How to Write a Proper Cite on Thesis?
One of the most important college expository writings is a Thesis. It is also known as an academic paper that demonstrates a student’s achievements, academic qualification, dedication, and hard work. As it is of such great significance, it is also very difficult. Some students also resort to the internet to get online thesis help for themselves when things get very difficult.
What Makes a Thesis So Important?
The prime goal of a thesis or a dissertation is to judge the student’s capability in their field of study as it contributes to their final grade. A thesis demonstrates a student’s grip on the knowledge of their chosen theme. It reflects the level of understanding a student possesses. Apart from this, it also instills in a student those qualities that would come handy in their future such as research skills, time management, etc. As it is of such importance, some people buy thesis online from professionals instead of taking a chance.
Citations; What & Why?
The literal meaning of a citation is to quote. Whenever you use any information in your Thesis or academic paper that is not yours, you have to cite the source you have used it from. This is a practice that is common in all forms of academic papers and assignments including Thesis. Many students prefer to resort to the internet, be it for MPhil thesis help or bachelor’s thesis help, the online realm has a solution for everything. People do it as it can become very challenging to write a thesis with all the many technicalities (citations included). But, why are citations so important?
- Whenever you use someone else’s information in your work, you are using someone else’s idea and creation to clarify or strengthen your argument. The right way to borrow someone else’s idea is to give them recognition and credit for their contribution and ideas.
- Plagiarism is the enemy of your academic work. Citing all the sources you used in your research will secure your work from plagiarism. It is never considered a good thing if any sort of Plagiarism is found in your thesis.
- It helps the reader locate the sources you have referred to. Whenever someone is reading your research and they want to learn more about a specific part, a citation helps them locate the source sot that they can easily get more information about it. It helps the reader navigate through your research.
How Does One Properly Cite in a Thesis?
There are several well-defined formats that you have to adhere to whenever you are citing a source. There are many different types of referencing styles used in different academic disciplines. The two major types of citations are following:
- In-text Citations:
In-text citations are written throughout the text. They are mostly written at the end of the sentences you have cited from somewhere else.
- Reference List/ Works Cited:
A reference list is found at the end of your academic work. It is a whole different page dedicated to listing all the resources which you have referred.
Widely Used Citation Styles
Referencing or citations styles vary with the fields that are in questions such as in the field of Psychology, APA style is used. In the field of law, MLA referencing style is used. Here is the list of the few most prevalent citation styles used:
APA Style (American Psychological Association Style)
APA citation style is mostly used in fields such as Social Sciences, Psychology, and Sociology, etc. As mentioned already a citation has two parts; in-text citation and reference list. APA style of referencing is an author-date style that means it comprises of the name of the author and the date of publication. Here is how it’s done;
In-text Citation:
Whenever in the text you are quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing a piece of information that is not yours you are supposed to use the surname of the author only, followed by a comma and then the date of publication. You are supposed to place all this information in a bracket. You can also add page and section numbers if you want to be specific.
(Author’s surname, year of publication, page number (if you want to be specific))
Reference List:
In a reference list, books, journals, internet documents are treated the same. In the case of electronic documents that do not provide page numbers, paragraph number is used.
You would write in the reference list in the following format:
Author’s surname. (Year of publication). Title: Subtitle (edition.). Publisher.
MLA (Modern Language Association)
Modern Language Association came up with this particular style of referencing. It also follows a similar pattern of two types of citations; an in-text citation throughout the text and works cited at the end of your work.
In-text Citation:
It consists of the surname of the author and page number in parenthesis like this (Author’s surname, Page number) Sometimes when the author’s name is already used in the sentence you are citing, then simply just mention the page number without mentioning the name of the author in the parenthesis again.
Work Cited:
Here, you list all the sources you have taken help from in your Thesis. The first element is the surname of the author. The list goes by in alphabetical order. The work cited list goes as follows;
Author, the title of the source, title of the collection, all the other contributors, edition, number, name of publisher, date of publication, location.
HARVARD Referencing Style:
One of the most commonly used referencing styles is HARVARD. It is used in social sciences, humanities, and sometimes in business fields as well.
In-text Citations:
Like others, the brief in-text reference consists of the Author’s name, year of publication, and the page number that is being referred to in the following format;
Author’s name (Year of Publication, p. *page number*)
p. is written when only one page is being referred while pp. is written for multiple pages being referred.
Reference List:
It has to be a separate list at the end of the document and it must be alphabetically arranged according to the author’s name. If in case there is no name of the author then it has to be arranged alphabetically according to the source title.
If you are citing a source in HARVARD you would go,
Author’s surname/surnames, initial/initials. (Year it was published) Title. Edition. Location of publication. Name of Publisher.
Final Words:
If writing a Thesis is your absolute nightmare, don’t worry as you are not alone. Think out of the box but stick to the guideline and you are good to go.
