The Art of Referencing: 5 Types of References You know
Referencing is an art, as you have to be equipped with different citation styles and formatting systems.
Introduction
Referencing is a key part of academics, as it offers a chance for the students to increase the authenticity of the paper and give due credit to different authors. Further, it is an obvious way of teaching students about values and ethics.
Often the importance of referencing is cited from the sayings of the Bible, which has a strict code against stealing. Hence, adding references actively promotes ethics and moral principles in students, affecting their careers and life.
Therefore, it is wise for you to learn the art of referencing to build a good image amongst academic scholars and get good scores in the semester. Many colleges and universities strictly adhere to citations, and marks are often attached to them.
So, our brief discussion today on different types of references you can use to get good scores. Then, let’s leave the Shire and begin our adventure of knowledge and facts.
Different Referencing Style
The need for references is slowly and highly gaining importance in modern academics. Students need to learn different referencing styles to help them format the paper and cite the facts added to the essay.
Hence, here are a few referencing styles –
1. American Psychological Association (APA)
APA as a reference style saw its beginning in the domain of psychology, where it was used to cite and format psychology papers. Later, it was adopted by several disciplines across the world. It is one of the earliest forms of parenthetical referencing style.
Even today, many universities use it as the basis for teaching students about referencing and how to cite papers and websites. It is an essential part of academics. Recently, after the launch of the APA 7th edition, scholars have stressed the inclusion of DOI.
DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier, where a string of numbers, letters, and symbols serves as the paper’s web address.
An example of APA Citation is Hounsell, D. (1984). Essay planning and essay writing. Higher Education Research and Development, 3(1), 13-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/0729436840030102.
And while in-text citation, it is written like (Hounsel, 1984).
Note: If there are more than four authors, you need et al. after the first author’s last name and then put a publishing date.
2. Harvard Style Of Referencing
Havard style is often used in economics, but it came into existence from the Zoology department of Harvard University in the 1880s. Later, it became the hallmark of every British university. It also comes under the parenthetical referencing style.
Today, almost every university has its own version and placing of the bracket, comma, full stop, and date while adding references. There is no one definitive style discussing directions to do a Harvard referencing, yet here is a general example of a Harvard bibliography –
Hounsell, D., 1984. Essay planning and essay writing. Higher Education Research and Development, 3(1), pp.13-31.
During in-text citations, you have to write (Hounsel, 1984).
Note: The comma after the last name differs from university to university. Further, if there are more than three authors, you must add et al. after the first author’s last name and then put come and the date of publishing.
3. Modern Language Association (MLA)
MLA referencing style is one of the official referencing styles of humanities disciplines across the world, especially in literature and history. Language and literature professors use the citation style for its consistency and fewer grammatical mistakes.
Therefore, in many humanities sections, MLA is a preferred choice. Even today, there is a handbook for MLA format, which discusses different language papers. Moreover, it is often considered as an alternative to the APA format due to its parenthetical referencing style.
Here is an example of MLA work cited – Hounsell, Dai. “Essay planning and essay writing.” Higher Education Research and Development 3.1 (1984): 13-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/0729436840030102
MLA in-text citation – (Hounsell, 29).
Note: In the 9th edition of MLA format, you must include doi. It’s important. Further, you can put the page number after the last name in MLA in-citations. And in the case of more authors, you need to add the first name of the authors after putting the first author’s last name.
4. Vancouver Referencing Style
Vancouver style belongs to the numbering form of referencing style. It originated in Canada after medical journal editors sat together to find a solution for biomedical students, and rightly they did.
And like Havard, they do not have a fixed style guide. It is open to universities and institutions to set their own guidelines.
Here is an example of Vancouver referencing style – 1. Hounsell D. Essay planning and essay writing. Higher Education Research and Development. 1984 Jan 1;3(1):13-31.
5. Chicago Notes And Bibliography
Chicago referencing style originated from the University of Chicago, and you will find its presence mostly in the humanities subjects. Even people in social sciences and physical science use the citation style to cite the papers accordingly.
It comes under the category of footnote citation style.
The publisher mostly used it, but the referencing style focuses solely on students after adding the Turabian type. It follows the same rules and allows students to learn different reference styles.
Here is an example of a Chicago bibliography – Hounsell, Dai. “Essay planning and essay writing.” Higher Education Research and Development 3, no. 1 (1984): 13-31.
Chicago footnotes – 1Hounsell, Dai. “Essay planning and essay writing.” Higher Education Research and Development 3, no. 1 (1984): 13-31.
Note: Oscola referencing style, which is the referencing style of Oxford University, is similar to Chicago footnote style.
Consequently, contact an essay writing service, Entrepreneur, if you need help understanding different referencing styles. You can visit their website and contact them for assistance.
They specialized in using different reference styles and formatting the file, as per the guidance of reference style.
Plagiarism Is Sin
The Bible refers to theft as a grievous sin, as does the Quran. Therefore, it is wise to learn different citation styles to help you with the format. So, ask your professor for the referencing guidelines and follow them while writing an essay.
