Citation Style
It gets pretty boring to read "According to Smith (2008)." or "Smith (2008) says..." over and over in a literature review. Here are just a few of the many options for citing a source using a variety of sentence styles and wording.
- Smith and Worts (2006) found in a recent study that...
- As Smith and Worts (2006) explain/ note/ write/ report/ show/ imply/ assert/ advocate/ point out/ caution/ present/ insist/ observe...
- "References,"concluded Smith and Worts (2006), "can be inserted in your text in many ways."
- The conclusion drawn by Smith and Worts (2006) was...
- "References can be inserted in your text in many ways" (Smith & Worts, 2006).
- When writing, it is important to vary citation reference style (Smith & Worts, 2006). It is equally important to...
- The consensus of recent studies (Smith & Worts, 2006; Price, 2007; Plantz, 2007; Ali & Lea, 2008) is that it is not hard to vary reference citation style.
- A study by Smith and Worts (2006) showed/ revealed/ confirmed/ concurred/ expressed/ focused/ illustrated/ indicated/ maintained/ reviewed/ revealed/ examined/ developed/...
- Smith and Worts contradicted/ built upon/ summed up ...(2006).
- The idea that reference citations can be varied (Smith & Worts, 2006) suggests that...
- In a study by Smith and Worts (2006), survey data showed...
A few rules of thumb:
- Paraphrase; don't quote. It's easier for the reader one writing style instead of being forced to jump back and forth between your style and the style of many different authors. Use direct quotations sparingly, only to capture some important phrasing that a paraphrase would miss or to make a main point stand out.
- Write in stages. For your first draft, just write out the content--the main ideas--as if you were the author and are reporting what your own research has shown. Don't put in any sources. Then, go back to insert the references for all the ideas that you got from others. That will prevent the "Smith says" and "According to" beginnings.
Example of a first draft just making the points you want to include:
Social institutions like schools mirror the beliefs of society by reflecting homophobic attitudes that devalue the sexual orientation of gay teens. This is demonstrated in the curriculums, extracurricular activities and student services.
Revised draft with citations inserted:
- Use your own words. Watch out for accidental PLAGIARISM. The best way to make sure that you're expressing someone's ideas in your own words is to put away the article or note cards and write without referring to the source at all. Then go back and reread the source, making sure first that you captured the ideas correctly and second that you didn't borrow chunks of the actual wording.
- Don't get overly formal or overly wordy. Avoid phrases like "The author posits.../ The author opines..." ("The author states..." works just as well) or "It was determined by the authors that..." ("The authors determined that..."makes the same point with fewer words).
Social institutions like schools mirror the beliefs of society (Vare & Norton, 2003) by reflecting homophobic attitudes that devalue the sexual orientation of gay teens. This is demonstrated in the curriculums, extracurricular activities and student services (Nesmith, 2006).