4. Of Citations and Bibliographies

So far you learnt how to gather information on the subject you are interested in and you are preparing to write down your report on this particular subject.  When writing, keep in mind that the reader could benefit from going through the steps you followed. This would make it easier for her/him to see your point of view. Moreover, the reader may be interested in one of the sources you mentioned, and by giving full reference to that resource you contribute to the spread of academic knowledge.

Of citations and bibliographies

Let us begin by a definition of what citation and bibliography is.

A citation means quotation, which is a fragment of writing in a book, journal or magazine. While coming up with points to support your argument, there are times when you prefer to use directly the words that some other author you may think that it is the best way to express the idea. In that case you put the fragment in quotation marks and don't change anything about it. The second option you have is to extract the essence out of that beautiful formulated point and then express it in your own words. This is called indirect quotation or paraphrasing.

A citation also refers to a reliable description of a resource you used to create your own academic work. It is composed of several parts which include the author of the resource, year of publication, title of the book or article, publishing company. Its function is to give credit to the intellectual work that someone else did in the field in which you are currently working. 

A bibliography is the list of the material that has been used to produce an academic work. In your case, the bibliography is going to consist of all the books and articles from whose information you benefited in order to come up with your own academic product, in other words it is the list of citations you used. 

Of the benefit of giving citations and compiling bibliographies

There are several benefits in giving proper reference to the sources that you have used in your work.

  1. Remember the chapter on points of view and evaluation of information. There you learnt how to scrutinize information in order to make sure that it is dependable. Now it is time to think how those criteria are reflected in your own work, and this is where providing the reader with proper quotations of the material you used comes into play. Put in a nutshell:  Good referencing gives credibility to your work.
  2. Collecting information about a subject is like weaving a web. What you do is trace arguments from one material to another, looking for what is relevant to your own work. And the reason you were able to do this is that the authors whose works you have been consulting have acknowledged their sources of information. Now it is your turn to help other readers interested in the same subject. So bear in mind: Good referencing helps the reader get accurate information.  
  3. Plagiarism means to use the work or ideas of someone else and present it as your own work. The question of plagiarism is rather complicated, because it can happen unintentionally, as in the case when sources are not correctly cited; or it can happen intentionally by appropriation of someone else's work. The spread of the availability of relevant and reliable online information seems to have promoted plagiarism further. In the academic world it is the equivalent of theft and it is severely punished. Moreover it takes a lot from your work, rather adding anything to it. It inhibits your creativity and your own academic development. The way out of plagiarism is very simple: Good referencing helps you avoid plagiarism.
  4. Term papers and reports contribute to the enrichment of your knowledge in a particular subject but also prepare to make your own contribution to the academic world. By giving references you show that you are familiar with who is who and who says what on the subject; you are acknowledging those who wrote before you.  It resembles a new membership in a club, and as with any new membership you begin by greeting the elder members. Hence: Good referencing helps you become part of the academia.

At Sabanci University two styles of citation are most frequently used. One of them is the style of the American Psychological Association (commonly referred to as APA style) and the other is the style of Modern Language Association (commonly referred to as MLA style). Both styles deal with in-text citations and bibliographies. In-text citation is the first acknowledgment given to the source of information. It is very short and not detailed, and certainly not enough to trace the original resource. But it is the post sign that tells the reader to go and look at the bibliography that you provide at the end of the paper.  The bibliography of each paper contains nothing more and nothing less than what is cited in the text, but this time the address if the source is given in its full version. Because there is more material on the subject that you could possibly cover, the title you give at your reference list is either Selected Bibliography or References. 

In what follows you will find information on how to cite your sources correctly according to each style. If the resource that you need to cite is not one of the examples below you can find detail information at 

One thing you need to keep in mind: Most instructors don't mind which citation style you pick for your report, as long as you never mix citation styles.

In-text citation

The regular in-text citation involves writing the surname of the author, year of publication, and page number.

  • In the case of a short direct quote, than your sentence looks like this:

    Nieman (2005, p.50) sustains that "clarity should never be confused with simplicity" and she goes on to argue about moral clarity. Or 

    She sustains that "clarity should never be confused with simplicity" (Nieman 2005, p.50), and she goes on to argue about moral clarity.

  • In the case of a long direct quote: The long quote is one that is more than forty words long. It stands on its own as a paragraph, it is indented and single spaced. It should look like this:

    Honig (2007) argues that:     

    Israeli politicians posited that the need to avoid disrupting the diplomatic and internal Palestinian political process necessitated a more limited and proportionate response. This meant a reversal of traditional roles: the army had to show restraint whereas society should be prepared to absorb attacks. (p.67)

  • In the case of indirect quotation or paraphrasing, if you are paraphrasing a specific idea of the material than the page number is included. The sentence looks like this:  According to Black (2006, p.34) watching too much television can hinder children's imagination.
  • When paraphrasing the general idea of the book, you omit the page number from in text reference but don't forget to write the mane of the author and the publication year.
  • If there are two authors than this is what it should look like in the text:  e.g.: (Black and Rose, 1999, p.35) or Black and Rose (1999, p.35)
  • If there are more than two authors and they are mentioned more than once, than this is what it should look like in the text:

            e.g.: (Branson, Harrison and Hamilton, 2004, p.65) - when mentioned for the first time.

            e.g.: (Branson et al., 2004, p.78) or Branson et al. (2004, p.78) - when mentioned for the second time.

