Science Referencing: In-text Citations

Short citations included in the text of a research paper or assignment will enable your readers to find the full details of the source in the reference list.

When citing references within the text of an assignment:

• Citations must be in parentheses (brackets), or included as part of a statement.
• Citations must be in the form (author/s date) to enable your reader to find the full details of the source in the reference list e.g. (Smith 1998). If there are two authors for a particular reference, cite the names in the order in which they appear e.g. (Smith & Green 1998). If there are more than two authors of a cited reference, use et al. e.g. (Platt et al. 2004).
• When referring to two or more texts by different authors, separate them with a semicolon (;) e.g. (Smith 1995; Green 1992).
• Page numbers may or may not be included, depending on the specificity of the reference e.g. (Jones 1995, p. 82) to indicate a specific page or (Green et al. 1990, pp. 34-40) to indicate a range of pages.
• If you are using electronic sources that have no page numbers, you may use a paragraph number (abbreviation para.) to indicate to which part of the document you are referring.

Use double quotation marks to enclose another author's words. A location reference (page numbers or paragraph numbers) must be provided. If your direct quotation is more than 40 words, indent the quoted section without quotation marks.

Example:

According to Sharpe & Rosell (2003), the dominant behaviours of the beavers were "travelling, foraging and being in the lodge" (p.1063).

If you paraphrase another author's ideas or research findings, integrate them as part of your text in your own words. When paraphrasing or referring to an idea contained in another work, you are not required to provide a location reference (page number), but may do so if appropriate. Make it very clear where their ideas end and yours begin.

Examples:

The territories of male and female beavers are usually of similar size (Sharpe & Rosell 2003).

Sharpe & Rosell (2003) suggested that the behaviour of an individual will differ depending on the circumstances of the encounter, but I think that ...

If you use an idea from an author cited by another author, use "as cited in". In the reference list at the end of your paper, list only the secondary source.

Examples:

Wheatley (as cited in Sharpe & Rosell 2003, p.1065) stated that males may travel outside their territorial boundaries during summer.

Males may travel outside their territorial boundaries during summer (Wheatley, as cited in Sharpe & Rosell 2003, p. 1065).

When a work has no author, or if the author is anonymous, the in-text citation consists of the first few words of the title, followed by the year and page number.

Example:

This was apparently not the case in other catchment areas (Mineral deposition in catchment areas 1999, p. 34).