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Information Systems Library Guide: Referencing & Citation

A guide to information for Information Systems students from UCT Libraries

Referencing and Writing Tips

You must always acknowledge the sources that you consulted when preparing your work. Failing to acknowledge your sources is construed as plagiarism.

Helpful tips on referencing and writing can be found at these sites:

Referencing help at UCT Libraries

"All academic writing requires you to cite all the sources that you have read and consulted in the preparation of your work. Citation, also known as referencing, consists of quoting from or referring to other writers' words and thoughts and the listing of their names, together with the titles and other details of their publications so that these can be tracked down independently. Citation has long been regarded as a hallmark of academic writing of all kinds" de Jager, K. & Steele, D. 2011
 

  • Referencing and the APA style

  • PsycINFO has a brief guide to APA style on its help pages as well as links to the APA's own guide. Here is the text of the PsycInfo guide:

    APA Style

    The main scholarly association for academic psychologists in the United States, the American Psychological Association (APA) has developed standardized methods for citing print and electronic sources used in research. Below are instructions according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) and http://www.apastyle.org/.

    Instructions

    Alphabetize each entry in a works cited list by the first letter, ignoring the articles A, An, and The. Indent subsequent lines of entries one-half inch.

    Names: Use initials for first and middle names.

    Titles: For articles, chapters and books, capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle and proper nouns. Fully capitalize periodical titles.

    Dates: Publication dates use the order year, month day. The access date uses the order month day year. If no publication date is available, use "n.d." in place of date.

    The following examples are citations from EBSCO databases. If you cannot find some of this information, cite what is available. Different styles may apply when citing print and other sources.

    Journal Article

    • Pattern:

      [Author last name], [First initial]. [Middle initial]. ([Publication year]). [Title of article]. [Title of journal], [Volume number]([Issue number]), [Page number starts]-[ends]. [Document Object Identifier]

      Example:

      Silva, L. (2007). Epistemological and theoretical challenges for studying power and politics in information systems.Information Systems Journal, 17(2), 165-183. [Document Object Identifier]

      Journal Article w/ No Author

      ​Pattern:

      • [Title of article]. ([Publication year]). [Title of journal], [Volume number]([Issue number]), [Page number starts]-[ends]. [Document Object Identifier]

        Example:

        Epistemological and theoretical challenges for studying power and politics in information systems. (2007). Information Systems Journal, 17(2), 165-183. [Document Object Identifier]

  • Online Magazine Article

  • Pattern:

    [Author last name], [First initial]. ([Year], [Month]). [Article Title] [Title of magazine], [Volume number] ([Issue Number]).

    Example:

    Wood, L. (2007, February). Curiously strong teamwork. Business Week, 4023.

    Magazine Article w/ No Author

  • Pattern:

    [Title of article]. ([Year], [Month]). [Title of magazine], [Volume number] ([Issue Number]).

    Example:

    Curiously strong teamwork. (2007, February). Business Week, 4023, 90-92.

    Online Newspaper Article

  • Pattern:

                   Author last name], [First initial]. [Middle initial]. ([Year], [Month] [Day]). [Title of article]. [Title of newspaper].

  • Example:

    Bodipo-Memba, A. (2007, February 21). AT&T, GM agrees to $1-billion telecommunications pact. Detroit Free Press.

    Online Newspaper Article w/ No Author 

  • Pattern:

    [Title of article]. ([Year], [Month] [Day])] [Title of newspaper].

    Example:

    AT&T, GM agrees to $1-billion telecommunications pact. (2007, February 21). Detroit Free Press.

    Book

  • Pattern:

    [Author last name], [First initial]. [Middle initial]. ([Publication year]). [Title of work]. [Location]: [Publisher].

    Example:

    Melkman, A. (2006). Strategic customer planning. London, UK: Thorogood.

    Online Book Chapter

  • Pattern:

    [Author last name], [First initial]. [Middle initial]. ([Publication year]). [Title of chapter]. In, [Title of book] (pp. [Page number starts]-[ends]). [Location]: [Publisher].

    Example:

    Melkman, A. (2006). Introduction, summary and how to get the most out of this book. In, Strategic customer planning (pp. 1-18). London, UK: Thorogood.

    ERIC Document

  • Pattern:

    [Author last name], [First initial]. [Middle initial]. [Publication year]. [Title of Document]([Document or Report number]). [Place of Publication]: [Publishing Agency Name] (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. [ED# or EJ#]).

    Example:

    Naples, N. A. (2000). Economic restructuring and racialization: Incorporation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the rural midwest. Working Paper. (Report WP-7). California Univ., San Diego, La Jolla: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED466345).

