Discussion: All about Referencing

This story tackles a couple of the most basic questions asked when citing references in dissertation papers.

When authors follows the APA Style Manual in citing sources, they normally list their sources in a specific portion of their academic papers like dissertations. That portion is labeled as the References. It shows the final page where the text was found, and it is also listed according to numbers.

The entries in the Reference section are also listed based on an alphabetical order based on the last name of the authors. If a certain author have more than one work in the list, then the entries should be in chronological order. If there are two or more books as well as articles written by the same author, then the dissertation writer must repeatedly write the name of the author in all of the entry.

Here are several questions raised by dissertation writers about the proper way of referencing. The answers can also be found in this site.

How does a single-author book reference look like?

Examples:
Alverez, A. (1970). The savage god: A study of suicide. New York: Random House.
Garner, B. A. (2003). Garner's Modern American Usage. New York: Oxford University Press.

It is noticeable that the words “Press” and “University” are spelled out, unlike the abbreviated version of the MLA Style. However, the abbreviations like “Inc.” and “Co.” have been omitted. Also, see that the period located next to the title is included in the italicized part of the citation. Always keep in mind that referencing a single-author book should mention the date, name of the element, the book’s title as well as the page number or page range where the element can be found which is enclosed in a parentheses.


What if the reference is written by two or more authors?

Examples:
Natarajan, R., & Chaturvedi, R. (2003). Geology of the Indian Ocean Floor. Hartford, CT: Merganser University Press.
Ligon, M., Carpenter, K., Brown, W., & Milsop, A. (1983). Computers in the world of business communications. Hartford, CT: Capital Press.

Take note that there is a hanging indent style in this citation. Also, this citations did not use the abbreviation “et al” despite the number of authors. In addition, all authors are listed in the APA Style using the last-name-first-name format. The ampersand (&) is also used before the last name of the author is listed.