Writing and APA Guide

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Writing GuideMedia, Communication and Culture

Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication

Academic Year 2013-2014

Erasmus University Rotterdam


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Colophon

Erasmus University RotterdamErasmus School of History, Culture and CommunicationDepartment of Media & Communication

Department of Art and Culture Studies

P.O. 17383000 DR Rotterdam

http://www.fhk.eur.nl/english/education/media/

Authors / editors Aleid Fokkema (all subsequent revised versions),Klazien de Vries (original version)

With contributions by Isabel Awad, Nel van Dijk, Susanne

Janssen, Jeroen Jansz, MarliteHalbertsma

Revised 5th edition, 2013-2014

Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,2013


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Table of contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 4

1 What Constitutes a Good Text? ......................................................................................... 5

1.1 Features ....................................................................................................................................... 51.2 Academic texts ............................................................................................................................. 9

2 Not All Beginnings Are Difficult ........................................................................................12

2.1 Outlines for assignments with a defined topic ........................................................................ 12

2.2 Choosing a topic and formulating a thesis question ............................................................... 14

3 Theory and Method ..........................................................................................................16

3.1 Theory ......................................................................................................................................... 16

3.2 Method ....................................................................................................................................... 18

4 Searching, Finding, and Filing ...........................................................................................21

4.1 Finding what you seek ............................................................................................................... 21

4.2 Internet resources ..................................................................................................................... 24

4.3 Filing ........................................................................................................................................... 24

5 Quoting and Referencing ..................................................................................................26

5.1 Referencing: when and how? .................................................................................................... 26

5.2 Paraphrase and quotation ........................................................................................................ 26

5.3 In-text references ....................................................................................................................... 29

5.4 References creating the list of references ............................................................................ 32

Periodicals (journal articles) ........................................................................................................ 33

Magazines and newspapers ........................................................................................................ 34

Books ............................................................................................................................................. 35

Dissertations and Masters thesis ............................................................................................... 35

Reports, brochures, pamphlets ................................................................................................... 36

Dictionaries, reference works, Wikipedia ................................................................................... 36

Papers presented at conferences, meetings and symposia ..................................................... 37

Online lecture notes and PowerPoint slides ............................................................................... 37

Audio-visual sources ..................................................................................................................... 37

Datasets, online graphs and tables ............................................................................................ 38

Online communities and web site documents ........................................................................... 39

Personal communication, mail, interviews ................................................................................. 39

5.5 Tables, figures, footnotes and more on APA ............................................................................ 40

5.6 Plagiarism and copyright ........................................................................................................... 40

6 Structuring a Research Paper or Thesis ............................................................................43

6.1 The introduction ......................................................................................................................... 44

6.2 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................... 44


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6.3 Method ....................................................................................................................................... 46

6.4 Results ........................................................................................................................................ 47

6.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 48

7 Argumentation ................................................................................................................50

7.1 Valid reasoning .......................................................................................................................... 507.2 Argumentative indicators .......................................................................................................... 54

7.3 Basic argumentative structures ................................................................................................ 55

8 Clear Thinking, Clear Writing ............................................................................................57

8.1 Indicating structure: reference words and connectives ......................................................... 57

8.2 Style: sentence level .................................................................................................................. 60

8.3 Style: word level ......................................................................................................................... 63

8.4 Style: some general aspects ..................................................................................................... 64

9 Checklist .........................................................................................................................65 Appendix A ............................................................................................................................68

Appendix B ............................................................................................................................69

References ............................................................................................................................70


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Introduction

This handbook on academic writing is tailored to suit Bachelor students inCommunication and Media (IBCoM) and Master students in Media Studies; pre-Masterand Master students in Cultural Economics and Cultural Entrepreneurship; and studentsenrolled in the Research Master in the Sociology of Culture, Media and the Arts; degreesoffered by the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication.

Reader GuidelinesEach year an updated copy of this guide is made available on the Media, Communicationand Culture pages of ESHCC. Make sure you have easy access to it at all times; you areadvised to either download and file a copy or print and bind a paper copy.

You repeatedly need to consult the different chapters of this book in order to profitmaximally from its instructions and guidelines. You will find that your teachers, too, referto these pages. Moreover, this guide is extensively used in the course on AcademicWriting and Academic Skills.

This handbooks first two chapters deal with fundamental aspects of good writingand offer detailed advice on organizing your writing, whether it is a book review, a report,a log, a research paper, or a Bachelors or Masters thesis. What constitutes a good text?How to determine a topic for writing research papers? What is involved in formulating asound thesis question? Such issues are addressed in Chapters 1 and 2.

In the subsequent two chapters you then read about the preparatory work involvedin writing a good paper or thesis. Chapter 3 is concerned with questions on theory andmethod; Chapter 4 discusses the search, study and filing of relevant informationacquired from the internet, journal articles, and books.

Chapter 5 takes up a central position in this guide. You will frequently find yourselfconsulting it for the correct manner of inserting quotations, referencing, and compiling areference list.

Chapter 6 is a more in-depth version of Chapter 2 and deals specifically with thestructure of a Bachelors or Masters thesis , whereas Chapter 7 contains a thought-provoking treatise on reasoning and argumentative writing, a vital chapter if you areinterested in doing solid academic work.

Chapter 8 is pragmatically concerned with good writing in English and, offers somegeneral advice on style in academic writing. Chapter 9, finally, deals with therequirements of layout and design we adhere to in Media, Communication and Culture. Itcontains a useful checklist you are advised to tick off before handing in your work. AnAppendix lists the most common types of text outlines.

Throughout, references are made to parts of the Erasmus University Library courseon information literacy. Full links are not used to avoid any misdirection due to frequentchanges. The link just refers to the main page; subsequent information traces the trail.

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/ all courses searching for scholarly information social sciences before you start your search getting to know your subject area
http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/


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1 What Constitutes a Good Text?

This writing guide focuses specifically on texts you are required to write in the course ofyour studies and at the end of your degree. We could call them generically academic texts in order to distinguish them from say, journalism or commercial texts.

When asked to define the concept text , people usually say a collection ofsentences, or an introduction, body and conclusion, or something with information ora message of some kind. Although all these definitions contain some element of truth,they do not really provide a good definition of what a good text is. So how does a goodtext come about? What are its features?

1.1 Features

First of all, in order for a text to tell us something, it must have one specific topic. In somecases this is already the point at which things go wrong. An academic article which fails

to make its topic clear is wishy-washy and therefore cannot be considered a good text. Sowhether you are writing a summary or paper for one of your courses or a thesis to finishyour degree, you must first of all have a clearly outlined topic.

A good text has one main topic.

Relating topic to thesis questionThe topic will usually be cut-and-dried when doing an assignment for a course. If you areasked to choose your own topic, it is best to start by asking yourself why you are drawn tothe topic. The topic must have aroused your curiosity for some reason or other; otherwiseyou would not have chosen it. In both cases, you must try and focus on what the main

topic of your text will be. And in order to keep this topic well-defined and interesting, youmust try to think about the informative answers your text is going to give. What questionwill it answer?

Think, for instance, of a short text with graphs that informs you about the weather.Basically, this weather forecast simply answers a question about the weather, whether itwill rain or not, and so on. A given research article you are asked to summarise similarlyanswers a question (and usually some sub-questions too). In such cases the authorshave formulated a research question or thesis question . The thesis question is the textscentral question, its rationale. Without such a thesis question and the answers(sometimes partially) found, there is no reason to write the text. Can you pinpoint it? Startfrom there when writing your summary.

Academic texts proceed from a clearly formulated thesis question.


