英文论文写作 文献引用方式 详细讲解

Citing Sources: Principles and Examples

Richard N. L. Andrews

Updated August 2008

It is very important that you develop good habits of documenting the sources of both factual statements and the ideas, opinions, and arguments of other people that you use in any paper you write. One basic reason for this is to be able to support the statements you make and the facts you use if someone else should challenge or disagree with them. A second is to distinguish clearly between someone else’s ideas and arguments and your own, and not confuse the two. And a third is to protect your own integrity against either deliberate or accidental representation of someone else’s ideas or work as your own, which if intentional is known as plagiarism and is a serious violation of the UNC Honor Code and of the standards of ethical writing.

Here are a few key recommendations:

1.When you take notes on readings, either (1) take direct quotations (using

quotation marks, even in your notes) and a full, exact citation with it at the same

time (i ncluding page number, so that you don’t have to go back and find it again), or (2) write your notes in sentences beginning, “Jones argues that…” or “Smith

says that…” (and again, take an exact citation for future reference). Do not just

cut and paste without including quotation marks and a citation, and do not write

out directly copied or closely paraphrased material without including a citation of where it was from – both these practices may lead you later to misremember or

rationalize what was your own w riting versus what was the original author’s.

2.When you use other authors’ materials in your paper, always use it in the forms

discussed above, and always cite it (e.e. Andrews, 2003: 2). This also has the

benefit of setting up the other author’s point for you to interpret or critique using

different facts or your own counter-arguments, clearly showing your own ideas as different (“Adams argues that …, on the basis that …. In the case we are presently discussing, however, I believe a different interpretatio n is more persuasive [or, “In this case, however, the facts seem to lead to a different conclusion….”] For

example, ….”).

3.Citations can be done in any of several different ways in different fields and

publications. Unless there is a good reason to do otherwise, I encourage students

to use the “Author, date: page” citation system (e.g. Andrews et al., 2003: 26).

This is the simplest and most efficient way to do it, and it allows you to relate

your references to a single alphabetical reference list or bibliography, avoid

complicated footnoting (id., ibid., op. cit., etc.), and use footnotes only for more

detailed explanation or interesting side-issues on a particular point in the text of

the paper.

4.Materials cited from on-line sources must include (1) the author and title of the

actual document found, and the exact Internet URL where it is located (not just

the search engine page, or the main home page of the site on which you found it);