Academic Style guide and APA6 style 2012 Final.pdf

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APA 6th

Style Guide Wits Business School August 2012

WITS BUSINESS SCHOOL ACADEMIC STYLE GUIDE AND REFERENCING (APA 6th style)

Do NOT plagiarise: it is intellectual theft and may result in your expulsion from the

University

We may, at any time and without further notification, test any submission for plagiarism. We generally use Turnitin software for this purpose. Any student or staff member may run their own work through the software to self-check and rectify, at any time.

The importance of referencing

All sources used in written submissions in the course of your degree must be referenced. This is done to acknowledge the work of others, to avoid plagiarism, to pinpoint quotations and to enable readers to follow-up on referenced sources.

Citations appear in the text, references are listed alphabetically at the end of the paper. All citations must be referenced, and all references cited; i.e. all sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper and vice versa.

Descriptive verbs

Rather than using the monotonous “he says, she says, they say” formula, vary the verbs you use when discussing published works. Some alternatives (there are many others as well) to “Author X says . . .” are:

acknowledged, responded, reported, argued, found, recognized, accepted, established, questioned, concluded, challenged, pursued, opposed, contended, continued, stated, testified, told, specified, indicated, listed, explained, proposed, investigated, described, defined, challenged, claimed, queried, maintained, disputed, discussed, debated, identified, analyzed, agreed, suggested, recommended, illustrated, formulated, affirms, maintains, professes, refutes,

CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY SO THAT THEY ACCURATELY REFLECT WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO SAY

APA 6th style basics

The APA style uses the author-date format for citations; i.e., the author's last name and the year of publication in brackets (e.g.: Dewey, 1998) in the text, and a full reference with all the required information in the reference list at the end of the document.

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APA 6th


The above rule applies whenever you are referring to an idea from another author, institution, etc.. or, in fact yourself if you are referring to some of your own previous work that has been published. You will have paraphrased and/or summarised the idea, but NOT directly quoting it verbatim.

Verbatim or direct quotes must ALWAYS be cited with a page number, e.g. (Dewey, 1998; p.45), where ‘45’ is the page number on which the direct quote can be found. Putting in direct quotes without giving a page number is the same and copying and pasting from someone else’s work (suggesting that it is your own), and is plagiarism.

If you use direct quotes in your document, do so only sparingly. They are good for adding emphasis, illustrating a point or making a punchy start / finish to a section. Overusing direct quotes suggests that you have not thought about what you are writing (and some laziness to be honest); not acceptable at this level.

Format for in-text citations and quotes:

• General reference, at the end of the sentence as shown (author, date). For example:

The non-profit sector is a significant player in local economies

(Swilling & Russel 2002).

• General reference (author, date) in the middle of the sentence. For example:

This applies both in South Africa (Swilling & Russel, 2002) as well as

internationally (Masaoka, 2005).

• Author’s name (date) at the beginning, end or middle of the sentence. It would be grammatically incorrect to put both the name and the date into brackets:

Masaoka (2005) describes the importance of the economic role played

by non-profit organisations in international markets.

The importance of non-profit organisations in international markets has

been described by Masaoka (2005).

INCORRECT: (Masaoka 2005) describes the importance of the

economic role played by non-profit organisations in international

markets.

• For two authors or editors give both surnames followed by the date (FirstAuthor & SecondAuthor, date). The style uses ‘and’ in the text and an ampersand (&) in the citation, e.g.



vs

According to Swilling and Russel (2002), the non-profit sector is a

significant player in local economies.

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APA 6th


• When there are three to five authors, give all the names the first time the citation appears, then FirstAuthor et al. for subsequent citations.

• When there are six or more authors, give the name of the first author only, then ‘et al.’ and finally the year, e.g. (AuthorA et al., date).

• Where there is more than one citation for a particular fact, put them both into the same set of brackets separated by semi-colons, e.g. (AuthorA, date; AuthorB, date). They will be listed alphabetically then by date. Make sure you are consistent.

• When citing authors with the same surname, give first name initials with each surname, e.g. (B. Naidoo, 2005; Y. Naidoo, 2008).

• When an author has written more than one paper in the same year, and you want to cite both, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) to differentiate them, e.g. in Smit’s (2008a) study of South African non-profits, it was found . . .

• When referring to an electronic document, apply the author-date format as far as possible. Many electronic sources do not have page numbers, so, include a reference for the reader to locate the information, e.g. a sub-heading or paragraph number. Assist the reader as far as possible to find the part you are referring to.

• Always capitalise proper nouns, e.g. names of places, months, author names, etc.

• DO NOT capitalise other words in the text unless they are acronyms. When capitals are tossed around willy-nilly, even when referring to an important concept it is untidy, inconsistent and incorrect.

• We prefer you to use South African English (similar to UK English). However, you may use American English if you wish. Whichever it is, BE CONSISTENT.

Page numbers for short verbatim quotes

When you are quoting directly, the quote itself must be in inverted commas. The citation is as described above with the author and date, but the page number must be put in as well by putting in “p.45” after the date, (here 45 is the page number on which the quote appears). For example:

Much of this may appear to be nit-picking. Rather look on it as

attention to detail and precision.

This is very important in business, as well as academic,

communications and will be treated as such when marking

assignments and research documents.

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APA 6th


According to Swilling and Russel (2002, p. 45), “Major contributors to

the viability of micro-economies are non-profit organisations” OR

According to Swilling and Russel (2002), “Major contributors to the

viability of micro-economies are non-profit organisations” (p. 45).

Page numbers for long verbatim quotes

For direct quotes with more than 40 words, do not use inverted commas. Put the quote into a separate double indented paragraph. Then put the page number either in the bracket with the date, or at the end of the quote. For example:

Jones (1998) was firm in her view that:

Students sometimes had difficulty using the APA style,

especially when it was their first time citing sources.

