privileged 50%. (Home page, Smile Foundation)

I write to you today during the COVID – 19 lockdown phase which will be marked as the most

life threatening pandemic historical outbreak in human civilization and my intention of writing to you is not to

intimidate you but to make you realize how privileged you are! I have always believed that teaching is not only

about teaching what are written in the books but also of life lessons. Iam sure my students stand witness to it in

most of my classes. (giggles) Hence I could not help myself from chatting a little bit with you all before I start my

notes.

If you ask me why I think you are privileged right now then read below:

Giving a global perspective, UNESCO noted, “Half of the total number of learners — some 826 million (82.6

crore) students — kept out of the classroom by the Covid-19 pandemic, do not have access to a household

computer and 43 per cent (706 million or 70.6 crore) have no internet at home, at a time when digitally-based

distance learning is used to ensure educational continuity in the vast majority of countries.”

Hence I repeat, if you are reading this then You Are PRIVELEGED!!! Please make the best use of this privilege

and help change the depressing figures quoted above for the coming generations.

Lots of good wishes,

IB Ma’am.

Skill Enhancement Course II: ECO-A-SEC-4-B(2)-TH

Research Methodology

[For Semester IV]

TOPIC:

A lecture on

Bibliography, References & Citation

Part I

Compiled by

Prof. Ishani Waiba

Dept. of Economics

Surendranath College, Kolkata

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Referencing

1.1 What is referencing?

1.2 What needs to be referenced?

1.3 Referencing Styles

1.4 Why Reference?

2. References vs. Bibliography

3. References vs. Citations

1.Introduction to Referencing

This section is a general introduction to referencing, intended for anyone new to (or returning to)

tertiary study. It includes an explanation of the why and how of citing authors in an academic

context.

1.1 What is referencing?

Academic writing relies on more than just the ideas and experience of one author. It also uses the

ideas and research of other sources: books, journal articles, websites, and so forth. These other

sources may be used to support the author's ideas, or the author may be discussing, analysing, or

critiquing other sources.

Referencing is used to tell the reader where ideas from other sources have been used in an

assignment. There are many reasons why it is important to reference sources correctly:

It shows the reader that you can find and use sources to create a solid argument

It properly credits the originators of ideas, theories, and research findings

It shows the reader how your argument relates to the big picture

1.2 What needs to be referenced?

Whenever an assignment uses words, facts, ideas, theories, or interpretations from other sources,

those sources must be referenced. Referencing is needed when:

You have copied words from a book, article, or other source exactly (quotation)

You have used an idea or fact from an outside source, even if you haven't used their exact

wording (paraphrasing and summarising)

The only exception to this is when the information is common knowledge, which is something

that anyone is likely to know. If you are uncertain whether to reference something or not, it is

better to reference it.

1.3 Referencing styles

Referencing is a formal system: there are rules and standards to follow when formatting citations

and references. Many students find referencing quite intimidating at first. Like any skill, it takes

time and patience to learn.

The examples above use APA style, a format created by the American Psychological

Association. There are many other styles one could follow and you can learn the style online.

Here are some of the popular styles used:

APA reference list

MLA list of works cited

Oxford bibliography

Harvard reference list

Chicago bibliography

1.4 Why reference?

There are many reasons to reference sources correctly in assignments:

To distinguish your ideas

When you hand in an assignment, it is assumed that all facts, theories, and ideas are

your own unless they are attributed to an outside source. If you do not attribute

outside sources by referencing them, there is no way to distinguish your ideas from

those in the sources. You are effectively presenting someone else's work as your

own.

To reinforce your argument

Most assignments have an argument of some kind. Sometimes you will read about a

topic first and use what you find in the readings to develop your argument.

Referencing the readings gives your argument evidence, credibility, and authority.

References tell the reader that your argument is not just a matter of personal opinion:

it is backed up by evidence and, where relevant, experts in the field.

To show different perspectives

For many assignments you are expected to show what several different authors think

about one topic. Referencing shows that you have considered the big picture by

understanding and using a range of sources. It emphasises the scope and extent of

your research.

To allow fact-checking

A reference is a signpost that tells the reader the source of facts, information, ideas,

arguments, and theories. If the reader wants to check the original source, a reference

enables them to find it.

To avoid plagiarism

Plagiarism – the intentional or unintentional presentation of another's work as your

own – is strictly prohibited.