    Image

  • Pattern:

    [Title of image]. ([Date of creation]).

    Example:

    Bush meets Italian president in Rome. (2005).

    Video / Audio

  • Pattern:

    [Title of video / audio]. ([Date of creation]).

    Example:

    Presidential and Vice Presidential debates - 1988. (1988).

    Podcast

  • Pattern:

    [Producer last name], [First initial]. [Middle initial]. (Producer) & [Presenter last name], [First initial]. [Middle initial]. (Presenter). ([Publication Year], [Month] [Day]). [Title of Podcast] [Type of podcast]. [Country of publication]: [Distributor].

    Example:

    Alper, B. (Producer) & Hayden, E. (Presenter). (2007, March 6). Prevention of HIV infection. Treatment of COPD. [DynaMed Podcast Program]. Ipswich, Massachusetts: EBSCO Publishing.

    Conference Paper

  • Pattern:

    [Author]. ([Year],). [Title of paper]. In Editor ([First initial, Last name]) (Ed.) [Title of conference proceedings] ([page numbers]). [Place of publication]: [Publisher]. [doi:xxx.xxxxxxx]

    Example:

    Kohout, J., Finno, A., & Hart, B. (2010). In Editor E. Fromm (Ed.) Can APA be a Peppered Moth? Evolving in Response to Environmental Change and Prospects for the Association (10-24). Washington, District of Columbia, US: American Psychological Association, Center for Workforce Studies.

    Electronic books

  • Pattern:

    [Author Last Name]’ [Author first name initials]. ([Date]). [Book Title] Retrieved from [URL]

    Example:

    Seaward, B. L. (1999). Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Wellbeing. Retrieved from www.netlibrary.com

    Electronic Book-Chapter

  • Pattern:

    [Author Last Name]’ [Author first name initials]. ([Date]). [Title of Chapter] In [Book Title] (Chapter or Section number) Retrieved from [URL]

    Example:

    Seaward, B. L. (1999). “Managing Stress.” In Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Wellbeing.(Chapter 1) Retrieved from www.netlibrary.com

    Website

  • Pattern:

    [Author Last Name], [Author First Name Initial]. ([Date of publication[). [Title of document]. Retrieved from [http://Web address]

    Example:

    IBM. (n.d.). Green electronics: designing for a smarter planet. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/green_and_sustainability/article/green_electroni cs.html?re=ussph1.1

    These are only basic examples of the APA style. More detailed information is available through the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) and http://www.apastyle.org/. In addition, a variety of third-party style guides and web sites can provide further assistance.

  •  

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a dishonest act of attempting to take someone else’s ideas, writing, design or research and presenting them as your own.

This is viewed very seriously by UCT and may lead to expulsion. To avoid plagiarism it is important to cite and reference your sources. 

 

Plagiarism Declaration

UCT's Plagiarism Policy with Declaration form is availableat:

Avoiding Plagiarism - a Guide for Students

EndNote

EndNote is reference management software with features to—

Keep all your references and reference-related materials in a searchable personal library.

​Synchronize your references between up to three of your personal computers, an online library, and your iPad, through EndNote sync. (You must be the owner and user of all three computers.)

Share your references with collaborators through EndNote sync.

Use your references in word-processing documents to create formatted citations and bibliographies or independent reference lists.

The following libguide offers great tips on how to use ENDNOTE:

http://clarivate.libguides.com/endnote_training/home

UCT Referencing Style Guide

Organising your references & compiling a bibliography

The University of Cape Town has a campus-wide license to reference managing tools  RefWorks and EndNote. These reference management tools allow you to save citations to your own web-based database whilst reading articles for your research project.

When writing your own article you can choose the referencing style required to create the bibliography and easily change the style later if necessary. Register for RefWorks and follow the tutorial link on RefWorks and for EndNote via the  ICTS Downloads page. 

RefWorks

Welcome to the New RefWorks!

This update to RefWorks is a new way to collect, manage and organize research papers and documents.  You can read annotate, organize, and cite your research as well as collaborate with friends and colleagues by sharing collections.

RefWorks’ drag and drop capability along with our smart document recognition makes it easy and fast to upload documents and bibliographic metadata into your library and the Save to RefWorks feature allows you to capture research from websites with the click of a button.

From simple bibliographies to papers formatted with in-text citations or footnotes, RefWorks handles it all.
 
The following libguide offers great tips on how to use REFWORKS:
 
http://proquest.libguides.com/newrefworks