Proper citation of sources is crucial for any form of academic writing, especially academic writing meant for scientific publication. Scientific reports are part of the scientific record, and as part of the ethical standards of research, proper credit must be given.
This means following very strict standards for citation of sources in text or in a list of references. Research writers need to stick to strict academic style requirements.
More importantly, you should rigorously follow the reference and style requirements. References and citations are especially important in the Literature Review section, which is found in the Introduction and which is supposed to have dozens of citations.
Academic style requirements will vary by the journal. Important style guides normally used in academic journals include:
The American Medical Association or AMA
Vancouver
Before you go into the details of these style guides, there are three major systems by which references and citations can be formatted. They include 1) the Name and Year System; 2. the Alphabet Number System; and 3. the Citation Order System.
1. Name and Year System
In this style of citation, the name of the author and year of publication are cited in-text, and this in-text citation corresponds to a reference list arranged in alphabetical order. The APA system is a good example of this. An in-text citation would look like this, “Smith and Adam (2016).” This style of academic editing is popular in the social sciences. Because the references are not numbered, they can be added or deleted easily.
However, one major disadvantage of this style is that it may be distracting to the reader. More than two references may have to be cited within one sentence or paragraph. They are usually parenthetical and unrelated to the grammar of the sentence in which they occur. Readers will have to be trained in reading dense academic writing to not be distracted by this.
2. Alphabet Number System
The alphabet number system also has an alphabetically ordered reference list. However, instead of the name and year system in the in-text citations, the citations appear in the form of numbers. Some have criticized the system as it gives the reader too much work to go through a numbered list to locate the name of the source, where it would be easier to simply name the auto directly in the text.
However, this problem can be overcome by strategically including the names of authors in the text. For example, “The positive relationship between educational levels and the willingness to pay higher prices for goods labeled ‘organic’ has been noted by Heymans (12).”
3. Citation Order System
The citation order system means that the references are ordered in the number they appear. So, instead of an alphabetized reference list, you have a reference list that is numbered based on the order they appear in the body of the text. This style of citation is ideal for brief works with a limited number of references. However, for longer academic works it can be troublesome. This is because it will be a chore to add or delete references.
One major advantage for the readers is that this style is easier for the eyes as it does not present a long line of parenthetical text that is unrelated grammatically to the sentence in which it occurs. For this reason, it is popular among semi-academic publications, such as medical blogs — such as Healthline — that reference papers in peer-reviewed journals.
There are a few journals that may take it up on their own to edit your references in case your paper is published. However, generally speaking, this is your responsibility.
The table below shows different reference styles:
Academic Editing Style | In-Text Example | Reference List Example |
APA | Jones et al. (2021) | Acee, T. W., & Weinstein, C. E. (2010). Effects of a value-reappraisal intervention on statistics students’ motivation and performance. The Journal of Experimental Education, 78(4), 487-512. |
CMoS Notes | According to Charles Yu, This was not the case. 1 | 1. Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45. |
MLA | It was found that VR affected exam performance(Acee et al.) | Acee, Taylor W., and Claire Ellen Weinstein. "Effects of a value-reappraisal intervention on statistics students’ motivation and performance." The Journal of Experimental Education 78.4 (2010): 487-512. |
AMA | Superscripted number: Fisher et al. findings challenged this supposition 1. | 1. Fischer MA, Stedman MS, Lii J, et al. Primary medication non-adherence: analysis of 195,930 electronic prescriptions. J Gen Intern Med. 2010;25(4):284–290. doi:10.1007/s11606-010-1253-9 |
References and citations can either be included by hand or you could use citation software such as Mendeley, Zotero, and EndNote. The table below shows different academic style guides and examples of each.
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