2.References vs. Bibliography

At the very onset of my lecture I would like to bring to your notice the fundamental differences

between a BIBLIOGRAPHY and REFERENCES. People most of the time do not think that

there is any difference between bibliography and references. They often mistake the two to be

the same. However, they are different and used in different contexts with each essay or article or

book.

Bibliography is listing all the materials that have been consulted while writing an essay or a

book. References, on the other hand, are those that have been referenced in your article or book.

You might have consulted a lot of books, essays and websites for writing something. Though

you might have referred to these while preparing a write up, the content of these might not have

been included in the actual text. This is what refers to bibliography. References are those that are

directly included in your actual text.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as:

Copying of sentences, paragraphs, computer files, research data, creative products that are the works of other persons, without appropriate acknowledgement.

Closely paraphrasing sentences, paragraphs or themes without appropriate acknowledgement.

Submitting one’s own previously assessed or published work for assessment or publication elsewhere, without appropriate acknowledgement or approval.

Submitting material obtained from internet-based essay depositories or similar sources

Common mistakes that can lead to plagiarism:

Copying a series of words without telling the reader where those words came from.

Copying a series of words without putting them inside quotation marks.

Paraphrasing another source, but only changing a few words.

Using the facts or ideas from another source without telling the reader where they came from.

Copying images, in whole or part, without including captions or telling the reader where they came from.

While references are cited directly in the text, bibliography is not cited directly in the text. While

references can be used to support your statement or argument, a bibliography does not have such

roles. As such references are used for establishing something in a more authoritative way.

Readers could refer your references and evaluate the correctness of your statement. Meanwhile,

bibliography does not support your argument but you only refer them in a personal way.

A bibliography will contain all research materials, including books, magazines, periodicals,

websites and scientific papers, which you have referred. References contain source of material

like quotes or texts, which has been actually used when writing an essay or book.

Both bibliography and references appear at the end of a document. But bibliography comes after

the reference list. A bibliography may contain all those that have appeared in the reference list

but it may also contain additional works.

Both bibliography and references are arranged alphabetically. But a Reference list can also be

arranged in Numeric style, which means arranging the references according to the numbers in the

text.

While writing a bibliography, you should have to include the authors last and first name, year of

publication, name of the book, publication place and name of publishers. Well, a reference page

can be called as a footnote where your just write the book or website and the year of publication

or the date when you looked at the website.

Summary:

1.Bibliography is listing all the materials that have been consulted while writing an essay or a

book. References, on the other hand, are those that have been referenced in your article or book.

2.Bibliography is not directly included in the text. References are those that are directly included

3.Both bibliography and references are arranged alphabetically. But a Reference list can also be

arranged in Numeric style.

3.References vs. Citations

There are two elements used in referencing:

A citation in the text of the assignment (also known as in-text citations)

An entry in a reference list at the end of the assignment

The citation contains only enough information for the reader to find the source in the reference

list. Usually, this is the name of the source's author and the year the source was published. For

example:

In this example, (Lazar, 2006) tells the reader that this information has come from a source

written by Lazar, which was published in 2006. This is a signpost, pointing the reader to the

reference list.

When testing the usability of a website, it is necessary to gather demographic

information about the users (Lazar, 2006).

The reference list is a list of all the sources used (and cited) in an assignment. It is alphabetised

according to the names of the authors. Each entry in the reference list contains detailed

information about one source. This usually includes the author's name, the year of publication,

the title of the source, and source location details (e.g., publisher’s name, URL). For example:

Example 1

If they wanted to, a reader could use this information to find these sources in a library or online.

Example 2

References

Durie, M. (2003). Nga kahui pou: Launching Maori futures. Huia.

Hazledine, T., & Quiggan, J. (2006). Public policy in Australia and New Zealand: The new global

context. Australian Journal of Political Science, 41(2), 131–143.

Lazar, J. (2006). Web usability: A user-centered design approach. Pearson Addison Wesley.

Ministry for Primary Industries. (2012). Food safety.

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety

In – Text

As one author puts it, “It is normally assumed that a company will continue in

business into the future”(Label, 2010. P. 17)

leads to……

Reference list

Label, W.A. (2010). Accounting for non-accountants: The fast and

easy way to learn the basics (2nd ed.).

Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.

Part II of my lecture on references will deal with a detailed explanation on the referencing style

and what I feel is the best to be followed. You do have the option of using various kinds of

softwares available in the market these days but make sure that you follow one particular style

thoughout. Please read the second part of the lecture.

The End