English for Academic Purposes
Essay Writing
Week 3: Citing Sources
Citing sources
One of the most important aspects of academic writing is making use of the ideas
of other people. This is important as you need to show that you have understood
the materials that you have studied and that you can use their ideas and findings
in your own way. In fact, this is an essential skill for every student.
The most important skill a student can engage in is:
the complex activity to write from other texts. For this reason, any academic
text you read or write will contain the voices of other writers as well as your
own.
In your writing, however, the main voice should be your own and it should be
clear what your point of view is in relation to the topic or essay question.
The object of academic writing is:
for you to say something for yourself using the ideas of the subject
for you to present ideas you have learned in your own way.
the emphasis should be on working with other people’s ideas, rather than
reproducing their words.
If your view is not clear, you will be told you have not answered the question
or something similar. It is essential therefore that it must always be clear
whose voice is speaking.
It will always be assumed that the words or ideas are your own if you do not say
otherwise. When the words or ideas you are using are taken from another writer, you
must make this clear. If you do not do this and use another person's words or ideas
as if they were your own, this is Plagiarism and plagiarism is regarded as a very
serious offence.
The ideas and people that you refer to need to be made explicit by a system of
citation.
The object of this is to supply the information needed to allow a user to find a
source.
You need to acknowledge the source of an idea unless it is common knowledge
in your subject area. It is difficult sometimes to know whether something is
common knowledge in your subject or needs acknowledging.
In general, if your lecturer, in lectures or handouts, do not acknowledge the
source you can assume that it is common knowledge within your subject
The object of academic writing is therefore for you to present your ideas in your
own way. To help you do this, however, you will need to use the ideas of other
people and when you do this, you need to say where the words and ideas are
from.
There are several reasons for this
You need to show that you are aware of the major areas of thought in your
specific subject. This allows you to show how your contribution fits in, by
correcting previous research, filling gaps, adding support or extending current
research or thinking.
1. You need to support the points you are making by referring to other
people's work. This will strengthen your argument. The main way to do
this is to cite authors that agree with the points you are making. You can,
however, cite authors who do not agree with your points, as long as you
explain why they are wrong.
Do not make a statement that will cause your reader to
ask, "Who says?"
2. You need to show that you have read and understood specific texts. You
need to show that you have read around the subject, not just confined
your reading to one textbook or lecture notes.
3. You must not use another person's words or ideas as your own so you
need to say where they are from.
You usually do this by reporting the works of others in your own words. You can
either:
paraphrase if you want to keep the length the same
summarise if you want to make the text shorter or
synthesise if you need to use information from several sources
Do not forget, though, that the central line of argument, the main voice,
should be your own. This means that you will need to comment on or evaluate
any other works that you use. If you do not do this, you will be accused of being
too descriptive, of not being critical or analytical enough, or of not producing a
clear argument.
There are two ways in which you can refer to, or cite, another person's work:
a) by reporting or
b) by direct quotation
a) Reporting
This simply means reporting the other writer's ideas into your own words. You can
either paraphrase if you want to keep the length the same or summarise if you
want to make the text shorter. There are two main ways of showing that you have
used another writer's ideas:
integral
According to Peters (1983) evidence from first language
acquisition indicates that lexical phrases are learnt first as
unanalysed lexical chunks.
Evidence from first language acquisition indicating that lexical
phrases are learnt first as unanalysed lexical chunks was given by
Peters (1983).
OR
non-integral
Evidence from first language acquisition (Peters, 1983) indicates
that lexical phrases are learnt first as unanalysed lexical chunks.
Lexical phrases are learnt first as unanalysed lexical chunks
(Peters, 1983).
depending on whether or not the name of the cited author occurs in the citing
sentence or in parenthesis.
If you want to refer to a particular part of the source:
According to Peters (1983, p. 56) evidence from first language
acquisition indicates that lexical phrases are learnt first as
unanalysed lexical chunks.
(At end of essay)
References (Bibliography)
Peters, A (1983). The units of language acquisition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
b) Direct Quotation
Occasionally you may want to quote another author's words exactly. For example:
Hillocks (1982) similarly reviews dozens of research findings. He
writes, "The available research suggests that teaching by written
comment on compositions is generally ineffective" (p. 267).
(At end of essay)
References
Hillocks, G. (1982). The interaction of instruction, teacher comment, and revision in
teaching the composing process. Research in the Teaching of English, 16, 261-278.
If you choose to use a direct quotation, observe the following rules:
keep the quotation as brief as possible and quote only when it is
necessary.
You must always have a good reason for using a quote - and feeling
unable to paraphrase or summarise is never a good reason. The idea of
an essay is for you to say something for yourself using the ideas of the
subject; you present ideas you have learned in your own way.
The emphasis should be on working with other people’s ideas, not
reproducing their words.
Your work should be a synthesis of information from sources, expressed
in your own words, not a collection of quotations.
Any quote you use should not do your job for you, but should add
something to the point you are making.
The quote should support your point, by quoting evidence or giving
examples or illustrating, or add the weight of an authority.
It should not repeat information or disagree with your point.
Reasons for using quotations:
1. quote if you use another person's words: you must not use another
person's words as your own;
2. you need to support your points, quoting is one way to do this;
3. quote if the language used in the quotation says what you want to say
particularly well.
Reasons for not using quotations:
1. do not quote if the information is well-known in your subject area;
2. do not use a quotation that disagrees with your argument unless you can
prove it is wrong;
3. do not quote if you cannot understand the meaning of the original source;
4. do not quote if you are not able to paraphrase the original;
5. do not use quotations to make your points for you; use them to support
your points.