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Planning your writingFor all writing, planning is essential. Write an outline before you start. If you are asked towrite a summary of a scientific article, think about what comes first. Do not necessarilyfollow the same steps of the articles line of reasoning . So, whatever you write, make a

habit of drafting an outline before you start. This consists of a concise description of yourtopic, a provisional thesis question and a number of sub-questions (or even sub sub-questions) you want to answer in your text. The reason for granting this thesis question amere provisional status is that it is usually only after the process of information retrieval(see Chapters 3 and 4) and writing and rewriting your outlines that a thesis questionbecomes more solid and defined.

Brainstorming Your initial, provisional thesis question might well result from some proper brainstorming.Use any technique that works for you, but make sure you do not act as your own censor.

In other words, dont hold back. Note down every question that arises in your mind whilethinking about your topic ; sifting is for a later stage. Questions often begin with: What?Who? Where? When? Why? How? Despite what? Due to? Organizing suchquestions into a mind map can be helpful. Once you feel you have really covered theground with all sorts of question, you can begin with the process of narrowing down,selecting, and organizing certain questions. You can also see how certain questions arerelated to one another; and how a possible thesis question suggests a number of sub-questions to answer as well.

___________________________________________________________________

Imagine you are writing on the topic of the International Film Festival in Rotterdam. Youare not sure yet about the thesis question you will formulate. What perspective isinteresting in describing this topic? Media coverage? Audience behaviour? Film industry?City marketing? Or are you rather interested in tracing the history of this event?

These perspectives might lead to any the following questions. Some are broad,some more specific: What exactly is the International Film Festival Rotterdam? When andhow did it start? Is it a subsidised event, and if so, what are the funding channels? Has italways been an annual event? What changes has it seen? How does it relate to generaldevelopments in media? How can social media be used to enhance the festivals import?How does it compare to similar film festivals in Europe? What kinds of audiencesparticipate in the festival? What is the role and function of awards? What is the national

stake in this international festival?___________________________________________________________________

A proper outline comes about by spending a good deal of time thinking about the logicalorder of your questions and deciding on how they are related to one another. This willprevent you from jumping from one thing to the next, making giant leaps, becomingrepetitive, or forgetting important matters once you start writing. In the process of writingyour outline, you are left at last with a restricted number of questions which are eachconcerned with relevant aspects of the thesis question.

In conclusion we could say that constructing a text works as follows:


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thinking about the topic noting down a provisional thesis question formulating sub-questions about the topic (brainstorming) organizing these questions selecting the most important sub-questions formulating a definitive thesis question

You now have a topic, a thesis question and a list of specific questions arranged in logicalorder. Together they make up the outline and guarantee a good structuring of your text.

A good text has a logical structure.

The writing phaseAfter some reading and research, you should be able to answer most questions in youroutline. Sometimes such a sub-question is dealt with in a single paragraph; but it mightalso take at least a separate section (consisting in turn of a number of paragraphs) oreven a chapter to deal with that sub-question. This depends on the type of work you arewriting and of course its length.

ParagraphsParagraphs hinge on a topic sentence (the sentence indicating what it is all about in thisparagraph), either followed or preceded by a number of explanatory or argumentativesentences in support of it.

When you write a paper you should format it according to the APA norms (more onthose in Chapter 5). This means that each paragraph is indented: you use a tab-stop toindent the margin at the start of each paragraph. This makes the division of paragraphseven clearer. Use only this method, so do not use line-spacing, for example, to mark thebeginning of a new paragraph.

By beginning a new paragraph at the right moment, the writer makes clear that he orshe is about to embark on a new aspect in the general line of reasoning or will address anew sub-question. This makes reading a well-written text swift and easy. Just by readingthe first and last sentences of each paragraph, the gist of the text becomes clearimmediately.

On the next page you see two diagrams representing two basic paragraph forms, apyramid and a triangle upside down. The concise topic sentence is always at the narrowend. The pyramid begins with the topic sentence. It is clear right away what the paragraphwill deal with. Examples are not always required , so the paragraphs structure can bemore straightforward and clear, but also a little predictable. The second diagram, thetriangle upside down, ends with the topic sentence, while it starts broadly with anexample, an anecdote, or a generally observed phenomenon. This shape therefore alwaysincludes the three layers. It is a good idea to try and alternate the two different forms, asit makes a text more interesting to read. These are basic structures; in practise you willcome across many variations.


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Figure 1. Topic sentence at beginning of paragraph.

Figure 2. Paragraph culminating in a topic sentence

By way of illustration, once again, the IFFR. The complete paragraph containing theanswer to the question of what the IFFR is might run as follows:___________________________________________________________________

An International Film Festival is hosted in Rotterdam every year in the month of January.The IFFR organizes all kinds of film-related activities to promote independent cinema andattract a large and diverse audience. Each year retrospectives are held on a specific

directors work, with special exhibitions and public interviews. These directors andcinema artists are generally unknown to the public at large but have nevertheless a longstanding. In 2013, prominent directors limelighted at the festival included, for example,the largely unknown Ukraine film director Kira Muratova and television and film makerDomik Graf from Germany.___________________________________________________________________

This is an example of a paragraph beginning with the topic sentence. At the end of theparagraph you see an example, which enlivens the information rendered and makes itmore topical or relevant. Of course it is not necessary to add examples to every paragraphyou devise, but a text without any example will be rather dull. Besides, by choosing

suitable examples you demonstrate that you really master the material you are writingabout.

Topic

sentence

clarification / exposition

(example)

example

broadening to more generalstatements

concluding topicsentence


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Another paragraph might address a question on Kira Muratova.___________________________________________________________________

My grandfather started to take me to the IFFR when I was still at secondary school andsince then I have been hooked. The international orientation of the festival and the many

unknown films I could watch really put a spell on me. Each year, a number of directorswere selected for a retrospective, and so it was possible to learn more about their workand appreciate it in a cultural and historical context. In 2013, the focus was, amongothers, on the controversial figure of the Ukraine film director Kira Muratova. Seeing theretrospective of her art work raised a number of interesting questions about the culturaldimensions of fame. My thesis is therefore concerned with the role of media in excludingthis director from the cinematographic canon.___________________________________________________________________

This paragraph closes with the topic sentence. This type is often more interesting to readand appears to be more expressive than the previous type, but it is also more difficult to

write and not always applicable. Still, try and vary in type and length of your paragraphs,as it is a good idea to vary the menu every once in a while.

To sum up, a text consists of a number of paragraphs which, in turn, consist of topicsentences and clarifying statements in support of the topic sentence, sometimesenlivened with some sentences by way of illustration. The next section will spell out thespecific requirements of academic texts.

1.2 Academic texts

What then is the difference between a straightforward informative text and a scholarly orscientific text? What characterises academic writing, in other words? The key answer hereis accountability. In order to understand how this works for academic texts, you need toconsider the kinds of sentences that are made in any given paragraph.

If we examine the smallest text unit, the paragraph, we can distinguish threethings, namely: statements (claims), explanations or arguments, and examples.Statements or claims can be the paragraphs topic sentence: they offer answers to aquestion in your outline.

We can distinguish three kinds of statements:

1. Factual statements. These are, in principle, verifiable. Your reader must be able todecide whether your statement is true or not. For all statements beyond commonknowledge, this means you provide documentation or a source . You must indicateto the reader exactly the source of this factual statement. An example of a factualstatement is the following:

Although many film festivals now take place in the United States, Europe is at theroot of this particular phenomenon (De Valck, 2007, p. 14).

2. Statements that contain an idea , hypothesis , opinion or conclusion . Thesestatements are not verifiable. Here the appropriate question for the reader is not

is this true ? but: do I agree? Such statements require arguments. Each timeyou claim something or come to a conclusion of some kind, you must also provide


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arguments. You must therefore base your claim on arguments; similarly, whenyou come to a conclusion, you must clarify how you came to that conclusion. Anexample of a statement in this category is:

All in all, the International Film Festival Rotterdam is an exciting event.

