1. Academic Honesty and Referencing Guidelines
In academic writing, there are occasions where one needs to refer to the contents or work of other authors. Such contents could be obtained from articles that are posted at different websites on the Internet, magazines, newspapers, journals, books, other resources and assignments of other students. It is important and required to acknowledge contents of other resources from any resources by means of referencing. Proper referencing entails quoting sentences and/or paraphrasing an idea with appropriate acknowledgement of the sources that follows a preferred or recommended referencing styles. Details of work consulted or referred to are summarized in a reference list that follows at the end of a report.
2. When writing the report, make sure that the following practices prevail:
2.1 In-text referencing, that is, to include references when quoting, copying and/or paraphrasing sentences from sources.
2.2 In-text referencing and referencing style (as listed in the Reference List). There are many citation styles. PSB Academy follows the APA style. Students can adopt any citation style so long as this is agreed between the students and the lecturer at the start of the module.
2.3 Reference list or Bibliography must be inserted right at the end of the report.
3. When any of the practices are missing in the report, penalty will be imposed during the marking of the report.
4. Referencing examples
4.1 Quotation
If you are quoting sentence(s) from a source, the use of quotation marks is necessary, together with proper in-text referencing (that is, the author, date, and page number). The source should also be inserted to the reference list. The in-text referencing is in bold and the insert to the Reference List are given in the following examples.
4.1.1 Quotation from a book chapter
Thailand was one of the Asian countries affected by the large outflow of capital funds in 1997/1998. The Asian economic crisis was described as the “most severe economic contraction in recent Thai history” (Warr, 2005: 115).
Reference List:
Warr, P. (2005). Poverty, Inequality, and Economic Growth: The Case of Thailand. In A. B. Deolalikar (Ed.) Poverty, Growth, and Safety Nets: A Comparative Regional Perspective. Toronto: De Sitter Publications.
4.1.2 Quotation from a book chapter
Despite enjoying rapid economic growth, illiteracy remains a great cause of concern in India. According to Tharoor (2007: 137), “thirty-seven percent of all Indian primary school children drop out before reaching fifth grade” and the number of the illiterate population of India “exceeds the total combined population of the North American continent and Japan”.
Reference List:
Tharoor, S. (2007). The elephant, the tiger, and the cell phone. New York: Arcade Publishing.
4.2 Paraphrasing an idea
You can paraphrase the sentences and/or ideas of others and document the sources appropriately.
The Five Forces Model, as popularized by Michael Porter, is a widely used approach to assist managers in developing strategies in many industries (Porter, 1980).
Reference List:
Porter, M. (1980). Competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York: Free Press.
4.3 Inserting a table/chart/figure/diagram/exhibit from a source.
4.3.1 Table
Table 1: Real GDP of Singapore (at 2000 market price)
| Year | Real GDP (in S$, million) |
| 2004 | 184,256.6 |
| 2005 | 197,720.6 |
| 2006 | 214,233.5 |
| 2007 | 230,871.4 |
| 2008 | 233,524.5 |
Source: Extracted from the website http://www.singstat.gov.sg on 18 November 2009
Reference List:
Statistics Department of Singapore, Retrieved from http://www.singstat.gov.sg on 18 November 2009
4.3.2 Figure
Figure 1: Fishbone analysis – of an underperforming business
Source: Extracted from Grundy, Johnson and Scholes (1998; Figure 3.5, p. 68).
Reference List:
Grundy, T., Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1998). Exploring strategic financial management. Essex: Prentice Hall.
5. Referencing styles
The citation styles that PSB Academy adopts are based on the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association1.
Book with one author
Bernstein, T.M. (1965). The careful writer: A modern guide to English usage (2nd ed.). New York: Atheneum.
Book with two to five authors
Beck, C. A. J., & Sales, B. D. (2001). Family mediation: Facts, myths, and future prospects.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Two or more books by the same author
Arrange alphabetically by the book’s title
Postman, N. (1985). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business.
New York: Viking.
Postman, N. (1979). Teaching as a conserving activity. New York: Delacorte Press.
Works by the same author that are published in the same year
Arrange them alphabetically by title and add a letter after the year as indicated below
McLuhan, M. (1970a). Culture is our business. New York: McGraw-Hill.
McLuhan, M. (1970b). From cliche to archetype. New York: Viking Press.
Edited volume
Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L. N. (Eds.). (1991). Children of color: Psychological interventions with minority youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chapter in an edited volume
Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In H. L. Roediger III, & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory & consciousness (pp. 309-330). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Book by a corporate author
Associations, corporations, agencies, government departments and organizations are considered authors when there is no single author
American Psychological Association. (1972). Ethical standards of psychologists. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
Article in a reference book or an entry in an encyclopaedia
If the article/entry is signed, include the author’s name; if unsigned, begin with the title of the entry Guignon, C. B. (1998). Existentialism. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge encyclopaedia of philosophy (Vol. 3, pp. 493-502). London: Routledge.
Article in a journal – for articles retrieved online, see below
Mellers, B. A. (2000). Choice and the relative pleasure of consequences. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 910-924.
Note: List only the volume number if the periodical uses continuous pagination throughout a particular volume. If each issue begins with page 1, then list the issue number as well.
Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45(2), 10-36.
Article in a newspaper or magazine
Semenak, S. (1995, December 28). Feeling right at home: Government residence eschews traditional rules. Montreal Gazette, p. A4.
Driedger, S. D. (1998, April 20). After divorce. Maclean’s, 111(16), 38-43.
Television or radio program
MacIntyre, L. (Reporter). (2002, January 23). Scandal of the Century [Television series episode].
In H. Cashore (Producer), The fifth estate. Toronto: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Film, video recording or DVD
Kubrick, S. (Director). (1980). The Shining [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Brothers.
Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides (such as Moodle)
Winkleman, N. (2019). The language of coaching: A story about learning [PowerPoint slides]. SlideShare.
Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/nwinkelman/the-language-of-coaching-a-story-about-learning on dd/mm/yy.
Online sources
Lopez, G. (2009). Malaysia’s economic future. Retrieved from http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/ on dd/mm/yy.
6. Turnitin
Students are encouraged to submit their report to Turnitin to check their work before submitting it to the lecturer. Turnitin provides an assessment of the degree (in per cent) of resources referred to by comparing with articles posted on the Internet as well as reports submitted to Turnitin by other students. 100 per cent (%) would indicate that the entire report submitted for verification is considered to be highly copied.
The Turnitin report is useful to ascertain that proper referencing is followed. Students should use the Turnitin report as a check list to verify and if necessary, amend to ascertain that proper referencing prevails.
7. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an act of cheating, to copy someone’s work and/or ideas and submitting them as your own.
Plagiarism is a serious offence and will not be tolerated in academic writing. A plagiarized report is defined as:
-
- a report submitted that is identical to another report and/or highly questionable of its originality and
- is evidently substantiated by the lecturer/marker.
Students are strongly encouraged to follow the referencing guidelines as stipulated in this document and utilize the Turnitin service to ensure their report is not perceived or considered to be plagiarized.
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