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Embedded References and Works Cited Guide

Embedded References and Works Cited General Guide

Topics:

Part One: Avoiding Plagiarism by Documenting Sources : The Bibliography
Part Two: Embedded References
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Part One: Avoiding Plagiarism by Documenting Sources

In writing an essay or research paper you must document or reference the source of all words or ideas that you have borrowed from another work, otherwise you are guilty of plagiarism -- a form of intellectual dishonesty.

There are several systems in use to document sources. The style used in the humanities has been set out by the Modern Language Association (MLA). In the social sciences writers often use the style set out by the American Psychological Association (APA). In the natural sciences several styles are used, varying with the discipline.

At the point in your writing where you cite an author’s work, such as in using a quotation from the source or expressing the author’s ideas in your own words, you insert or embed a small notation in brackets in the text. This embedded reference refers the reader to a list of works cited which is placed at the end of the research paper. The sections below will show you how to make embedded references and create the Works Cited list.

EasyBib : A General Guide to Understanding Written Plagiarism

Part Two: Embedded References

There are two ways to use the words and ideas of an author in an essay or a research paper.

The first way is to take an author’s ideas and to paraphrase them (put them into your own words).

The second way is to take a direct quotation from the text.

The six example references that follow are from a book entitled Victims of War by Robin Cross, published in 1993. The references are meant to direct the reader to an entry which would be listed in a Works Cited (bibliography) list. Here is the entry which would be used for Cross’s book:

Cross, Robin. Victims of War. East Sussex, England: Wayland Publishers Limited, 1993

PARAPHRASING:

EXAMPLE 1: Author’s Name Not Used in the Text

Some soldiers during World War II suffered from mental as well as physical wounds. This phenomenon was known as shell shock or battle fatigue (Cross 9).

The embedded reference (Cross 9) gives the family name of the author and the page number where the paraphrased information was taken from. The reference should be placed just before the punctuation mark--in this case a period.

PARAPHRASING:

EXAMPLE 2: Author’s Name Used in the Text

The use of Cross’s name in the text changes the embedded reference to only the page where the information was taken from (9), which should follow directly after the author’s name

DIRECT QUOTATIONS:

Author’s Name Not Used in the Text

Some soldiers suffered from mental as well as physical wounds: “In the Second World War shell shock was named battle fatigue -- mental breakdown caused by front-line fighting”(Cross 9).

As in EXAMPLE 1 above, the embedded reference appears at the end of the sentence just before the punctuation mark. The embedded reference (Cross 9) contains the author’s family name and the page number where the quotation can be found.

DIRECT QUOTATIONS:

EXAMPLE 4: Author’s Name Used in the Text

According to Cross, some soldiers suffered from mental as well as physical wounds: “In the Second World War shell shock was named battle fatigue--mental breakdown caused by front-line fighting” (9).

In this EXAMPLE, the page number where the quotation can be found in Cross’s book is placed in parentheses at the end of the sentence, just before the punctuation mark.

DIRECT QUOTATIONS:

EXAMPLE 5: The Sentence Fragment

According to Cross, some soldiers suffered from “. . . battle fatigue -- mental breakdown caused by front-line fighting” (9)..

In this EXAMPLE, the direct quotation is a sentence fragment (only a part of a sentence). The three dots at the beginning of the quote (“. . . battle fatigue) indicate to the reader that only a part of the full sentence was used in the quote.

DIRECT QUOTATIONS:

EXAMPLE 6: The Block Quote

During the war, casualties came in many different forms, including mental breakdowns caused by a phenomenon known as shell shock.

In the Second World War shell shock was named battle fatigue -- mental breakdown caused by front-line fighting. In warfare mental wounds are as inevitable as those suffered from bullets and shrapnel. In the Second World War, on average, about 10-15 percent of British and US battle casualties were cases of mental breakdown. For every five soldiers wounded another was killed and another became a psychiatric casualty. (Cross 9-10)

Many people had no sympathy for these victims, who had no obvious physical wounds. One such unsympathetic character was General George S. Patten of the U.S. Army.

Block quotations are used when the text to be quoted is longer than 3 to 4 lines. The block quotation is indented one inch from both the left and right margins, and single spaced, thereby setting it apart from the rest of the text. Quotation marks are not used and the embedded reference appears at the end of the quotation after the mark of punctuation.