3. Other statements, which are neither facts nor opinions. If you promise in yourintroduction to elaborate on something later on in your text, this statement canneither be called fact (it is not something you have already done, after all) noropinion (you are not going to state what you feel you should address somethinglater on in the text). You could, however, ask yourself: is this particular statement,this sentence, relevant? An example of a statement in this category is:

The next chapter takes a closer look at the history of the International FilmFestival Rotterdam.

The paragraphs in an academic text primarily contain topic sentences of the first and thesecond kind: factual statements and hypotheses. Because the content of your text mustbe verifiable this is, after all, one of the requirements of scholarly research you mustspecify the source(s) of your factual statements. All statements which fall under thesecond category ideas, hypotheses, opinions, and conclusions must be based onvalid arguments. An academic text is therefore accountable at all levels.

An academic text is accountable at all levels.

Everything you derive from someone or somewhere else must be fully accounted for inscholarly terms. Chapter 5 deals with the rules you must follow when making a scholarly

reference and putting together your reference list. You will of course not derive all your claims from the work of others. You will also

formulate your own opinions, assumptions, or conclusions. These will have to be justifiedwith valid arguments in what we call an argumentation. In an argumentative piece ofwriting you can use different types or different ways of reasoning. These are dealt with inchapter 7.

Writing an academic text takes time. You should therefore make sure to start on time andplan ample time throughout. It is best to divide the process of writing into three phases:

1. planning2. writing3. rewriting or improving

A good writer and that includes a beginning writer will spend a lot of time on theplanning phase: delving into the topic, thinking up a thesis question, and creating anoutline. The time you invest here will repay itself in the long run; this will be particularlynoticeable in the writing phase which then takes up less time and creates less frustration.The last phase rewriting and editing is also time consuming. It not only deals with thelast small details, improvements and additions, but also ensures an attractivecomposition of your argument. Summing up:

An academic text


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has one main topic has a thesis question is well-structured in accordance with a previously designed outline provides answers to a number of sub-questions which in turn lead to answering

the thesis question is accountable at all levels contains valid arguments is written in an appropriate style

The following chapter deals with appropriate outlines for various writing assignments,from those given to first year students to students embarking on their final paper orthesis.


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2 Not All Beginnings Are Difficult

This chapter discusses text outlines and writing strategies for different types ofassignments ranging from book review to final paper or thesis. As was made clear inChapter 1, you should start all writing assignments by creating an outline, since this laysthe foundation of your argument. You can derive the structure of your outline from anumber of regular outlines for different types of assignments, as discussed below. Acomplete overview can be found in appendix A. Introduction, Conclusion, and List ofReferences are the staple elements of any assignment and are not included in theoutlines here.

2.1 Outlines for assignments with a defined topic

Book reviewEspecially with undergraduate courses, an assignment might be to critically review a bookor a scientific article. The topic is clear, but you still need to convey it in your criticalsummary, together with the thesis question. You can expect to find them in the booksintroduction or its first chapter ; or in the articles introduction or abstract . The authorcomes to some kind of conclusion when answering the main thesis question, whichshould also be included in your text. Those are the basics, but what really matters is theroad that leads to the authors conclusions. Were you able to follow the authors line ofthought? Are his or her conclusions plausible?

An outline for a book review could look as follows:

1. What is the books topic? 2. What questions does the author ask about the topic?3. What conclusions does he or she come to?4. How does the author develop his or her arguments?

ReportStudying Media, Communication & Culture often requires you to study specific web sites,describe certain aspects of new media, visit a museum, attend a performance, or take alook in the newsroom of a radio or television programme or a magazines editorial office.When writing up your report, make sure it does not become a mere summary of what yousaw, did, and thought of it. Even before you venture out, before you actually start, youshould at least have a temporary thesis question in mind. It is unlikely that you willapproach your outing with a blank slate: you will undoubtedly have some expectationsand perhaps also some ideas on the function of media, museums, the theatre, ornewsrooms. Moreover, you will have consulted suitable sources lecture material,articles and books prior to your visit. This will enable you to focus on a number ofspecific issues.

The outline list of questions could look as follows:


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Expectations1. Why am I going to visit this particular museum / performance / editorial staff /

web site?2. What are my expectations?

3. What is my main thesis question? What sub-questions are likely to arise?

Observations4. What did I see or hear (observe)?5. Can I now answer the questions I formulated?

Opinion6. What is my opinion of what I saw?7. What are my arguments in support of this opinion?

As you can see, the outline makes a distinction between recounting what you observe

factual information and how you assess or value what you observe: that is, yourpersonal opinion. You must describe the facts as meticulously and objectively aspossible. Feel free to be subjective, however, when discussing your opinion. Thissubjectivity is not only evident through your use of phrases such as I think or in myopinion; your choice of words also determines whether you are describing a fact orcolouring that fact with your own opinion. Still, you should not forget to base youropinions on solid arguments. The following passages illustrate both ways of describingyour observations.

Observation

The objects are painted in bright colours: cobalt blue, bright yellow and fuchsia. The armsand legs of the human figures are very short and thin in relation to the torso and head.The limbs are not deformed, only created on a much smaller scale.

OpinionLooking at this painting is an unpleasant experience since the loud colours hurt oneseyes. The figures are monstrous, arousing feelings of revulsion. The tiny, fragile legs seemalmost unable to carry the weight of the torso, evoking a feeling of powerlessness.

LogA log is any type of continuous reportage linking together a series of observationexperiences. Usually, your lecturer requires you to differentiate between factualdescription and opinion. So the log outline resembles that of the report above.Observations whatever you learned during (guest) lectures or observed duringexcursions or watching a film are noted as objectively and analytically as possible. Yourcritical opinion can be conveyed in the closing paragraphs of each report or at the end ofa cycle of observations this depends on the type of assignment. Make sure to supportyour opinion with arguments and use the first person singular sparingly. A statement suchas Professor Tannens lecture was most interesting is unmistakably your opinion: youare, after all, the writer of the piece.

Case study


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If you have been asked to describe a case study, you could adopt the problem analysisoutline as illustrated in appendix A. The questions you are required to answer are asfollows:

1. What is the problem? (Or: what is going on?)

2. Why is this problem?3. What has led to this situation? (What are the causes?)4. What are possible solutions?

For this you need to gather, summarise, and analyse data yourself.

Internship reportInformation concerning the particulars of the internship report can be found on thestudent pages of the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication web site.

Research paper or final paper

If you are required to do some minor research at the end of a course, you will beconfronted with the need for a research outline. This is of course also true for researchdone for your final Bachelors or Masters thesis. Your main argument is centred onanswering these questions.

1. What exactly has been researched?2. What are the theoretical points of departure?3. Which method has been applied?4. What are the results?5. What conclusions can be drawn?

Especially lengthy papers (e.g. Bachelors or Masters thesis) require some thought onorganizing and filling out this outline; that is why an entire chapter Chapter 6 hasbeen devoted to this topic.

2.2 Choosing a topic and formulating a thesis question

Some course papers require you to choose a topic within a specified field. This can alsooccur in the case of writing your thesis. Choosing a topic is a tricky aspect. If you arerequired to choose your own topic, you must remember that it is something that willoccupy your time for weeks or even months to come: therefore be sure to choose

something that is of real interest to you. You must have the feeling that this topic is worthinvestigating.

Always choose a topic that is of real interest to you.

You all know about the pitfalls of choosing a topic that is too broad. How to avoid it? Bymaking sure you already know quite some interesting data about your topic. Knowledge(acquired in the course of taking your degree) allows you to use the proper terminologyand shows the pathways to new, interesting subject matters and thesis questions withinthe range of your topic. For example, someone new to the field might vaguely considernew media and society as a topic, whereas you have learned to differentiate specific

subfields and might come up with the topic of the interaction of social media andcensorship in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.


