Citing references is an important part of academic writing. It is not only related to scientific papers but also be used in thesis or dissertation. You may need to use them in your assignments and coursework. The importance of using references in your work is to prove that the argument is valid and other people have also worked on the data. This will add a solid reason to your data and show that your work is credible and does not contain any opinion-based work.
This guide will you to write the reference in the APA style and also help you in writing it. You have to look at that if you want to cite published data or unpublished. Below is a detailed discussion of it.
General APA format
The citation you used in your thesis or dissertation depends on your requirements. These requirements are set by the university and department. First, you have to see the requirements and then share them with your helper from Dissertation Team service. Following is the general format of APA:
- Name of authors. First, you need to write the last name, first name and then the middle name of it.
- You have to write in which year the paper is published.
- Write the title of the paper and thesis.
- Look if the paper is published or not.
- The number of publications, written on it. This point falls if you are looking for a published paper.
- Type of degree on the paper, if it is for bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D.)
- Institute’s name which gives the degree.
- You can also add the URL of the paper.
These kinds of academic writing are usually done by the university or any institute which awarded the degree. The next thing you need to remember is to look for the type of paper or thesis. If it is a published paper then there are little bit variations in it. If the data is unpublished, then the structure may vary.
Types of paper: published and unpublished
- Citing reference of a published paper
If a theory or thesis has been distributed and is found on an information base, at that point follow the construction underneath. It’s like the organization for an unpublished paper/theory, yet with a couple of contrasts:
- The title
- Institute’s name should be in the bracket
- Name of database
The general structure will follow as
Writing. Author’s last name (publication year). Title of the paper of thesis in capital letters (number of publications or database) [Name of degree and institution] Name of source
The above mention is for the published paper or dissertation that you can use for APA style format.
- Citing reference of the unpublished paper
These are papers which are published and are only available in university source and library. The citation of it includes the name of the university. Following is the structure of this citation about how to write it.
Writing it as “author’s last name (publication year). Title of paper or thesis in capital words [type of degree]. Institution name”
Search those unpublished papers in your university library and use the above format to write them correctly. Also, you can see examples of other’s thesis so that you can get a better idea of them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, citation play important role in your work and depends on the type of data. Also, the above information is proper guidelines and a detailed discussion of APA style format. There is software available that will you to cite the references without going into detail about the type of paper or thesis. These tools will also help you to give access to a different type of reference style.