Citing on the Shoulders of Giants
Citing is an essential part of academic writing. It allows the author to position their work in the bigger picture of the research landscape, and also recognises that the work is built upon the preexisting knowledge of others. Using the poetic words of Isaac Newton, it’s how the authors acknowledge that they are “standing on the shoulders of giants”.1
Several rungs lower in the ideological ladder in the down-and-dirty world of actual research, citations are also how researchers demonstrate to each other that they know what they’re talking about and that what they’re claiming should be trusted. Therefore getting your citations wrong can damage the quality of an otherwise good piece of work, and can cause inexperienced authors problems.
The basic principle of citing is that, if what you’re saying a fact that isn’t common knowledge, you need to provide a link to the source material you used to make your claim.2 Simple as this sounds in theory, there can be a few errors that researchers can make, which could make their citing look sloppy and their work unprofessional. These errors are easily avoided, and this guide will tell you how.
As you are preparing to write your paper or report you’ll be reading large numbers of papers, making notes and saving them to your reference library. If you need more information on how to read papers to effectively get the most from them, you can also read our guide here. You will broadly be coming across two types of papers: research articles, where authors are publishing the results they have generated from their experiments; and review articles, where authors are comparing and commenting on a range of data taken from other research articles. These different types of research article can be used to enrich your work with citations, and the trick to a good paper is know when to cite each different type.
When to cite
When writing up your report, you’ll start with an introduction which is broad and general: giving details about the field and examples of previous work leading up to the present day. After this, your report will begin to narrow down in focus to talking about contemporary work which is being published at the moment, and specific examples of notable cases. Likewise, when citing, it is best to use sources that match your writing in terms of scope and focus.
For example: if you were writing a sentence about how solar panels are good for the environment, you wouldn’t cite anything as this is common knowledge. If you were to state that most solar panels work by using a semiconductor material to absorb photons with an energy larger than the band gap, you’d cite a textbook chapter on solar panel physics. If you were to go on to state that metal-halide perovskites are a new field that is currently generating a lot of interest, you’d cite a well-regarded review paper on metal-halide perovskite solar panels. Finally, if you wanted to talk about the results of a specific research group’s work, you should cite their research paper where they report the result you quote.
Why do it this way?
Technically, you could cite the final paper for each of those sentences, however doing so would mean you’re not demonstrating a broad understanding of the field. Remember: we’re supposed to be standing on the shoulders of giants, and if you don’t demonstrate that you’ve read the respected and well known papers in the field you’re writing about, your readers may suspect that you might be missing some important prior knowledge, even if you’re not. Citing is all about backing up your claims,3 and your choice of citations are all about letting the reader that you’ve done the required background so you’re assertions come from a position of authority. As an aside, the tendency of researchers to cite review articles when writing their introduction sections leads to review papers having higher citation counts. If getting a large number of citations is important to you, publishing a timely and well-written review article in a good journal is a great way to go about building your reputation.
What your citations should look like
This depends on what you’re writing. If you’re writing a paper for assessment, your tutor/examiner should have provided you with rules on how they want the citations and bibliography formatted. If you’re writing for a journal, you can find information on their citation style on their websites “information for authors” section. Your reference management software should also be able to automatically format this for you. It is worth taking the time to sort these out and get everything looking consistent and matching the required format. Just like how you citing the appropriate type of paper at the appropriate time and adds authority to your work, taking care that the citations and bibliography are consistent and easy to follow shows a care and attention to detail that reflects well on the work it supports.
Author: Dr Matt Allinson
Thousands of academics around the world are already using RESEARCHER to browse their favourite journals. RESEARCHER is free to download and use on IOS, Android and at www.researcherapp.io.
References:
1. Turnbull, H.W. ed., 1959. The Correspondence of Isaac Newton: 1661–1675, Volume 1, London, UK: Published for the Royal Society at the University Press. p. 416
2. “Not-So-Common Knowledge — Academic Integrity at Princeton University.” Princeton University, pr.princeton.edu/pub/integrity/pages/notcommon/.
3. “Academic Integrity at MIT.” What Is Common Knowledge? | Academic Integrity at MIT, integrity.mit.edu/handbook/citing-your-sources/avoiding-plagiarism-cite-your-source.
