Giving References in Essays*
Many students are completely at a loss to know how and why they should give references when they write essays. At worst, this can lead them to plagiarize without intending to. Here's a beginners' explanation.
Why cite sources?
1. In the course of an essay, you will make many assertions:
i) some will be common knowledge, which can be baldly stated without more ado;
ii) some will be drawn from the investigations or reflections of others;
iii) others will be your own (possibly extrapolated from (i) and (ii)).
2. For the assertions drawn from the investigations or reflections of others, citing sources is essential for at least three reasons:
i) Your source may be more convincing than your solitary say-so, because of the labors undertaken by the original author (The writer simply knew more than you).
ii) The source possesses particular authority. The words of Winston Churchill are interesting because they represent the views of a prime minister - even if he happened to be talking rubbish at the time! The pronouncements of writers from ancient Greece reflect a view which may be illuminating because they saw the world quite differently from us, or because they set the agenda for discussion of certain topics. No discussion of the concept of class is fully complete without the classic view, that of Marx... and so on.
iii) The source puts it better than you could. Beat this as an elegant and incisive (if not necessarily true) statement of the place of religious ideology in ancient Rome: "The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful." (Edward Gibbon (1952) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London: Penguin, p.50; first published 1776-88)
3. In some cases (especially in published books), a citation is a way of directing the reader elsewhere should s/he want to follow up the point. Such a citation will often begin: "See...", or "Compare...": e.g. "See Max Weber Theory of Social and Economic Organization etc".
4. Wherever you are stating something on the strength of someone else's labors, you should try to acknowledge its origin - especially for academic sources. It is honest, it helps your professor to check your understanding of the original, and it helps you to establish the plausibility of your case. This is particularly so where you quote the someone else's exact words.
How to cite sources
1. How precisely you cite the source depends on how specific your use of it.
i) For broad allusions to fairly well-known views, merely the names will do: "Unlike Marx, Weber did not see class as the primary element in society."
ii) Specific information needs to be more specifically supported: "Whilst acknowledging many shortcomings, Poggi (1990) argues that the modern state offers a better organisation of society than the conceivable alternatives."; or (more specifically still) "As Poggi puts it, `the modern state constitutes...a markedly superior way of generating and storing political power and of initiating, monitoring and controlling its uses' (Poggi, 1990, p.69)."
2. Where you quote the actual words,
i) you should always indicate the source with full details (including the page number) if at all possible.
ii) If you miss out some words, insert "..." (see quotation from Poggi above).
iii) If you insert some words (to make the sense clear) enclose them in square brackets, e.g. "In Poggi's view, `what stands in the foreground [in the post-war European state] is the military achievement represented by the Normandy invasion and the following campaign' (Poggi, 1990, p.69)."
iv) If you quote within another quotation use an alternative form of quotation marks, e.g. single quotation marks within double.
3. The above examples illustrate a particular, widely used way of specifying the source. There is a choice, and it does not really matter so long as the origin is clear:
i) One approach, as above, gives a short reference (plus page, chapter or whatever as required) in brackets in the text. Then at the end, the complete details of all works cited are listed in alphabetical order of author: e.g. "Poggi, G. (1990) The State: its nature, development and prospects, Cambridge, Polity". For this system the list at the end is essential.
ii) An alternative, accompanies each citation with a footnote, numbered or otherwise (e.g. "1" or "*").
iii) In this case, the footnote text (either at the foot of the page or at the end) gives the necessary details: e.g. "1. Poggi, G. (1990) The State: its nature, development and prospects, Cambridge, Polity, p.69".
iv) For (ii) (iii) , it is convenient to abbreviate the reference if you have already given fuller details in an earlier reference: e.g. "Poggi (1990), p.177-84"; or "ibid. [i.e. the same text as referred to in the previous note], p.177-84; or "Poggi, op.cit. [i.e. the text I gave full details of in an earlier note or list], p.177-84"
v) There are also alternative ways of ordering the details about sources, e.g. "Gianfranco Poggi, The State: its nature, development and prospects, Cambridge: Polity, 1990, p.69". Which you adopt is not important, so long as you choose a method that is clear and consistent.
vi) Some references are to articles etc appearing within other works. e.g.: "`The Consociational Model and its Dangers', in Barry, B. (1991) Democracy and Power: Essays in Political Theory I, Oxford, Clarendon"
v) Ideally, you should give the place of publication, the publisher and the date of publication, but this may not always be possible.
*Based on adaptation from Dr. Noel Parker, University of Surrey, by Kevin Deegan Krause, Wayne State University.