Principles of Citing and Referencing in Scientific Writing

Abstract

The aim of this guide is to outline the general principles and practices of generally appropriate and acceptable citing and referencing in scientific writing.

This guide should be conformed to especially in course exercises and theses written at the Department of Business and Technology Management in Tampere University of Technology. The guidelines presented are, however, general in nature and therefore apply to all scientific writing.

Therefore the primary purpose of this guide is that the reader becomes familiar with what scientific writing and referencing is all about, why it is used and how one can comply with its principles. Thus, the technical and rhetorical means with which one can easily and fluently integrate citations in the flow of one’s text are – while important, and in the case of some texts such as theses, rather precisely specified – of secondary importance with regard to this guide.

Admittedly, the notions of authorship and “ownership” of text can vary from culture to culture (Sowden 2005) and even within a culture from era to era (Pennycook 1996), thus affecting the attitude towards – or even the need for – acknowledging others’ contributions in one´s own text with citing and referencing. However, this guide presents the principles of citing and referencing that are the norm, and hence expected, in scientific writing in the cultural realm to which Finland belongs.

This guide includes several examples in the form of passages of text that illustrate possible situations of citing and referencing. All such passages are written solely for the purpose of this guide and therefore all the (complete) works that are mentioned in their commentaries are fictitious.

This guide is available also in Finnish (Lähdeviittauskäytännön periaatteet tieteellisessä kirjoittamisessa).