Hints on Writing (B) Using Citations Appropriately PhD Seminar Hints on Writing (B) Using Citations Appropriately Jeff Offutt http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/

Your Citations Must Help Readers Understand the Paper Citation Notes Your Citations Must Help Readers Understand the Paper

Citation Notes One of the unique aspects of academic writing is citations Citations carry crucially important information : What the paper is based on (context) What the author knows What the reader should know They are considered a measure of the care the author takes with his or her research © Jeff Offutt

Citation Terminology Reference : Direction to a source of information, the author, title, etc. at the end of the paper Citation : To mention in support of proof or argument, mentioning work in the text “[14]” is a citation Bibliography : An exhaustive list of all publications on a subject © Jeff Offutt

Rules for Citations Never reference something you have not read This is not style, but ethics Use “secondary citations” only when necessary List all authors in reference list (never use “et al.” in reference list!) Write authors names as they appear in the paper Give enough information to find the reference Citations are parenthetical elements, not nouns “… as said in [Gomaa98].” is grammatically wrong “… as said by Gomaa [Gomaa98].” is correct Citation keys should appear in reference list © Jeff Offutt

Keep Your Reference DB Neat If your references are sloppy, readers will assume your research is also sloppy When you correct a reference in a paper, make sure you correct your permanent data base I have used the same .bib file since 1988 It is better to over-reference than under-reference Even famous scientists like to see their names in print © Jeff Offutt