How To Make Citations In A Term Paper: 5 Effective Guidelines
It is essential to document through giving a citation, that is when you use other author’s information or ideas, except where it is logical to assume that the ideas or information are considered as common knowledge in the specific field where you are writing.
When making citation in your term paper, there are useful guidelines to follow so can you come up with a sensible work piece:
- Someone else’s accurate terms or words must be positioned within the quotation marks or outlined from the text through single spacing as well as indentation. Take note that a citation must be put close by the beginning or at the end of the quotation; this is to make it clear from the beginning who’s the author being quoted.
- When summing up or paraphrasing. Although you place other person’s information or ideas into your own words, it is still significant to cite the origin of the date and the information.
- Information and Specialized Knowledge. Take into account that all specific knowledge (this refers to anything that can’t be regarded as common knowledge) in the specific area which you are writing- must be precisely documented. All information from a reference must be pointed out.
- When you are discoursing about one book at length, it is not necessary to acknowledge general themes, concerns or concepts in it every time you state one. However, it must be clear-cut to your readers that you’re actually talking about a theme or an idea from a specific book. Of course, it is necessary to specify the pages where more definite concepts or information are found when you use them so it will be easier for your readers to locate them.
- Make sure to include a reference list. This is also referred to as reference bibliography which provides the data required to locate any source that was used in a paper. It is crucial for you to provide this bibliographic data for each source you mentioned in your term paper. However, you must include references that you did not indicate in the text of the paper.
The necessary bibliographic information must comprise of the following:
- The author’s last name, first name and the middle initial (at times the author’s first names are not typically used, only initials are given). There are a lot of styles but in general it is advisable to just use the style that is commonly used by the sources you are indicating; in any case: observe your sources and just imitate what they do.
- The date of the publication
- The title of journals, article or books
- Data about the periodical or publisher or other details that have something to do with the publication’s source.
- Issue numbers and volume (for articles)
- Page numbers
It is also helpful to know that citations may appear different hinging on what is being referred to and which style was utilized to form them. In the same way, it is wise to pick a suitable style guide for your needs. Be reminded that when you are in doubt, it is always good to be safe so see to it to cite your sources.