Documentation

The why & how of it

Why?

 While writing reports/ research docs., you use

info. from other sources. Two ways in which
you use info. in your text are:
 quoting verbatim
 paraphrasing
 What if you were to pretend/ claim that
someone else’s idea was your own?
You would be accused of plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the act of not acknowledging the
source of your information and pretending
it to be your own. It is an
academic word for “stealing”
How to acknowledge?

 3 commonly used systems are

1. CMS (Chicago Manual of Style)
2. MLA( Modern Language Association)
3. APA (American Psychological Association)

CMS is most widely

used in business books & journals
Methods of acknowledging sources

 2 methods:
1. Parenthetic author – date reference within
the text
2. Footnote reference

Author- date method is the more popular

reference method in business texts
The parenthetic author –date method

 It involves placing the author’s last name and

year of publication in parentheses
immediately following the material cited.
e.g. (Kotler 2005)
If specific page numbers have to be cited it will
be represented as- (Kotler 2005, 135-36)
Of works with two authors- (Lesikar and
Flatley 2007)
The parenthetic author –date method
(contd.)
 For works with multiple authors, et al. is used
e.g.(Ober et al. 2003)
 If no author is listed as in unsigned

publications issued by a company,

government agency etc., the author’s name is
the organization’s name:
(WHO 2001)
How to use parenthetical reference as a
reader
 “----------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
-------------” (Kotler 2004, 25).

If you want to know more about this

reference you turn to the Bibliography
page and look up publishing details of
the book of Kotler published in 2004.
Year is mentioned only if more than one
book of the same author is cited in the
Bibliography
Footnote method

 Here references are placed at the bottom of

the page and are keyed to the text material
by superscripts (raised Arabic numbers). The
numbering sequence of the superscripts is
consecutive – by chapter or by the whole
work. Footnotes are placed inside the page
layout, single-spaced.
 E.g. Lesikar and Flately, Basic Business Communication, 33.
2

(author’s surname), ( title of book), (page no).

  Example:

 Arthur Prior argues that only the present exists.1

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Prior, Purple Cow, 45.

 Example:

 Timothy Williamson has offered what he believes to

 be a proof for his own necessary existence.5

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 5 Williamson, “Professional Communication”, 33-34.

Note: Each footnote begins with a superscript no. – an Arabic

numeral keyed to the text reference
Some standard reference forms
 ibid. – in the same place
 ed. – edition
 et al. – and others
 MS/ MSS – manuscript/ manuscripts
 n.d. – no date
 n.n. – no name
 n.p. – no place
 p., pp. – page, pages
 vol., vols – volume, volumes
Presenting quoted & paraphrased
information
 Material used verbatim should be clearly
distinguished. If quoted passage is short
(10 lines or less), place it within the text
within quotes.
 For longer quotes
1. indent text few spaces from the margin
2. Single space the quoted text if your writing
is double spaced
For example
For short quotes
 ------------ “----------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------
-----------------”-----------------------------. (Kotler)
 Long quotes

Indent
---------------------------------------------
text ---------------------------------------------
few
spaces ----------------------------------------------
From -----------------------------------------------
margin
------------------------------------------------.
If you want to omit part of a text
while quoting
 Omission of parts of a quoted text can be indicated through use
of


ellipsis (a series of three dots) …
 If ellipsis comes at the end of a sentence- a series of four dots

should be used ....

Detailed footnote for Books
 1Howard Rhinegold, Smart Mobs: The Next Revolution
(Cambridge: Perseus Publishing, 2002), 55.
 5Bruce Mitchel, ed., The Global Internet Economy

(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003), 102.

 3Yuling Pan, et al., Professional Communication in International

Settings (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 147

Detailed Footnote entry for
periodical
Linda Beamer, “Directness in Chinese Business Correspondence,”
1

Journal of Business and Technical Communication 17, no.2

(2003): 201.

5Linda Tischler, “The Art of the Anti-Apology,” Fast Company, no.

74:31 (September 10, 2003), 15, http://
pf.fast company.com/magazine/74/apology.html.
Superscript no., Author’s name in normal order, article title in
quotes, periodical title in italics, publication details- Volume
no. followed by date of publication in brackets, page or
pages, URL for online periodicals
Detailed Footnote entry for
newspaper article
 2Stephen Labaton, “Complex Airline Deals May Draw Antitrust
Watchdogs,” New York Times, January 10, 2001, 12, C1.

(Superscipt no., author’s name in normal order, name of article

in inverted commas, Newspaper title in italics, Date of
publication, Page & column no.) URL should be added if
available
Footnote entry for website
PERSONAL HOMEPAGE
 4 Natalie Hughbanks, personal homepage, “Thoughts on Health,

Happiness and Longevity,” January 2000,

http:// www.thankyoutoo.com/natalie (January 10, 2001).

 (Name of author/ owner of site, Type of material, Title of

document in quotes, Date of publication or if revised last revision,
complete URL ( if length exceeds line length break after a
forward slash) , date of accessing site.
Reference vs. Bibliography

References Bibliography
 Refers to any book,  A list of all books, CDs,
journal, newspaper, CD internet sites, journals
or internet site you or newspapers you
have quoted or used for research –
paraphrased in your whether quoted in your
essay or report. essay/report or not.
Difference bet. Biblio & Reference
Reference Bibliography
 single entry/string. Stop  multiple entries. Many stops
comes at the end
 numbered lists  alphabetical ordering

 for verifying info quoted/  Indicates all the available

paraphrased scholarship in an area
 Different formats
available (parenthetical
 Only one kind of format
ref., footnote method, available
endnote)
Bibliography

•That section of a research doc where

you list your sources of info. and
acknowledge your wide reading for the
research. It is an orderly list of material on
a particular subject
 Bibliography appears in the appended part
of a formal report
 The page that begins the list bears the
main heading bibliography typed in capital
letters. Below this the references are listed
by broad categories (such as Books,
Periodicals etc.) and arranged within the
categories in alphabetical order of author’s
surname.
Books

 Single author:
Crystal, David. English as a Global Language. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1997.
 Two authors:

Lesikar, Raymond V., and Marie E. Flatley. Basic Business

Communication. New Delhi: Tata McGraw –Hill, 2002.
 Multiple Authors

Lesikar, Raymond V., et al. Critical Studies in Communication.

New Delhi: Tata McGraw –Hill, 2002.
Periodicals
Giles, Howard. “Managing Dilemmas in the ‘Silent Revolution’: A Call to
Arms!” Journal of Communication 49, no.4 (autumn 1999): 170–174.

______ . “The Theoretical Foundation for Intercultural Business

Communication: A Conceptual Model.” The Journal of Business
Communication 37, no.1 (2000): 39-45
General rules for Bibliography
 Author’s name is listed in reverse order – surname
first – for the purpose of alphabetizing. If an entry
has more than one author, only the name of the first
author is reversed
 The entry is generally typed in hanging indention
form( 2nd line 2 spaces from margin )
 The entry gives the inclusive pages of articles but
not books
 Second and subsequent references to publications
of the same author are indicated by a uniform line
formed by striking the underline key 6 consecutive
times. This line should be used only if the entire
authorship is the same