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Knowledge allows you to limit the boundaries of your research topic.

You feel your knowledge is limited, but you still would like to explore a topic that isrelatively new to you? Read the University Librarys tips on getting to know your subject

area.

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english / courses and training all courses searching forscholarly information social sciences before you start your search getting toknow your subject area

Thesis questionNow that you have chosen your topic comes the exciting bit. What is it that draws you tothis topic? What thesis question is going to be the basis for your research? Even if aphenomenon has been researched many times before, you can still write a completelynew thesis on it: it all depends on your thesis question. The thesis question determines

the way in which you approach the phenomenon.In the planning phase (see Chapter 1) it is essential that you organize the sub-questions in such a way as to create a logical, solid structure. When writing longerpapers, such questions are provisional, they serve for the time being to structure theresearch for academic studies. When you have read important articles or book chapterson your topic, you can narrow down and specify your questions or even add new ones toyour outline. Slowly but surely this procedure will lead to an outline containing a revisedand exact thesis question and a number of sub-questions and even sub sub-questions.

Thesis question, problem statement, or hypothesisLet us take a closer look at the term thesis question . Most writing manuals use this term

or something like problem statement or research question to indicate what a student isgoing to research. You therefore either put forward a question you want to answer orstate a problem you want to research. Alternatively, you could also hypothesise. In thiswriting guide you can interpret the term thesis question as the general term covering allthese forms. It is also possible to attach a number of hypotheses to a thesis question orproblem statement. This works as follows: based on the literature you have read, youmake certain assumptions which you, at least temporarily, take to be true (also see 6.2).In your thesis you then set about proving the credibility of these assumptions orhypotheses. You may also come to the conclusion that one or more of your hypothesesneeds to be adjusted. See also:

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/ all courses searching for scholarly information social sciences before you start your search defining the problem

ViabilityIn Research Methods courses you learn about asking the right type of thesis question (orresearch question). Let us briefly point out here a few major dos and donts: (1) avoidthesis questions that are too general or broad ( What are the global effects of internetfailure? ); (2) avoid questions that take up a lot of time and expertise to research indepth ( What are the effects of urban migration on social media usage in Hong Kong,New Delhi, and Sao Paulo?); and make sure you do not inadvertently phrase your

question as a closed (yes/no) one (Are audiences attending high culture theatreperformances gradually growi ng older over the years? )
http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/


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3 Theory and Method

In this handbook the emphasis lies on academic writing. Theory and method areextensively studied and discussed during your courses. Still, selecting theories and optingfor a method are a vital part of the planning phase of any piece of academic writing. Thischapter therefore includes those aspects of theory and method which are of importanceto the writing of papers and theses.

3.1 TheoryNothing is as practical as a good theory (Lewin, 1951, as cited in Oosterbaan, 2004,pp. 30-31). This quote from psychologist Kurt Lewin indicates that theory should servepractice and that practice includes the writing of academic papers. Why write up atheoretical framework if it is not useful to your research? This would mean unintentionallywriting two papers: a pointless and time consuming undertaking. What you need is aparticular angle from which to view your topic. Viewing your topic from all angles wouldcause you to lose focus of your observations as well as your ability to describe andinvestigate what you see. A theory can offer one particular way of looking at a given topic,a focus point.

A theory focuses your perception.

Scholarly and scientific studies provide theories which explain the particular aspect ofreality you want to research. A theory is always somewhat abstract and general; it speaksof cultural participation rather than visiting museums . The challenge at hand is totranslate such a general, abstract theory to your concrete topic and thesis question. Butbefore you are ready to do so, it is first essential to read the relevant literature in aprecise and therefore useful way.

Reading literature involves asking questions. In this orientation phase, thosequestions should include the following:

Which questions have already been posed on this topic? Start by reading the mostrecent publications on your topic.

Which concepts do the authors link to the topic? Which authors are often alluded to? If you come across repeated references to an

authoritative work, it is undoubtedly useful to read it. Which theories are suited to your thesis question?

Ultimately, you should select those theories which have the capacity to explain thephenomena you have chosen to research. Where, for example, journalists describeevents which take place, scholars and scientists look for patterns, correlations, andnatural laws. They design theories which explain phenomena. Examples concern thecorrelation between information and cultural participation, or the cultivation theory in


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media: these theories help you to pinpoint, understand, and describe certain specificphenomena that you have observed,

A theory tells us something about the correlation between concepts.

The above mentioned level of abstraction in theories comes forward in the repeated useof concepts that are often specifically designed to match a certain theory. Even thoughyour research is a lot more specific and concrete than the theories you discuss, you muststill incorporate the concepts in your writing. This enhances clarity and a proper academicstyle. Still, make sure that you state from what theory your concept is derived. All scholarsdescribe the concepts they use meticulously. A dictionary definition is insufficient,because there are different perspectives on what these terms actually mean. You mustresort to academic reference works specialised in your discipline. When translating thetheory to your thesis question, you must therefore do so meticulously, avoiding a differentinterpretation of the theory at all costs.

Range of theories A theoretical framework for a paper written in the Bachelor phase is limited; it can oftenbe derived from the course syllabus. The Bachelors thesis, however, requires a moreelaborate theoretical framework. At the completion of your degree, you are expected to befamiliar with the primary theories and views in your chosen field. In the Master thesis,therefore, the theoretical framework is the most elaborate. You are also expected toaccount for your choice of theory in scholarly terms.

If all goes well, your theoretical quest will lead you to the point at which you canformulate you definite thesis question. A thesis question is derived from the theory youhave chosen to use. To put it simply: you are going to apply the theory to a concretephenomenon. This means that your theoretical point of departure must be evident in your

thesis question. Although you are still in the planning phase, you have gathered sufficientknowledge for posing a number of questions which you will answer in the course of yourresearch. It usually works out as follows: in each chapter a major sub-question isanswered, whilst the sub sub-questions are answered in the paragraphs of each chapter.Each answer will bring you one step further in your argument and thus one step further in

justifying your final conclusion.

TheoryFor the most part, peoples cultural tastes are determined by their social background.

HypothesisThe majority of people who regularly visit the Amsterdam concert hall come from a highersocial background.

TheoryThe press always adopt the form and colouring of the social and political structures withinwhich they operate.

Thesis questionTo what extent do social and political views of journalist and editors play a role in theselection of staff at The Los Angeles Times , The New York Times and The WashingtonPost during the period January 2006 December 2009?


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TheoryThe challenges in city branding are in committing stakeholders

Thesis question Which groups can be identified as stakeholders in city branding industrial cities on the

wane such as Detroit and Ferrol?

3.2 Method

You have determined your topic and you have formulated the thesis question. You havegathered data and information, and now know from which point of view (theory) you wantto address the thesis questions and its sub-questions. During this process, you will also

have decided on a suitable method for answering your thesis question. It is interesting tonote the original Greek meaning of method , which is route ; in other words, methodconnects your point of departure (the thesis question) with an outcome or destination.The method you will use is highly dependent on the phenomenon you wish to investigate,the theories you use, and therefore on the thesis question too.

The field of Media, Communication and Culture is broad and covers many areas,but still there are a number of things we can say about the nature of the themes you caninvestigate. It is possible, for instance, to focus on cultural or media production , theproducts this industry brings forth, or the consumers of these products. In the followingoverview you will see a number of examples of research types in these three fields:

1. production processes (industry) analysis of (a part of) this industry; for example, the music or journalindustryanalysis of government regulation; for example, subsidy policies fortheatre companiesanalysis of (aspects of) an organization or company; for example,mergers in the publishing industry

2. cultural or media productscontent analysis of, for example, newspaper articles or televisionprogrammes

3. receptionresearch of consumer appreciationresearch of coverage area

Once you have decided which of the three facets you want to focus your research on, youcan begin to consult similar studies, in order to find examples of both theory and method.Perhaps such studies are not directly linked to your topic, but if you want to examine thepopularity of a particular television programme or to what extent a particular journal isappreciated by its readers, it is obviously useful to look at other reception studies.


