The College of Nursing

Prepared by Nurse Education Directorate May 2008The College of NursingACN 000106 829

2003 The College of Nursing. This publication is copyright. Except as expressly provided in the Copyright Act (1968) no part of this publication may be reproduced by any means ( including electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission from The College of Nursing.

REFERENCING

Aim

The aim of this session is to develop your understanding of why you need to use citations in your assessment item(s) and how you keep a record of them in the reference list.

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Reasons for referencing?

• To acknowledge the work of someone else. It also provides respect for another's ideas.

• To provide evidence or support for your point of view or statement.

• Provides evidence of wide background reading.

• To give details to the reader so that the source of your information can be located.

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Hierarchy of resources

• Professional journals

• Published textbooks

• Government reports

• Research backed publications

• Newspapers

• Popular magazines

• Internet

• Leaflets/ pamphlets

• Dictionaries

• Personal communication

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Plagiarism

• ‘… involves deliberately using the work of another person and presenting it as your own’

(The College of Nursing, 2008: 44).

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Plagiarism (cont.)

• May be intentional or unintentional. • Direct quotations are not enclosed in

single inverted commas. • Paraphrasing is not acknowledged. • An idea is used without being

acknowledged to its original source. • Submitting substantially the same

material as another student.

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Course regulations re plagiarism

• ‘The College views plagiarism as a breach of academic standards which will, if proven, result in withdrawal from the course with an unsatisfactory grade.’ (The College of

Nursing, 2004: 35).

• See regulation 11 -Plagiarism/cheating, page 44 & 74 of the Student guide and general course regulations.

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Referencing methods

• As many varieties as there are academic institutions.

• College Style -Modified Harvard (Author, year: page number)

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Types of references

• In-text: References (citations) which are placed within the body of the text and indicate a level of support for the discussion.

• Reference list: Alphabetical list of all references used throughout the document

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In text referencing

• Must identify all references at the appropriate point in your writing (at least one reference per concept)– Name of author

– Year of publication

– Page number or numbers.

• Two types– Direct quotes

– Paraphrasing

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Direct quotes

• <20% of your own work in direct quotes

• Direct quotes never stand alone – integrate them into your argument or viewpoint.

• Two methods:– Short quote– Long quote

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Short quotation (< 30 words)

• Enclose the quotation in single inverted commas within your sentence.

• Example: Arnheim and Prentice (1997: 64) state that

the purpose of the warm-up period prior to commencing exercise is to produce ‘an increased blood flow to working skeletal muscle’.

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Long quotation (> 30 words)

• Indent and single space the quote; no need for inverted commas.

• Example: When describing muscle activity and the effect of exercise,

Marieb (1995: 274) states: … vigorously stressed muscle fibres contain more mitochondria, form more myofilaments, and store more glycogen. The amount of connective tissue between the cells also increases. Collectively these changes promote significant increases in muscle strength and size.

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Paraphrasing

• Putting an idea into your own words to indicate your understanding and to support your arguments.

• It does not mean: – changing one or two words

– re-ordering the sentence.

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Referencing: Author included in sentence

• Author’s family name forms part of the sentence, year of publication and page numbers are added.

• Example: Jones (1995: 766) notes that the

changes that occur in the alveoli in emphysema are very significant.

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Referencing: Author not in sentence

• If the author’s name is not part of the sentence then provide the information in brackets at the end of the sentence.

• Example:

The changes to the alveoli that occur in emphysema are dramatic (Jones, 1995: 766).

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Referencing: Common themes from

multiple sources • Cite the surnames of the authors and year of

publication only.

• In text references are listed in chronological order, but are listed alphabetically in the reference list.

• Example:

Febrile convulsions occur at the onset of an illness and is thought to be triggered by a rapid rise in temperature (Shann,1995; Wong, 1999).

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Referencing: Two & three author

• List all surnames throughout your work.– Tortora and Grabowski (2000:259)

– Smith, Jones and Jones (1998:136)

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Works with four or more authors

• The in-text citations should show the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’ (Latin for ‘and others’)

• The full reference listing all authors must be provided in the reference list

• Peterson et al. (2001:175) go on to explain the effective use of narcotic agents where they are working.

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Referencing: Edited works

• In-text … Reference the author of the section/chapter, not the editors of the book.

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Referencing: Electronic sources

• Usually no page numbers: – Author’s name – Year (or n.d. if ‘no year’) – n.p. for ‘no page’

• Ensure all identifying information is provided in the reference list.

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Referencing: Personal communications

• Cannot be used if information can be accessed from the literature.

• Only appropriate for experts within the field.

• Position usually holds some degree of authority.

• Personal communications referenced within text only.

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Expert personal communication

• Smith (25 July 2000, pers. com.) suggests there is an over use of paracetamol, particularly in treating mild illness in children.