  • If the author is unknown then cite the title of the material. Give titles of books in italics but give titles of articles or chapters in quotation marks. e.g.: (A Professional Secret, 2005, p.89) or ("Condemning the Architect", 2004, p.28)
  • If the author is an organization then in the first citation write the full name of the organization instead of the author, in the following citations you write the abbreviation of the organization's name.

            e.g.: (World Trade Organization, 2006, p.19) and then (WTO, 2006, p.25)

  • If the date is unknown then you write n.d. instead of the year.

            e.g.: ("Using correct punctuation", n.d.)

  • If there is no page number than you cite the number of the paragraph

            e.g.: (Harrison, 2005, para.7)

  • If you are citing an indirect resource, that is, someone that has been cited within the book you are consulting then in text reference looks like this:

            (Hume, as cited in Brady, 1999, p.70)

All the rules above are valid for printed sources as well as electronic ones.

APA Style Reference List

  • If you are citing a book with one author:
    Barrow, R.H. (1950). Introduction to St. Augustine: The City of God. London: Faber & Faber.
  • If you are citing a book with multiple authors:  
     Breton, A., Galeotti, G., and Salmon, P. (1997). Understanding democracy: economic and political perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • If the author is an organization: UNESCO. (1997). Statistical yearbook. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press.
  • If it is a book or article with no author or editor name: A Dictionary of ancient Greek civilization. (1970). London: Methuen.
  • If it is a chapter in an edited book: Dowding, K., Goodin R. E., and Pateman, C. (2004). Between justice and democracy. In Dowding, K., R. E.Goodin, and C. Pateman (Eds.), Justice and democracy: essays for Brian Barry (pp. 1-25). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • If it is a journal article: (11 is the volume number, 105-116 are the page numbers):
    Canovan, M. (1983). A Case of Distorted Communication: A Note on Habermas and Arendt. Political Theory, 11, 105-116.
  • If it is a journal article, retrieved from a database (14 is the volume number, 1 is the issue number):
    Braun, B. (2007). Biopolitics and the molecularization of life. Cultural Geographies, 14(1), 6-28. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from EBCOHOST Research Database.
  • If it is an article in newspapers & magazines: Sedaris, D. (2006, November 27).Road trips: The way to someplace news. The New Yorker, pp.108-110
  • If it is an article in an online newspaper: McLean, G. (2007, January 9). Discrimination beyond belief. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jan/09/post887
  • If the date is unknown then you write n.d. instead of the year. 
  • If you are citing an indirect resource, that is, someone that has been cited within the book you are consulting than only give the reference of the resource you are originally using.

[i][b]In-text citation[/b][/i]

The regular in-text citation involves writing the surname of the author and page number with just one space separating one from the other.

    • In the case of a short direct quote, than your sentence looks like this: Arendt sustains, "the reason this distinction should have been overlooked in ancient times and its significance remained unexplored seems obvious" (81). Or she sustains that "the reason this distinction should have been overlooked in ancient times and its significance remained unexplored seems obvious" (Arendt 81).
    • In the case of a long direct quote: The long quote is one that is more than forty words long. It stands on its own as a paragraph, it is indented and single spaced. It should look like this:e.g.: E. H. Carr doesn't agree with theorists that represent international morality as a harmony of interests: Laissez-faire, in international relations as in those between capital and labor, is the paradise of the economically strong. State control, whether in the form of protective legislation or of protective tariffs, is the weapon of self-defense invoked by the economically weak. The clash of interests is real and inevitable; the whole nature of the problem is distorted by an attempt to disguise it. (Carr 57)
    • In the case of indirect quotation or paraphrasing, if you are paraphrasing a specific idea of the material then the page number is included. The sentence looks like this: e.g.: According to Black watching too much television can hinder children's imagination (34).
    • When paraphrasing the general idea of the book, you omit the page number from in text reference, but never fail to mention the author.
    • If there are two authors then at the end of the sentence you quoted cite the authors as: e.g.: (Black and Rose 35) or Black and Rose (35)
    • If there are more than two authors, then this is what it should look like in the text: e.g.: (Branson et al. 78) or Branson et al. (78)
    • If the author is unknown then cite the title of the material. Underline titles of books but give titles of articles or chapters in quotation marks. e.g.: (A Professional Secret 89) or ("Condemning the Architect" 28)
    • If the author is an organization then write the full name of the organization instead of the author. e.g.: (World Trade Organization 19)
    • If you are citing an indirect resource, that is, someone that has been cited within the book you are consulting then in text reference looks like this: e.g.: (Hamilton qtd. in Smith 70)

All the rules above are valid for printed sources as well as electronic ones.

[b][i]MLA Style Reference List[/i][/b]

    • If you are citing a book with one author: Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1998.
    • If you are citing a book with multiple authors: Smith, John, Bob Bridges, and Jim Jones. The Adventures of Quirky. New York: Neal, 1987.
    • If the author is an organization:Bank of New York. Modern Banking for the New Millenium. New York: Bank of New York, 1999.
    • If it is a book or article with no author or editor name: The Guide to Good Writing. 7th ed. New York: Greenwood, 1992.
    • If it is a chapter in an edited book: Riley, Glenda. "African American Women in Western History: Past and Prospect."African American Women Confront the West, 1600-2000. Ed. Quintard Taylor and Shirley Ann Wilson Moore. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. 3-21.
    • If it is a journal article: (13 is the volume number, 3-4 are the number of the issues, 77-80 are the page numbers): Barthelme, Frederick. "Architecture."Kansas Quarterly 13.3-4 (1981): 77-80.
    • If it is an article in newspapers & magazines: Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71.
    • If you are citing an indirect resource, that is, someone that has been cited within the book you are consulting than only give the reference of the resource you are originally using.