If you decide to use a quotation, you must be very careful to make it clear that the
words or ideas that you are using are taken from another writer.
This can be done in several ways, either integral or non-integral:
Widdowson (1979, p. 5) states that "there is a good deal of
argument in favour of extending the concept of competence to
cover the ability to use language to communicative effect."
According to Widdowson (1979),"there is a good deal of argument
in favour of extending the concept of competence to cover the
ability to use language to communicative effect" (p. 5).
According to Widdowson, "there is a good deal of argument in
favour of extending the concept of competence to cover the ability
to use language to communicative effect" (1979, p. 5).
According to one researcher, "there is a good deal of argument in
favour of extending the concept of competence to cover the ability
to use language to communicative effect" (Widdowson, 1979, p. 5).
(In all cases at end of essay)
References
Widdowson, H. G. (1979). Explorations in applied
linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
When you are using a direct quotation of a single phrase or sentence, quotation
marks should be used around the words, which must be quoted exactly as they
are in the original. However, note the following:
1. You may wish to omit some of the author’s original words that are not
relevant to your writing. In this case, use three dots (...) to indicate where
you have omitted words. If you omit any of the author’s original words,
make sure you do not change the meaning.
He stated, "The ‘placebo effect,’ ... disappeared when behaviours
were studied in this manner" (Smith, 1982, p. 276), but he did not
clarify which behaviours were studied.
2. If you need to insert material (additions or explanations) into a quotation,
use brackets, ([...]).
Smith (1982) found that "the placebo effect, which had been
verified in previous studies, disappeared when [his own and
others’] behaviours were studied in this manner" (p. 276).
3. If the material quoted already contains a quotation, use single quotation
marks for the original quotation (‘...’).
He stated, "The ‘placebo effect,’ ... disappeared when behaviours
were studied in this manner" (Smith, 1982, p. 276), but he did not
clarify which behaviours were studied.
4. If the direct quotation is long - more than two or three lines, it should be
indented as a separate paragraph with no quotation marks.
According to Smith (1982, p. 276): The "placebo effect," which had
been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviours
were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviours were
never exhibited again, even when real drugs were administered.
Earlier studies were clearly premature in attributing the results to
the placebo effect.
(In all cases at end of essay)
References
Smith. G. (1982). The placebo effect. Psychology Today,
18, 273-278.
Secondary sources
In all cases, if you have not actually read the work you are referring to, you should
give the reference for the secondary source - what you have read. In the text, you
should then use the following method:
According to Jones (as cited in Smith, 1982, p. 276), the ....
(At end of essay)
References
Smith. G. (1982). The placebo effect. Psychology Today,
18, 273-278.
Language
Reporting - Paraphrasing and Summarising
Reporting uses paraphrase and summary to acknowledge another author's ideas.
You can extract and summarise important points, while at the same time making it
clear from whom and where you have got the ideas you are discussing and what
your point of view is. Compare, for example:
Brown (1983, p. 231) claims that a far more effective approach
is ...
Brown (1983, p. 231) points out that a far more effective approach
is ...
A far more effective approach is ... (Brown, 1983, p. 231)
The first one is Brown's opinion with no indication about your opinion. The second
one is Brown's opinion, which you agree with, and the third is your opinion, which
is supported by Brown
Here are some more expressions you can use to refer to someone's work that
you are going to paraphrase:
If you agree with what the writer says.
The work of X indicates that ...
The work of X reveals that ...
The work of X shows that ...
Turning to X, one finds that ...
Reference to X reveals that ...
In a study of Y, X found that ...
As X points out, ...
As X has indicated ...
A study by X shows that ...
X has drawn attention to the fact that ...
X argues that ...
X points out that ...
X makes clear that ...
If you disagree with what the writer says.
X claims that ...
The work of X asserts that ...
X feels that ...
If you do not want to give your opinion about what the writer says.
According to X...
It is the view of X that ...
The opinion of X is that ...
In an article by X, ...
Research by X suggests that ...
X has expressed a similar view.
X reports that ...
X notes that ...
X states that ...
X observes that ...
X concludes that ...
X argues that ...
X found that ...
X discovered that ...
Quoting
Sometimes you may want to quote an author's words exactly, not paraphrase
them. If you decide to quote directly from a text, you will need an expression to
introduce it and quotation marks will need to be used:
As X said/says, "... ..."
As X stated/states, "... ..."
As X wrote/writes, "... ..."
As X commented/comments, "... ..."
As X observed/observes, "... ..."
As X pointed/points out, "... ..."
To quote from X, "... ..."
It was X who said that "... ..."
This example is given by X: "... ..."
According to X, "... ..."
X claims that, "... ..."
X found that, "... ..."
The opinion of X is that, "... ..."
Concluding
After quoting evidence you reach a conclusion:
The evidence seems to indicate that...
It must therefore be recognised that...
The indications are therefore that...
It is clear therefore that ...
Thus it could be concluded that...
The evidence seems to be strong that...
On this basis it may be inferred that...
Given this evidence, it can be seen that...
Skim the example provided of a well-written and well-referenced essay. It was written
by a former University of Portsmouth and received an excellent mark.
Look at how the student has structured the paragraphs. What comments can
you make?
Look at the referencing. What comments can you make about the way the
student has used referencing throughout the essay?
Discuss your observations with other students in the class and be prepared to feed
back to the class.