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So, you should begin to determine which field your topic and research questionbelong to. What kinds of sources will you need? Media texts, policy documents, researchreports, personal documents, (audio-visual) productions, or other material? What data doyou need in order to answer your thesis question?

Examples illustrating the correlation between thesis question, theory, and method

1. This first example is of a Masters thesis dealing with the transfer of literaryauthors to other publishing houses. This topic belongs to the category ofproduction processes or industry. According to media such as newspapers andopinion journals, commercialisation and expansion in the publishing worldprimarily account for transferring to another publisher. The hypothesis in thisthesis states that commercialisation only has an indirect influence on the transferof authors to other publishing houses.

The student chose Bourdieus field theory for her theoretical framework. Thistheory postulates that people who work in a particular branch (field) derive their

power not only from financial capital but, in part, from cultural capital as well. Thestudent researched the role of different parties within literary publishing houses.She interviewed publishers, editors, and authors who had switched to anotherpublishing house; all representatives of financial and cultural capital.

2. Another research topic concerns the interest in and reports of foreign news inDutch daily newspapers. In this case, foreign news can be regarded as a product.The thesis question is as follows: to what extent do three major daily newspapersderive their news items from either their own sources or from international pressagencies, and what is the variation in this ratio?

According to the agenda-setting theory, public opinion is influenced by the

medias careful selection of news items. Newspapers which often rely on their ownsources (using foreign correspondents) select different items from newspaperswhich solely rely on press agencies. In this case, a content analysis of dailynewspapers would seem the best method to choose.

3. A student wants to examine the viewing habits of well-educated women. Becausea theory concerning the viewing habits of young, well-educated women does notexist, this student has used general theories about viewing habits in the search fora suitable method. In this case, the method most used by researchers is that of asurvey. The student therefore asked a group of well-educated women to fill in aquestionnaire. In addition, respondents were also asked to keep a diary in which

they reported their viewing habits.

Criteria for academic researchWhatever method of research you choose must adhere to certain criteria. The way inwhich you collect data, for example, must be systematic and verifiable. This means thatyou must write a meticulous account of all steps taken, so that other researchers canrepeat the process. If asked, you must be able to produce the collected data (researchmaterial); although you are not meant to include all this material in the final version ofyour thesis.

Make sure to use a method that has been tried and tested designing ones ownmethod is more suited to the experienced scholar and there is no need to be original in

this respect.


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Collecting dataWhat you come to expect from your research is derived from scholarly and scientificliterature, whether it be a theory or previously executed research. You have formulatedyour expectations in the thesis question. Collecting data that lead to your expectedoutcome is deceptively easy. Just imagine that you want to prove that young women today

are less feminist than their mothers. You could interview the female students at yourfaculty. You could even ask them some leading questions, such as: do you feel a feminist journal still is necessary? The outcome of this survey is highly likely to confirm yourhypothesis, but it has little scholarly merit.

What is wrong, then, with this survey? In the first place, you had a thesis questionwith a more or less fixed outcome. In addition, results became even more predictablebecause you were in fact part of the survey group. Moreover, you probably influenced theresults of the interviews since your own opinions were embedded in the questions.

ObjectivityAcademic research should be as objective as can be. A common way to maximize

objectivity is to be transparent in your research. This implies that all steps in the studymust be explained in detail. It is particularly important to select and use instruments(methods of research) common to your field. Transparency helps to make your researchreplicable: other researchers should be able to understand exactly how your study wasrun; they should be able to replicate what you did in order to find out whether they willarrive at the same results.

The research question you developed and the methods you choose determine theway in which you will collect data. This means, for example, that when conducting so-called structured interviews with people you must ask the same questions in the sameorder each time. Every method has its own rules. The various methods of research andtheir corresponding rules are dealt with at length in courses on methods and skills

offered by our Faculty for Bachelor, pre-Master and Master students in Media,Communication & Culture.

Chapter 6, Structuring your paper or thesis, takes a closer look at how to report thefindings of your research. In the following chapter, however, we examine ways to find, fileand use scholarly literature.


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4 Searching, Finding, and Filing

When you know which theory (or theories) and method you want to use and you haveformulated your central thesis question, you will know what information you need toobtain. How you go about this will determine your findings. Especially in the first phase ofyour research, it is important to know whether the texts you come across are reliable. Foryour research you are expected to rely only on academic books and journal articles,because they pinpoint relevant questions and offer verifiable, sourced information.

4.1 Finding what you seek

The danger of haphazardly searching everything that relates to your topic on the internetis that you end up with whatever turns up on top; you just acquire a pile of texts withoutknowing why these particular findings should be useful to your research. It is like buyingeverything you can lay your hands on in the supermarket, in order to make one tasty dish.Once you are actually preparing it, you realise you can throw out the major part of whatyou have bought and that you are missing a number of key ingredients to boot.

Quality of sources is more important than quantity.

Where to begin You can start close to home, by examining in the first place the required works forrelevant courses on your topic area. This is an obvious way to get started, because duringyour studies you will have become acquainted with authoritative scholars in your field.

You will find references to other authors and the titles of their most important works inthe bibliographies and footnotes of these required works. Select those that seem mostrelevant at first glance; that is to say, studies you feel will give you leads into your ownresearch. If this does not provide you with sufficient material, you will continue yoursearches by consulting the library catalogues and databases. Before you start thesesearches, it is vital to determine your search strategy, such as explained in the onlinetutorials offered by the University Library and also in the academic skills course duringyour B achelors degree or pre -Master programme:

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/ all courses searching for scholarly information social sciences before you start your search

The Before you start your search button in the menu on the left opens a step by stepinstruction about developing your search strategy.

Determine a search strategy before you start your searching for sources.
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If your search strategy is clear and you know more or less what you are looking for,without having a clear idea of where to look specifically, you could start your search withthe unique Erasmus University Librarys search engine, conveniently called sEURch. Thesearch engine is largely self-explanatory but first users should really take a look at theManual (on the homepage), in order to get a clear idea of its scope and limitations. The

number of results or hits can be pretty daunting and you will have to practise withnarrowing down your searches and assessing the results. sEURch is a useful engine for a quick orientation in the field. When focusing your

research, however, it is necessary to also consult resources in our unique ErasmusMedia, Communication & Culture Portal. This portal, accessible by clicking on the linkhere but also by way of our facultys homepage for students (see the services menu)and the University library page (see the search also by discipline menu, helpfullylists the most commonly used resources in our area such as:

Communication and Mass Media Complete Communication Abstracts

Some research questions in our field are embedded in sociological or psychologicalresearch. In those cases also consult these Databases:

Sociological Abstracts PsychINFO

The Media, Communication & Culture Portal provides many other links to a range ofrelevant sites in the field of Media, Communication & Culture:

Catalogues & Databases Newspapers & Magazines Collections & Institutes Libraries & Archives Governments & Policies Statistics & Figures Media & Cultural Industries

When browsing this portal, you may feel a little overwhelmed by the number ofpossibilities for effectively searching adequate information. Do not worry; your courseinstructor or (when relevant) supervisor will offer some specific signposts here.

Use sEURch for orientation and the Media, Communication Culture Portal for specificsearches .