This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students

hadn’t referred to a style manual or asked for help (p. 199).

Summary or paraphrase

When you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, only make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference (do not put in a page #), e.g.:



Formatting with Endnote

1. Select the APA 6th style in Endnote and in your word processor.

2. When you import references into Endnote, make sure that ALL the required information arrives. Sometimes, for example, the issue number or the ending page number does not arrive – immediately open the abstract or actual article to get these details and manually put them into Endnote.

3. Make sure you have selected the correct reference type, e.g. journal article, book, web page, etc. or it will not appear in the right format.

Formatting without Endnote

This is not recommended. If you are not using Endnote you will spend a great deal of time and effort on your references, which will somehow never be exactly right. You must be consistent and correct to avoid being penalised.

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APA 6th


The reference list:

References must be listed alphabetically by the first author’s surname, then by year, with the oldest reference first. If you are citing a number of works by the same author/s, all the names must be listed each time.

The principle is very simple: Complete and consistent - i.e. include ALL the information necessary for the reader to access the source, in a consistent manner. If a reference type is not described here you can deduce the format from this principle, or consult the full style guides, available in the library and on the internet.

Take note of where all the full stops, commas, spaces etc. appear – or do not appear – and follow the format EXACTLY.

• For titles of articles, etc. only capitalise the first word of the title.

• Italicize the ‘physical object’, i.e. book titles, journal names, movies, documentaries, e.g. Designing brain-compatible learning; The Wizard of Oz; Journal of Mixed Methods Research

• Note that both volume and issue of journal articles are required. If they do not download, you must open the actual article, locate the relevant number and either type it in or insert it manually into Endnote.

• Note that both beginning and ending page numbers are required. If it does not download, you must open the actual article, locate the relevant number and either type it in or insert it manually into Endnote.

Type Reference Format

Journal article Author, A. (Year). Title. Journal name, Volume (Issue), start

page#-end page#.

Abosi, O. (2007). Educating children with learning disabilities

in Africa. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 22(3), 196-201.

Journal article

more than one

author

FirstAuthor, A. & SecondAuthor, A. (Year). Title. Journal,

Volume(Issue), start page#-end page#.

Adams, R., Atman, C., Nakamura, R., Kalonji, G., & Denton,

D. (2002). Assessment of an international freshmen research and design experience: a triangulation study. International Journal of Engineering Education, 18(2), 180-192.

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APA 6th



Journal article

with a “doi”

number

APA will sometimes import what they call a “doi” number. Please delete this from the record in Endnote so that these references look exactly like a normal journal article.

Journal article

online

Author, A. (Year). 'Title', Journal, Volume(Issue), pp. Pages, last

accessed Date, from URL in full.

Book Author, A. (Year). Title, (Edition ed.). City: Publisher.

Dhillon, G. (1997). Managing information system security. London: Macmillan. Cresswell, J. W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Method Approaches (Third ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Book Section Author, A. (Year). Title. In Editor, A. (ed.) Book Title. (Edition.

Ed.) (pp. start page#-end page#). City: Publisher.

Nonaka, I., Umemoto, K., & Sasaki, K. (1998). Three Tales of

Knowledge-creating Companies. In G. von Krogh, J. Roos & J. Kleine (Eds.), Knowing in Firms, Understanding, Managing and Measuring Knowledge (pp. 146-172). London: Sage.

Edited Book Editor, A. (ed.) (Year). Title Edition ed. City: Publisher.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.) (1994). Handbook of

Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Magazine

article

Author, A. (Year). Title. Magazine, Date, start page#-end page#).

Magazine

article no author

'Title' (Year). Magazine, Date, start page#-end page#.

Newspaper

article (choose

“web page” as

reference type)

Author, A. (Year, last update date). Title. Newspaper, Retrieved

Date, from URL in full.

McLeod, D. (2008, 27 June 2008). A broad band of dismay. Financial Mail Retrieved 11 November, 2011, from http://secure.financialmail.co.za/08/0627/technology/ffeat.htm

Newspaper

article no author

'Title' (Year). Newspaper, Date, start page#-end page#.

This is actually the

publication date of

the newspaper

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APA 6th



Conference

proceeding

Author, A. (Year, conference dates and month). Title. Paper

presented at Conference Name, Conference Location,

Publisher.

Falconer, D. J., & Mackay, D. R. (1999, 1-3 December). The

Key to the Mixed Method Dilemma. Paper presented at the 10th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Thesis (or

Dissertation or

Research

Report)

Author, A. (Year). Title. Degree Thesis Type, University, City.

Orlikowski, W. J. (1988). Information technology in post-

industrial organizations: An exploration of the computer-mediation of production work. PhD thesis, New York University, New York.

Report Author, A. (Year). Title, Type, No. Number, (pp. start page#-end

page#). Institution, City.

AACSB. (2008). Final Report of the AACSB International Impact of Research Task Force (pp. 1-49). Tampa, Florida.

Web page Author, A. (Year, Last Update Date). Title Retrieved Access Date,

Access Year, from URL in full.

Nisthar, S. (2011, 4 May). Public-Private Partnerships : A

Global Call to action Retrieved 20th January, 2011, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC514532/

Act of

Parliament

(select Book as

type of ref and

include all

numbers and

details in the

title)

Republic of South Africa. (1995). The South African Qualifications Authority Act, Number 58. Government Gazette Number152. Pretoria, Government Printer.

Day and month only

For Acts of parliament and

government publications, the

country is the author

Academic Style guide and APA6 style 2012 Final.pdf

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