• To give emphasis:

• Smith (Smith, R. Professor of Paediatrics, Cambridge University, 25 July 2000, pers. com.) suggests there is an over use of paracetamol, particularly in treating mild illness in children.

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Secondary source citations

• An author’s work may be discussed or cited in another’s work; you must acknowledge both sources.

• Example: • According to Condon and Nyhus (cited

in Methany, 1996: 47), the average daily fluid requirements in adults increased …

• How would this be listed in the reference list?

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Building

a

Reference List

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Reference list

• List of resources directly used to support arguments developed within the document.

• The College style is to only use reference lists as opposed to bibliographies.

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Reference list (cont.)

• Alphabetical order.

• Contains all the source material cited within the text of your work, whether actual quotes, paraphrasing or concepts.

• All journals, books and other resources are referenced differently in the final list.

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Referencing: journal articles

• For a typical article in a journal, the following reference information is required:

• author of article surname, initial.

• year of issue

• title of article

• name of periodical italics

• volume number italics

• issue number

 • pages of article

 

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Please note:

• Articles downloaded from databases such as Ovid or Proquest should be referenced as if you have the hard copy of the journal in your hand, that is, do not cut and paste the database link.

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Example: article reference

• Houde, S.C. and Huff, M.A. 2003 Age-related vision loss in older adults. Journal of Gerontological Nursing 29, 4, 25–33.

• Schofield, I. 2002 Caring for older people who have a heading disability. Nursing Older People 13, 10,20–25.

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Referencing: books

• The basic reference information required to describe a book is:

•  Author Surname, Initial.

• Year of publication 2000

• Title Italics

• Publisher Company name

• Place of publication Location

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Example: book reference

• In-text: • Pain as a unique experience (Woodruff,

2002:32). • or • Woodruff (2002: 32) describes pain as

aunique experience. • Reference list:

– Woodruff, R. 2002. Palliative medicine, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

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Referencing: chapter of a book

• For a chapter in a book, the following reference information is required:

• author of chapter Surname, Initial.

• year of publication

• title of chapter

• editor of book

• title of book Italics

• edition number

• publisher

• place of publication.

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Example: chapter reference

• In-text:

• Pain assessment is a comprehensive and encompassing nursing responsibility (Wilson, 1998: 232). OR

• Wilson (1998: 232) describes pain assessment as a comprehensive and encompassing nursing responsibility.

• Reference list: – Wilson, S. 1998 Pain assessment. In Taylor, S. (ed)

Pain. Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

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Referencing: electronic sources

• Author/editor Year Book title. (edn x), Available URL:

(e.g. www.) Full address details or Database CD ROM Supplier <Accessed year, month and day>

• Author Year Title. Journal title ,volume, issue, pagination or indicator of length if possible. Available URL: (e.g. www.) Full address details <Accessed year, month and day>

• Author Year Chapter title. In Editors (eds). Book title. (edn x), publisher, city. Available URL: (e.g. www.) Full address details or Database CD ROM Supplier <Accessed year, month and day>

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Example: electronic reference

• Cole, N. 2001 Citing electronic sources. (version 1.5) Available URL: www personal.usyd.edu.au/~nacolema/elecrefs .html <Accessed 2002, July 24>

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Sample reference list

• Cole, N. 2001 Citing electronic sources.(version 1.5) Available URL:www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~nacolema/elecrefs.html <Accessed 2002, July 24>

• Farmer, F. 2002 Tumour development and the impact of radiation therapy. Journal of Radiation Biology 12, 5, 45-78.

• Wilson, S. 1998 Pain assessment. In Taylor, S. (ed)Pain. Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

• Woodruff, R. 1998 Palliative Medicine, 3rd edn,Oxford University Press, Oxford.

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Common rules

• One reference per concept – at least. • Reference specific knowledge. • Ask the questions: Where did that come

from? How do they know that? • Better to over-reference than under-

reference. • 4000 – 5000 words = 15 – 20 references

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Reference list guidelines

• Follow the specified rules

• Check commas and full stops

• Dates, volume numbers, page numbers

• Correct information -authors name(s), book/article title, journal name

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Reference list guidelines (cont.)

• Italicise journal title or book title

• Underline titles if hand written

• Include publishers

• Note: The second and following lines should be indented to emphasise the author’s name.

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Before submission

• Check:

• your references are all present and correct.

• all in-text references are in the reference list.

• your reference list is included with your submission.

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Presentation references

• www personal.usyd.edu.au/~nacolema/elecrefs.html <Accessed 2002, July 24>

• www.ecu.edu.au/ssc/sss/sass/referencing_faq.html <Accessed 2005, June 15>

• The College of Nursing, 2007 Student guide and general course regulations. 12th edn, The College of Nursing, Burwood.

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