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NOTE : These posts originally appeared as ‘Tip of the day’ but I have assembled them together under the new heading ‘ Top Tips on Referencing.’ (There are other older forums on referencing so you could also search for those – if you really cannot find an answer to your query then please raise it – but suggest you DON’T open it as a new topic as it’s best to have queries on a related topic together and newly posted queries automatically rise to the top of the board anyway) – Trephena
REFERENCING PART 5:
When to give page number in in-text referenceThe OB info pack 2013-14 on page no 58 says:
Page numbers should be included when there is a need to be more specific, for example when making a direct quotation. Use the abbreviation p. (for a single page) or pp. (more than one page): e.g. As Kelvin stated (1968, p.100) ‘the value of…’
(OBU, 2013: p.58)This OB guideline is unclear. Students have failed because of this incomplete guideline. Here “need to be more specific” means that even when you have paraphrased from external sources you need to give page number/s. See below what Coventry University says about it.
Part I. How to Write In-text-Citations
Cite every source which you refer to in the main body of your writing. Your in-text citations must state the surname of the author and the year of publication. Also give the page number if you quote a passage directly or if you paraphrase (put the idea into your own words).WHEN NOT TO GIVE PAGE NUMBER:
You are not supposed to give page number when whole book is about what you are referring.Over to you @trephena, correct me if stated any thing wrong.(:
REFERENCING PART 2:
Introduction to referencingThe RAP is YOUR (mind you this is capital your) thesis/dissertation and you have selected a topic, now you have a research question/questions and you are answering the question, suppose you are answering in front of audience and you are not a heavy weight scholar and you need to provide support and proof to what you are saying so that people believe you, here comes the role of referencing.
For example 1: When you use a numerical data from a source, give in text citation very next to the number/year etc.
The number of heart attacks has risen by 10% since 1992 (Department of Health, 2005:p.65). Mind you not at the end of paragraph and not even end of sentence, in this case the number naturally occurred at the end of sentence.
example 2: In other cases give at the end of sentence. The land fill sites are ‘not cost efficient’ (Higgins, 2005:p.68). And not at the end of paragraph.
Remember the marker is interested in knowing what you have used from external sources and it should be easy for him to find out from where. If you puzzle him by giving a number (from source) in the long paragraph and inserting in-text citation at the end of paragraph, he will sure fail you. He is not your cousin to sort out and nor he has time to do so.REFERENCING PART 3:
Direct quotations (copy paste)Direct quotations are only allowed when you need to give weight or to beautify or highlight what you are saying and that too in few words and with quotations marks with page number . For example. The land fill sites are ‘not cost efficient’ (Higgins, 2005:p.68). MIND YOU LARGE AMOUNT OF TEXT EVEN WITH QUOTATION MARKS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND WOULD BE SURE REASON TO FAIL. Only In exceptional cases large text is allowed with special identification to that para or page but its very unlikely that a RAP writer would need that.
REFERENCING PART 4:
How many references are sufficient
There is no official guidelines but I recommend an ideal figure of roughly 90-100+bibliography. Previously, I have seen raps with 40 references passing with flying colors, but those were good old days when word limit was 6500, wiki was accepted, graphics was not required to be referenced. (figure of 90-100 does not include the graphs of ratios, I dont count these in references, simply you may relate them to appendices but if you reference them to annual reports then you need to include them in references).
But mind you, referencing is not a tool to fill your rap with words, It is YOUR thesis/dissertation and not a compilation of an essay giving only view points of others.So hard to be ‘prescriptive’ on this one…
Some topics need more referencing than others and equally it would be difficult I think to come up with a 100 references for Topic 7 – A critical evaluation of the restructuring of an organisation’s operational activities and the effect on the organisation’s financial performance, and Topic 11 – An investigation into the financial and operational costs and benefits of the internal audit / internal review activities within an organisation
– I would say though quantity is not always indicative of quality and it’s quality that gets the grades (and as you say @bassaniobroke – no wikipedia these days! – were they really such ‘good old days’ ???? lol 😀 )
Thanks@trephena for you input. The figure of 90 to 100 is good for topic 8 for others you have best expressed rational judgement.
@bassaniobroke – to be honest Referencing is not my real forte – I leave that to you and @SalahUddin !!! 😀
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