Attribution and Citations: A Brief Overview

Jan. 15

In journalism, sources are attributed. This contrasts academic papers, which often require an organized list of all sources used. This blog post will go over different citation styles for both journalistic pieces and academic writing.

Attribution

For everything except well-known information (ex: There are over 30 million people in Canada), reporters should clarify where they got their information.

The teacher said her lessons were challenging for the average Grade 9 student.

“We should get another cat for our family,” said Greg Smith.

This process where reporters state “who said what” is called attribution. There are various levels of attribution. The levels refer to the amount of personally identifying detail a reporter will disclose about their source/interviewee when presenting the collected information.

Why is attribution important?

It allows readers to clearly identify where information in a journalistic piece came from.

What are citations?

Citations are references to sources used in a written piece.

Why do we cite?

Citations help readers verify the validity of a written statement, locate sources for references. It is also important in avoiding plagiarism, which refers to the presentation of someone else’s work as one’s own. Citations credit the original author(s).

Citation Styles and When to Use

Differences in information and formatting required for a citation dictate what style of citation should be used. Generally, citations can be broken down into parenthetical and numbered citation styles.

Students most commonly encounter the parenthetical MLA, APA, and Chicago style citations, which are chosen based on the topic of the student’s paper. Examples shown cite The Canadian Encyclopedia’s article on Brent Hayden.

MLA (Modern Language Association) — Used most often in humanities (i.e. culture studies, literature, language)
- The Modern Language Association’s scholarly journal used to require typed submissions which followed a certain format, hence MLA style was born
- Promotes consistency in disciplines of humanities

Williams, Cheryl. "Brent Hayden". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 04 March 2015, Historica Canada. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/brent-hayden. Accessed 10 December 2021.

APA (American Psychological Association) — Used most often in social and behavioral sciences (ex: psychology, anthropology, social work)
- Designed to standardize scientific work
- Helps researchers organize their research and helps readers understand said research

Williams, C. (2015). Brent Hayden. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/brent-hayden.

Chicago — Used most often in history, but in some humanities subjects too

Williams, Cheryl. "Brent Hayden." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published August 13, 2012; Last Edited March 04, 2015.

Additional numbered citation styles include styles within the Vancouver and Oxford citation style families.

Vancouver — Numbered sequenced focussed style that synthesizes information from a high number of studies; Helps readers view the written piece without interruptions from in-text citation; Used most often in the physical sciences
Oxford — Footnote and endnote-focussed styles covering sources that don’t fit neatly into a paragraph form (i.e. legal documents, manuscripts)

Changes to a Citation Style

As the world of academia and publishing evolves, so must citation styles. Established citation styles have gone through a multitude of changes. For example, the 8th edition of MLA style included a general set of guidelines applicable to sources ranging from websites to DVDs.

How are citations presented?

A bibliography, reference list/works cited organizes citations alphabetically at the end of a written piece.

Bibliography — Lists all sources consulted, even if a source was not directly used, it must still be included
Reference list (APA)/Works cited (MLA) — Lists all sources actually used

In-text citations like footnotes or parentheticals aid readers in viewing sources as they appear.

Footnotes — Indicated with a raised number right after the information that was cited
Parentheticals — Used when a direct quote is included; Usually includes the author’s name and page number of source document

Learn More About Citations

When writing academic papers for courses, university students are often required to follow a certain paper style (i.e. APA style for a psychology research paper) and include proper citations. Thus, university websites are a great resource to learn more about citations.

This blog post was written with references to the following websites (all great sources to check out!)

https://libguides.nmhschool.org/citations

https://guides.library.unk.edu/c.php?g=710678&p=5051044

https://www.bibliography.com/how-to/apa-references-works-cited-and-bibliography-differences/

https://seneca.libanswers.com/faq/195405

https://uscmed.sc.libguides.com/c.php?g=484371&p=3313015

https://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp

https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations/citationwhich

https://libguides.brown.edu/citations/styles

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_style_introduction.html

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/styleguide/chapter/why-is-mla-documentation-important/

https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/the-importance-of-apa-style-giving-credit-to-get-credit/