Every time that you use ideas (expressed in your own words) or words/direct quotes that appear in a document written by someone else, you must formally reference that work (document), even if it is not something that has been published.
Citing Ideas/Opinions/Statistics/Findings
If you paraphrase (put into your own words) another person's ideas, you must still provide a reference citation. Be careful that your paraphrasing is not so close to the original that it would be better to simply use a direct quotation with quotation marks. When citing an idea/opinion/statistic/finding that you have paraphrased, you are required to attach the person’s last name and the year of the publication that you took the idea/opinion/statistic from next to the idea.
Idea : Consumer Behaviour is a complex and ever changing (Smith, 2016). Smith is the person this idea came from and it came from a document that Smith published in 2016.
This citation (Smith, 2016) occurs within the body of your assignment and then the full reference ( using either the Chicago or the Harvard Referencing system) must appear in your bibliography or references list. Chicago and Harvard are the citation systems approved for the Faculty of Social Sciences. Pay attention to the guide for citing electronic sources since these are becoming increasingly prevalent in student assignments.
Citing Words/Direct Quotes
If you are citing an author ad verbatim / word for word you are required to put those words in quotation marks, and at the end of the direct quote you are required to give the author’s name, year of publication and the page that the direct quote came from.
Direct Quote: ‘Consumer behaviour is a dynamic phenomenon, and even more so during the millennial generation’ (Smith, 2016: 45).
Leaving off quotation marks and page number are a significant error, even if you give the name and year and page number at the end of the sentence or passage.
It is poor academic practice to structure your assignment using a string of direct quotes, even if they are correctly cited. Good students are able to read, synthesize and paraphrase.
The full reference for direct quotes must also appear in the bibliography/reference list a the end of your assignment.
Common Knowledge
Citing information that is common knowledge is generally not required
Examples of common knowledge include:
- Rihanna is Barbados’ newest national hero
- The chemical formula for water is H2O.
- Barbados is 45 minutes away from Trinidad by air.
- The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Philemon in the Bible