Your expedition should therefore start close to home, both virtually and geographically. Your first stop should of course be the Erasmus University Library. Try and be sensiblein collecting your sources; read the abstract descriptions of the material first or browsecontent pages for books and section headings for articles. Then decide whether theapproach in any way links up with your own thesis question. If you feel the study isirrelevant, dont waste time on it and move on to the next title. Make sure to establish aVPN connection if you are working from home, to avoid ending up paying for articles that

belong to the licensed content of the EUR library and are freely available online for EURstudents.
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Scanning the results of your searches is at least as important as browsing through titles

Author, title and a number of keywordsThere are three types of search terms you can use to start a specific search in an

(electronic) catalogue for articles and books: author, title, or keyword. If you decide to doan author search you should type the authors full name, so as to avoid being c onfrontedwith all possible hits for the same surname. It is also possible to do a title search, butremember that the same words reoccur in many different titles. Make it a habit to havefull and correct titles at hand.

In the same way, when doing a keyword search, you need to be as specific aspossible. Someone searching for articles on television news for youngsters will type in astring of words containing the terms television, news, and youngsters, but will also trydifferent, alternative combinati ons or type in known programmes such as Childrens BBC, Childrens Newsround combined with terms such as study or research. Especially if youstart by using an electronic catalogue, you will use combinations of keywords; you are,

after all, trying to find out more about a possible connection between two differentphenomena. By combining keywords, you may find publications which are concerned withthis connection.

Tips: Type keywords and combinations in English and other relevant academic

languages Think of variants and synonyms for keywords Try both a broad keyword search (journal media) and a narrow one (media

journal)

Searching for journal articles and other types of sourcesThe University Library homepage as well as the Portal Media, Communication & Cultureshow access to the electronic catalogue of Picarta. Here you can browse through:

Nederlandse Centrale Catalogus (Dutch Central Catalogue; mainly books and journals)

Online Contents (journal articles) Kluwer (journal articles) EBSCO Academic Search (journal articles) Academic Press (journal articles) NetFirst (internet sources)

The beauty is that you can search for different types of publications simultaneously, butyou can also opt for one or a couple of types of publications. There are a sheer infinitenumber of printed sources, but you can also retrieve audio-visual sources, film footage,maps, and archive material. Many journal articles are easy to download via the Universitylibrary catalogue again, make sure to have installed your VPN connection if you areworking from home:

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/ other catalogues online resources
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4.2 Internet resources

Make it a habit to trust only articles published in scholarly and scientific journals; in otherwords, be cautious with just any paper posted on the internet. Should such a text appearto be indispensable, then you should still check the following:

1. Who is responsible for the site? An individual, an institution? What kind ofinstitution?

2. Who is the author of the article?If the author is unknown to you, do an author search to see what he or she haspublished, in what journals or with which publishing house.

3. Is the author a student or an experienced scholar?4. Are there references to other publications in the text and if so, do they refer to

reputable authors?5. Is the text well-written?

If you stick to these criteria, you will never find yourself referring to Wikipedia orconducting random searches on Google or any other general internet search engine. Thisis just very time consuming and highly inefficient. What is the point of a thousand hitswhen only one is useful to you?

For guidelines on referencing electronic sources, check chapter 5.

Above all, take the course Searching the internet offered on the University library site

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/ All courses Internet Research

4.3 Filing

Finders are keepers. Everything you find should be filed in such a way that you canretrieve it when needed. Books eventually need to be returned to the library, but titles,keywords, quotations and / or summaries you can keep.

Of course you can take all your notes in writing and neatly file them in folders orsome other convenient filing system. Most students store their filings digitally. Make sureyour entries are as complete as possible at this stage; it will save a lot of time whenputting together your reference list. The following chapter deals with the requirements for

referencing in the main text and for putting together your reference list.RefWorksThe disadvantage of the storage method described above is that you repeatedly need tolook up how a title description needs to appear in your text. After all, every source you usemust appear in the reference list; and if you quote from it, you must do so according tospecific rules. Therefore it is wise to use an online reference manager via the ErasmusUniversity library portal, called Refworks, or specifically designed software such asEndnote or similar programmes.

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/ All courses Refworks
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Such programmes are not just handy but indispensable once you embark on lagerresearch projects. Type in the full data for every source, whether that be a book, anarticle, television programme, interview, internet site, or whatever else. Depending on thetype of source, these data will consist of four to ten entries. In this way you will constructa library or media centre on a particular topic without even noticing it. The programme

makes sure that references to literature appear in the correct format, whilst alsogenerating a perfect reference list. The beauty of it is that you can change the referencestyle during the writing process and even after completing the text.


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5 Quoting and Referencing

When are you obliged to disclose a source? Since this is sometimes difficult to determine,it is advisable to make noting down references a fixed habit. It is, after all, easy to deletesuperfluous references at a later stage, especially if you use Refworks or similar software;but tracking down where you read what at a later stage is difficult and time consuming.

5.1 Referencing: when and how?

Of course there are guidelines stipulating when it is necessary to make references or not.Something that is common knowledge, for example, does not need to be credited. It is,however, imperative that you reveal your source when deriving any particular insight orreasoning from articles or books you have consulted, even if you discuss a particularacademics vie w in a general sense only. So make sure to carefully note the publicationdetails of sources you consult while researching your paper according to the formatsspelled out below. If you decide to insert a quotation you should always also provide pagenumbers. There is no strict obligation to do so for paraphrases of a particular idea orfindings, but such references are appreciated as helpful signposts if readers wish to lookinto this material.

Within Media, Communication and Culture we use the so-called APA style

convention as the system for referencing. This is the most commonly used referencesystem within the Social Sciences. The main principle is that you use an Author -Datesystem, indicating that references to sources are parenthesized in the text and notfootnoted. If for whatever reason you want to deviate from this convention, you shouldarrange this with your supervisor. Whichever style you use, it is important that you areconsistent. The University Library site provides general formats for APA style and others,such as MLA or Chicago.

http://www.eur.nl/ub/english/ Portal Information Literacy For Everyone! Reference and citations

The APA style guide is too elaborate to fully include here. Below you will find themost important rules for making references and compiling a reference list. If you cannotfind your particular type of reference, consult the web sources listed at the end of thischapter. Above all, be consistent and use your common sense.

Do not forget to note down all relevant data of the sources you use, in order tohave your references correct and complete. If you have chosen to work with Refworks orsimilar software, references within the text will almost always automatically take on theright form (make sure to check, though). Moreover, every title you refer to is automaticallyadded to your reference list.

5.2 Paraphrase and quotation
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First, some general principles about quoting and paraphrasing. Examples follow below.

1. Try and quote as little as possible and opt for paraphrasing a line of thought if youwant to refer to what an author says. Paraphrasing involves more than just copyingfrom the source text and changing a few words or the word order: when

paraphrasing a line of thought, you show you have fully understood it and are ableto integrate it into your own line of thought. Make a clear distinction betweensomeone elses ideas and your own; you sho uld indicate with a short sentencewhere your text continues with your own insights.

2. Use only double quotation marks when literally quoting a word or phrase, and alsofor introducing specific terms. If a word or phrase in your quote has quotationmarks of its own, you should use single quotation marks for this quote within aquote. Place the reference after the quote or at the end of your sentence, beforethe period. Make sure to add the page reference (Swindon, 2013, p. 471). Forrun-on quotations insert the page reference as follows: (Jones, 1996, pp. 96-97).

3. Usually, quotations are quite short. By way of exception, you may want to insertquotes of more than 40 words. In that case, you should create a new block of textby starting the quote on a new line, indenting the entire quotation using a (Ctrl+)tab key. Do not use quotation marks, unless the quotation incorporates anotherone. In this case the reference is inserted at the end of the quotation, after theperiod.

4. When not quoting in full: insert 3 spaced periods for the parts of a quotation youleave out, 4 at the end of the sentence.

