Mention the mistake students commit while collecting reference for assignment. Give tips for referencing your academic assignment

Introduction

It is essential to gather references for any academic assignment. In fact, the number of references given for any assignment/ proposal/dissertation speaks about how one has explored the sources and understood the contents. One has to take much care while exploring the literatures; some literatures might be very much relevant to our topic of interest or subject of concern but it may not be recent research or idea. In such cases many researchers would have analysed that particular journal/manuscript and would have appended innovations or would have refined it. It may not be viable in such cases for further adding one’s idea. Hence, one must be watchful not only on the topic of research but also should pay attention on the year of publication.  The style of citing the reference is equally important as collecting the references.

Common Mistakes while collecting references

Referencing or citation is a process in scripting assignments to provide credits to the writers from the facts and information collected through the article. It permits us to use the input/idea of other authors and researchers in our work. By referencing an article as it should be, one can give evidence to support his/her deliberations and assertions.

References are one of the main constituents of any good research manuscript. They actually reveal the source of ongoing research and assists the reader to comprehend the subject in a better way. However, quite a many times they are uncertain. Most of the researchers or students lack the skill of providing citations and references. Either they are not aware of it or they do it wrongly. There may be major or minor mistakes while collecting/citing references. The major error stops the reader or reviewer or editor to retrieve the article cited or it is hard for them to recover the article because of a few missing factors that are vital. The common errors found in referencing/citations include spelling mistakes made in the author’s name especially that of the first author, quoting a wrong title, mismatch with respect to authors and title.  The minor errors usually will not affect the article retrieval. There may be punctuation errors, not quoting the year of publication, etc. are considered as minor errors. Many students as well as scholars habitually overlook the significance of a right citation and a referencing scheme, but when they do these two substances properly, the credits/grades will definitely be boosted. Scholars/students regularly commit the mistake of dedicating their entire energies on the manuscript, paying minimum attention for the list of references. While students are in the process of shaping their paper in various segments, they must take account of even the references as an indispensable segment, which will automatically draw their devotion to it. This ensures investing their considerable time to center on it as a distinct dome.

Contents to be included in “References”

Referencing as well as citing information may be scary for students/ scholars who are not realizing the principles. There are several methods/techniques available for referencing. Yet, this may vary for different organizations/institutes, departments/schools. Moreover, a teacher or guide may need different style. The students or scholars should ensure with their respective supervisors for the necessary method to quote the article. Sometimes, it may suit the demand of the conference or symposium to which the students are submitting their paper. Improper referencing may lead to losing of marks in assignments and so considerable time and care should be paid for learning the ways of proper referencing.

The student or scholar should be consistent enough in following certain format that is apt for the particular assignment/paper, which is usually provided by the institution. For instance, it may be “APA” or “MLA” or “IEEE” formats. The author has to follow the prescribed style throughout the paper and should not switch between styles. Employing parenthetical citation or in-text citation is another vital component to be followed in the script/assignment. The important details to be encompassed in a citation are the name of the author(s) without any spelling mistake, correct title of the paper to be referenced, name and location of the source (journal name or conference name or book name), date on which the referred article was published, volume number of the journal or conference proceedings, page number of that particular article in the journal, book or conference proceedings, which is depicted in Figure 1. It is a good exercise to cite when quote or work of other researcher is used. Nowadays, Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is being used along with referencing for easy retrieval of a particular paper or article.

At the time of exploring the literature, the student or scholar can note down all the particulars pertaining to that article (author’s name, text title, page number(s), publication date etc.) as notes in a notebook or type in a word document and save with proper name. This practice will save most of your time and pressure as you no need hit the search page again and again while you prepare the list of references. The in-test citation style also is different as your referencing style. Some article may demand the square braces with number as in the reference list and some may require superscripts with reference number and some other journal necessitates the author name and year of publication in the parenthesis. Students must be careful enough to choose the apt one as demanded.

At the present time, there are many software or online tools available, which are dedicated for referencing. However, one should know how to properly use or apply the online tools. Otherwise, time spent on it will be wasted. Rather, students may utilize the reliable academic writing services for appropriate referencing and saving time.

Conclusion

Though referencing may be complex task as it takes much of student’s time, correct tools, proper learning, appropriate allocation of time, including vital details will make the referencing effective thereby fetching good marks or grades to the students and scholars. Seeking the help of reliable assignment or academic writing services stands as an alternate better choice when the scholar has no idea about citations and references or he/she does not allocate proper time due to chaotic schedule.

References

1. Aksnes, D. W., Langfeldt, L., & Wouters, P. (2019). Citations, Citation Indicators, and Research Quality: An Overview of Basic Concepts and Theories. SAGE Open, 9(1), 215824401982957. doi:10.1177/2158244019829575
2. Giatsidis, C., Nikolentzos, G., Zhang, C., Tang, J., & Vazirgiannis, M. (2019). Rooted citation graphs density metrics for research papers influence evaluation. Journal of Informetrics, 13(2), 757–768. doi:10.1016/j.joi.2019.03.006 
3. Du, J., Li, P., Haunschild, R., Sun, Y., & Tang, X. (2020). Paper-patent citation linkages as early signs for predicting delayed recognized knowledge: Macro and micro evidence. Journal of Informetrics, 14(2), 101017. doi:10.1016/j.joi.2020.101017
4. Pak, C. M., Wang, W., & Yu, G. (2020). An analysis of in-text citations based on fractional counting. Journal of Informetrics, 14(4), 101070. doi:10.1016/j.joi.2020.101070
5. Pandey, P. K., Singh, M., Goyal, P., Mukherjee, A., & Chakrabarti, S. (2020). Analysis of reference and citation copying in evolving bibliographic networks. Journal of Informetrics, 14(1), 101003. doi:10.1016/j.joi.2019.101003
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