A distinctive characteristic of university writing is that it is based on research, discussing ideas and information from published sources. As a student, it is essential that you learn how to use the ideas of other writers, and correctly acknowledge their contribution in your assessment. There are two ways of incorporating ideas, words or research findings of others into your own work: paraphrasing and quoting.

• Paraphrasing - writing an idea from the literature in your own words
• Direct Quotations - using the exact words of the author

Both paraphrases and direct quotations require in-text citations with author, date and a page number. When you paraphrase or quote directly, cite the original work using either the narrative or parenthetical citation format (See examples below).

There are two formats of in-text citations: Narrative and Parenthetical.

Narrative citation - the author's name is incorporated into the text as part of the sentence.

Example:

Cunningham observes "Simply put, the number of people employed in the creative economy is the total of creative industries employment plus embedded employment" (2013, p.128).

Cunningham (2013, p.128) observes "Simply put, the number of people employed in the creative economy is the total of creative industries employment plus embedded employment".

Parenthetical citation - in-text reference is included within parentheses at the end of the sentence, prior to the closing full stop.

Example:

"Simply put, the number of people employed in the creative economy is the total of creative industries employment plus embedded employment" (Cunningham, 2013, p.128).