5. When quoting from online sources without pagination, use the paragraph numberfor locating the source if the paragraphs are numbered. If they are not numbered,refer your readers to the specific heading of the documents section and do yourown numbering of paragraphs.

6. In principle, you must translate foreign quotations into English and include theoriginal quotation in parentheses directly after the translation. Often, it is betterand easier to resort to paraphrase, in which case it is advisable to add the pagenumber.

7. For quoting from another source mentioned in your source: See the examples on

the next page.

Example of paraphrasing versus quoting:_____________________________________________________________

passage in the original text:"The peripheral corruption scenario is there for the people of the centre to draw on whenthey are pessimistic about their own role in improving the world, and doubtful and/orcynical about the periphery. It is deeply ethnocentric, in that it posits a very unevendistribution of virtue, and in that it denies the validity and worth of any transformations at

the periphery of what was originally drawn from the centre" (Hannerz, 1997, p. 109) .


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quoting:Hannerz (1997) calls this scenario deeply ethnocentric, in that it posits a very unevendistribution of virtue, and in that it denies the validity and worth of any transformations atthe periphery of what was originally drawn from the centre (p. 109).

paraphrasing:Hannerz (1997) criticizes this scenario for its ethnocentric premises and for itspresentation of localized versions of Western products as intrinsically inferior.

plagiarism:Hannerz (1997, p. 109) calls this scenario deeply ethnocentric, in that it posits a veryuneven distribution of virtue, and in that it denies the validity and worth of anytransformations at the periphery of what was originally drawn from the centre.

NOTE: this last example constitutes a form of plagiarism because it is a literal quote,while no quotation marks are used. The page reference does not change this verdict!

_____________________________________________________________

Examples for quoting from online documents without page numbers _____________________________________________________________

Online source, no page numbers, paragraphs are numbered: Gladwell departs from the notion that people dont rise from nothing (2008,

para. 5).

Online source, no page numbers, paragraphs are not numbered : Refer to the title of thesection, if present. Capitalize the first word and all subsequent main words. Assign anumber to the paragraph you are quoting from.

Bradley and Richardson (2011) state that workplace bullying is a process thatdoes not occur in a vacuum ( section Theoretical Approaches to Bullying, para. 5).

For long section headings: shorten the title and enclose in quotation marks: The study showed that children whose parents smoke are twice as likely to

smoke as children of non-smokers (Conron, Smith, & Janzen, 2007, ChildhoodSmoking, para. 3).

De original section title was: Childhood Smoking as an Independent Risk Factor forAddiction to Tobacco.

If none of these is possible, just count the paragraph numbers._____________________________________________________________

Quoting from another source in your source:_____________________________________________________________

QuotationImagine you read the following in an article by Roland Robertson (2003, p. 70):

Edward Said (1986) makes a similar point:


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One of the canonical topics of modern intellectual history has been thedevelopment of dominant discourses and disciplinary traditions in the main fieldsof scientific, social or cultural inquiry. Without any exceptions that I know of, theparadigms for this topic have been drawn from what is considered exclusively

Western sources. (p. 62)

Should you refer to Robertson or to Said when using this quote? Preferably, you look forthe original source (Said), read it and refer to it. But in some cases the original source isnot accessible. In such cases, your reference should look as follows:

An important breakthrough in the general debate was initiated by Edward Said, whoargued that

One of the canonical topics of modern intellectual history has been thedevelopment of dominant discourses and disciplinary traditions in the main fields

of scientific, social or cultural inquiry. Without any exceptions that I know of, theparadigms for this topic have been drawn from what is considered exclusivelyWestern sources. (1986, as cited in Robertson, 2003, p. 70)

In your reference list at the end of the paper/assignment, you mention Robertson (2003)but not Said (1986).

Citation/referenceWhat if Robertson only refers to Said and does not quote from him, while you still wish toindicate that Saids contribution to the debate has been very important? In that case, youshould still credit Robertson:

Original source:

Said (1986) was the first to draw attention to the fact that in the eyes of the Westthe doctrine is that all knowledge is based on Western foundations.

So if you want to talk about Said, this is how you could do it:

Robertson (2003) discusses Said at length because he was the first toquestion the alleged Western hegemony in developing scientific paradigms.

In your reference list at the end of the paper/assignment, you mention Robertson (2003)but not Said._____________________________________________________________

.

5.3 In-text references

In-text references must be parenthesised. Information must be as brief and clear aspossible so as not to sidetrack the reader, merely referring to the alphabetised referencelist at the end of your thesis where complete information on the source can be found. In

the main text you therefore include no more than the authors name, the year of the textspublication, and page numbers if you are quoting a particular statement or passage.


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Placement of references in your text: You have three options for placing citations in relation to your text. The first two are mostcommonly used.

1. Place the author(s) and date(s) within parentheses at an appropriate place within or atthe end of a sentence: Use an ampersand (&) between authors names if there are twoauthors; and a comma between authors names if there are 3 -5, with the ampersand alsobef ore the last authors name. Example: Researchers have studied how children represent mathematical problems(Alibali, Phillips, & Fischer, 2009; Siegler & Smith, 1976).

2. Place only the date within parentheses and use and instead of &.Example: Alibali, Phillips, and Fischer (2009) asked, Did the participants adopt thetaught strategies? (p. 96).

3. Integrate both the author and date into your sentence:Example: In 2009 Alibali, Phillips, and Fischer reported that third- and fourth-gradestudents improved their problem representation when they were taught the equalizestrategy but did not improve their problem representation when they were taught the add-subtract strategy.

The latter form is used infrequently. In this kind of narrative style you can omit mentioningthe year if you mention the same source again in the same paragraph. If you use the styleof example 1 and 2 you should always mention the year.

Sources with 1, 2, or more authors

(1) 1 or 2 authors: Cite name(s) in first and all subsequent citations. (Carter & Dunbar-Odom, 2009); Carter and Dunbar-Odom (2009)

(2) 3-5 authors: Cite all authors in your first citation. In all citations after the first, use thefirst authors name followed by et al . (note: no italics; period after al. )

First citation: (Alibali, Phillips, & Fischer, 2009) Subsequent citations: (Alibali et al., 2009)

(3 ) 6 or more authors: Use the first authors name followed by et al. in all citations. authors: (Yawn et al., 2000)

Difficult sources: web sites, groups and institutions, sources without author

Web sitesWhen referring to a web site or online forum in a general sense: refer to it in your text,without retrieval date. Do not include in your reference list.

The University of Wisconsin- Madisons Writing Center web site is anexcellent source of information on writing (http://www.writing.wisc.edu/) .

When referring to a specific online file or document on a particular web site (nototherwise available) use the author-date principle:
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Carter and Dunbar-Odom (2009)

Texts on web sites often have no author. In that case, do as in the following cases:

The text is authored by a group, organization, institution, ngo, government body,

taskforce, association, etc .:If no specific author can be identified, the text is considered to have been written by thegroup or organization. Abbreviate the organiz ations name in references after thefirst if the abbreviation is familiar to readers.

First reference: (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2009) Subsequent reference: (NIMH, 2009)

If the name is short or the abbreviation would be unfamiliar, just write out the name eachtime it occurs.

University of Wisconsin (2010)

No identifiable author: You cannot identify an author and it is unclear whether the text is authored by a group ororganization: Use the first few words of the title, in quotation marks for article orchapters, in italics for a book, pamphlet, or report, and capitalize main words.

Theme Parks (2012) (Facebook Connects People, 2011)

Publication date unknown Use name of author, organization, or shortened title and insert n.d. (no date) for the year.

(Inside these doors , n.d). The term verisimilitude (n.d. ) refers to.

Author unknown, publication date unknown, no title: By way of title you give a briefdescription of the subject

([Facebook Addiction], n.d.)

