Writing References in Thesis & Dissertations

Writing thesis and dissertations are one of the most tedious and time consuming task in every ones academic career. Originality, reliability, novelty and creativity are all must haves for writing valuable research work. Throughout the research the researcher collects information not only from primary sources but from secondary sources as well. For primary data the researcher has to take caution that he has not invested any personal bias, no data has been lost or the source of the data is correct and appropriate. When using secondary data the researcher has to keep in mind that he has to cite every word and phrase that is not his/her own. Otherwise it will be considered a plagiarism. For this purpose the best practice is to note down the citation as soon as secondary data is obtained from any source. Finding citations in the end will be difficult. There are more than one methods for writing references.

Methods of Writing References:

1. The Vancouver System of Writing References:

This system is also called as author-number system. Its use is common in medical writings. This system was adopted for the first time in 1978. In Vancouver system references appear in the order in which they have been appeared in the text and Arabic numerals with parenthesis (1) or with square brackets [1] are used. Generally secondary data is obtained from three sources: books, journals and websites. The method of citation is different for each of the three sources.

Books:

• Halley MN, Little BS, Pear JS, Keira KL. Science of Gastrointestinal Tract. 2nd ed. New York: Green Highway; 2005.

Journal Articles:

• Narayan K, Farid R, Hamid M. Throat Cancer: prevalence and control. Med J Aust. 2005 Apr; 32(4):430-35.

If there are more than six authors then the first six authors have to be mentioned and others are omitted. The six authors are followed by et al. :

Website:

• Health-drugs.com [homepage on the Internet]. Argentina: Argentina Kidney Centre; 2005 [updated 03 Jan 2007; cited 15 Jan 2007]. Available from: http://arizonamedicinecentre.edu

2. The Harvard System of Writing References:

The Harvard system is the most common system for writing references. This method is used in all forms of research writings. There are certain general rules while adapting Harvard system for references.

If there are more than two authors of a book or journal than the name of the first writer is written followed by et al.

If the author is unknown then “anon” is written instead of author name, to show that the author is anonymous.

Title of book should be written in either italics, bold or in underline.

E-book:

• Khan, S. (2007) Fashion Design: Scope and Basic Terminology. 2^nd Ed. Amazon [online]. Available at: http://amazon.com/scope-basic-terminology/ (Accessed: 7th May, 2008).

Website:

• Adaptive Clothes for Elderly People. (2005) Adaptive Clothes for Elderly People. [Online]. Available at: http://www.acep.com (Accessed: 16 March 2006).

When extracts have been taken from a large database on internet then following method of referencing should be used. In this case author name is written but if author is not mentioned on the web page then the name of editor or organization can be written.

• Henry, S.D. (2005) Fashion Drawing, Illustrating Visual Features [Online]. Available at: http://www.designfeatures.com/file.html (Accessed: 12 April 2006).

Books:

• William, B. (2007) Clothes for your Personality. 3^rd Ed. Mc Milan Publishing Co. New York. Pp-27-35.

Journals:

• Hilary, V. (2000) Generational Cohorts: Marketing for Generation X, Y, and Z , Journal of Cohort Marketing , vol. 3, no. 2, August, pp. 103-107.