2 or more works within the same parentheses Arrange by order of the reference list; use a semicolon between works.

(Alibali, Phillips, & Fischer, 2009; Siegler & Smith, 1976).

2 or more works by same author(s): Dont repeat name(s); earliest year first.

(Alibali, 1999, 2005)2 or more works by the same author(s) with the same date: add suffixes after the year.Suffixes are assigned in the reference list where these kinds of references are orderedalphabetically by title (of the article or chapter).

(Pascowitch & Grant, 2011a, 2011b)

Personal communication (any nonrecoverable data, such as an email, aninterview, a conversation):Cite within your paper as illustrated, but do not put on your reference list.

(R. Rodriguez, personal communication, September 21, 2009) R. Rodriguez (personal communication, September 21, 2009) explained

that . . . .


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5.4 References creating the list of references

Begin the reference list on a new page, and title that page References (do not use italics).List only sources you have cited except web sites and personal communications (see5.3).

In general, order the reference list alphabetically by authors surnames, but follow theseguidelines for special cases:

1. Same author(s), different years: order by year of publication, earliest to latest.Alibali, M. W. (1999). How children . . . .Alibali, M. W. (2005). Mechanisms of change . . . .

2. Same author(s), same year: order alphabetically by first word of the title (excludinga, an, or the ), and add a lowercase a, b, etc., to the year.Weist, M. D., & Christodulu, K. V. (2000a). Better mental health care. . . .

Weist, M. D., & Christodulu, K. V. (2000b). Expanded school mental healthprograms. . . .

3. Same initial name(s) in multiple-author entries: alphabetize according to the firstsurname that differs.Harper, G. F., Mallette, B., Maheady, L., Bentley, A., & Moore, J. (1995)Harper, G. F., Mallette, B., Maheady, L., Parkes, V., & Moore, J. (1993)

4. Authors names with fixed prefixes such as M, Mc en Mac are alphabetizedliterally: MacArthur precedes McAllister, MacNeil precedes MCarthy.

5. Authors names with detached prefixes (such as van, de, van de(r), von) arealphabetized for the first prefix. That prefix is capitalized.Van der Meulen (1995)

Sources in another languageIf you read the source in the original, cite this original version. Give the original titlefollowed by, in square brackets, the English translation. Sources in languages using anon-roman alphabet script should be transcribed to the Roman alphabet.

Online sourcesThe general principle in APA style is to include the same information as you would for a

print source, in the same order, and add just enough information about finding the sourceelectronically to help the reader of your paper find that reference.

If an online source has a digital object identifier (DOI), which is a permanentidentifier for an electronic publication, you should use that instead of a URL. Mostacademic journals and many electronically published books now make use of DOIs. Seebelow for examples.

If the source has no DOI: refer the reader to a working URL and keep this as shortas possible, as long URLs take up a lot of space, pollute your list of references, andusually lose accuracy after a year or so. Especially if web sites include a proper searchfunction you can stick to the homepage URL.

Only mention a date of retrieval if the content is unstable or likely to change, suchas with wiki references.


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Using italicsTake a good look at the examples below to determine what elements in a referenceshould be italicized. The general rule is that entire sources and any longish source receiveitalics, while individual parts of a whole are not italicised.

Titles of journal articles: no italics

Titles of journals, magazines, and newspapers: italics, all main words capitalized. Titles of books, theses and dissertations: italics Titles of motion pictures and TV series: italics Titles of a single TV episode: no italics. Titles of a music CD: italics Titles of a single track: no italics.

Sample references, by typeIn your paper, the list of references should be in alphabetical order according to the firstauthors last name. Here, to make it easier for you to find particular examples, the itemsare arranged by type of reference. Also note that for each reference, if it is longer than asingle line, you indent the next lines. Do not use bullet points. The reference at the end ofyour paper therefore looks as follows:

____________________________________________________________

References

Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulations . USA: University of MichiganPress.

Bickford- Smith, V. (2003). Reviewing Hollywoods apartheid: Cry Freedom (1987) and DryWhite Season (1989). South African Historical Journal , 48 , 23-34. doi:10.1093/ijpor/edq001

Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2010). Film art: An introduction . New York: McGraw-Hill.Connell, R.W. (1992). A very straight gay: Masculinity, homosexual experience, and the

dynamics of gender. American Sociological Review , 57, 735 51.Davis, P. (1996). In darkest Hollywood: Exploring the jungles of South Africa . Athens: Ohio

University Press. ____________________________________________________________

Periodicals (journal articles)

General form:

Author, A.A., Author B.B., & Author C.C. (year). Title of article. Title of Journal, xx , xx-xx.doi:xx.xxxxxx

1. online, with DOI

Gaudio, J. L., & Snowdon, C. T. (2008). Spatial cues more salient than color cues incotton-top tamarins ( Saguinus oedipus ) reversal learning. Journal ofComparative Psychology, 122 , 441-444. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.122.4.441


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2. 3-6 authors, online, with DOI

Alibali, M. W., Phillips, K. M. O., & Fischer, A. D. (2009). Learning new problem solvingstrategies leads to changes in problem representation. Cognitive Development,24 , 89-101. doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2008.12.005

3. More than 7 authors, with DOI

Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J., Thomas, S. T., . . . Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user.

Technical Communication, 57 , 323-335. doi:999.ii./comps00001

4. No DOI, online

Carter, S., & Dunbar-Odom, D. (2009). The converging literacies center: Anintegrated model for writing programs. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric,Technology, and Pedagogy, 14 (1). Retrieved fromhttp://kairos.technorhetoric.net/

5. Foreign language, print version

Zhang, Cengcai. (1980). Xining fangyan jilue [A description of Xining dialect]. Fangyan ,80, 46-52.

6. Print version, standard

Alibali, M. W. (1999). How children change their minds: Strategy change can be gradualor abrupt. Developmental Psychology, 35 , 127-145.

7. Print version, each issue paginated separately

Crackton, P. (1987). The Loonie: God's long-awaited gift to colourful pocket change?Canadian Change, 64 (7), 34 37.

8. Book review

Add the additional relevant information between square brackets.

Grabill , C. M., & Kaslow, N. J. (1999). An ounce of prevention: Improving childrens

mental health for the 21st century [Review of Handbook of prevention andtreatment with children and adolescents ]. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 28,115-116.

Magazines and newspapers

In general: as with journal articles, but add month (for magazines) or specific date (fornewspapers). If an article has no author, move the articles title to author position.

9. Magazine article, print version

Park, A. (2009, September). A shot at cancer. Time 174 (10), pp. 32-39.
http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/


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10. Newspaper article, online, no DOI

Barringer, F. (2009, Sept. 14). Hawaii tries green tools in remaking power grid. The NewYork Times . Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

11. No author for newspaper article, online, no DOI

Kasparov grilled over Pussy Riot protest. (2012, Aug. 21). The Daily Telegraph .Retrieved from http://www.dailytelegraph.uk

Books

General principle:

Author, A. A. (1967). Title of the book . Location: Publisher.Author, A. A. (2001). Title of the book . Retrieved from http://www.xxxxx

Author, A. A. (2010). Title of the book . doi:xxxxxEditor, A. A. (Ed.). (1999). Title of the book . Location: Publisher.

12. Single author, print

Baxter, C. (1997). Race equality in health care and education. Philadelphia: BallireTindall.

13. Later edition, 2 authors, print

Hyde, J. S., & Delamater, J. (2008). Human sexuality ( 10th

edition). New York:McGraw-Hill.

14. Online, DOI

Aquilar, F., & Galluccio, M. (2008). Psychological processes in internationalnegotiations: Theoretical and practical perspectives . doi:10.1007/978-0-387

15. Onlin

Documents

Writing and APA Guide