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What is a Citation & What is Citation Style?


Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction - NC State University Libraries [1:54]

A citation is a way of identifying and giving credit to others' published works that you used to support your own research. Other than facilitating researchers to locate sources of works, including citations in a paper also helps avoid plagiarism.

A citation consists of two parts: in-text citation and reference list. In-text citations are brief references of sources within the text of the paper, while reference list is a complete list of references at the end of the paper.
 

A citation style defines the necessary information for a citation, how the information is ordered, and what format citations should follow. 

Generally, the citation style you use depends on your research area. Check with your instructor or supervisor if you are not sure which style you should use for your assignment. Some commonly used styles for different faculties are listed in the table below.

Which Citation Style Shall I Use?

Generally, the citation style you use depends on your discipline. If you're not sure, check with your instructor. In PolyU, citation styles commonly used by various disciplines are listed below:

Subject Commonly used citation style
Applied Science & Textiles (FAST) APA / Harvard
Business (FB) APA / Harvard
Construction & Environment (FCE) IEEE / Harvard
Engineering (FENG) IEEE / APA
Health Sciences & Social Sciences (FHSS) APA
Humanities (FH) APA / MLA
School of Design (SD) APA
School of Hotel & Tourism Management (SHTM) APA

APA Style for Faculty of Business

APA style follows an author-year format in referencing. A citation contains two parts: 

1. In-text citation

  • Format: generally, author surname and publication year enclosed in parentheses
Examples: 
Chan (2016) studied that...
Chan (2016, p. 15) claimed that "..."
Couple of studies reported similar results (Chan, 2016; Smith & Booth, 2018; Gorman, Reese, & Smith, 2019). 
... as stated in its annual report (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2017). 

 

2. References

  • Format: different type of sources uses different format of reference entry. See examples below. 
  • Order: all references are sorted by the author surname in alphabetical order.
Examples: 
1) Print Book:
Mankiw, N. G. (2015). Essentials of economics (7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
2) Journal article:
Bolton, P., & Oehmke, M. (2015). Should derivatives be privileged in bankruptcy? Journal of Finance, 70(6), 2353-2394.
3) Country Report from Economist Intelligence Unit: 
Economist Intelligence Unit. (April 2016). Country report: China. Retrieved from Economist Intelligence Unit database.
4) Market Research Report from Passport:
Euromonitor International. (March 2016). Apparel and footwear in China. Retrieved from Passport database.
5) Annual Report from Company Website:
China Mobile Ltd. (2015). Annual report. Retrieved from http://www.chinamobileltd.com/en/ir/reports.php
6) News Article from Factiva:
Osawa, J., & Schechner, S. (6 April 2016). Huawei aims high with new phone. The Wall Street Journal. p. B1. Retrieved from Factiva database.
7) Price Chart from Bloomberg:
Bloomberg L.P. (2016). Historical price line chart for China Mobile Ltd. 1/1/2000 to 31/12/2015. Retrieved from Bloomberg database.
 

Build-in Citation Generator on Databases

Many databases provide a quick link to citation style, you can simply "copy" the citation from your search result list and "paste" to your document. The following are a few examples of copying APA citation (6th edition) from online sources:

To use the citation generator in OneSearch, you can refer to the steps below:

  1. Click on the Citation Button on the result page after searching in OneSearch.
  2. Select a citation style.
  3. Copy the citation to clipboard and paste it to the reference list of your assignment.

To use the citation generator in EBSCOhost, you can refer to the steps below:

  1. Select the articles you would like to cite on the result page after searching.
  2. Click on the Cite button on the sidebar.
  3. Copy and paste the citation to the reference list of your assignment.

To use the citation generator in Google Scholar, click on the Citation Button on the result page after searching. You can then copy the citation and paste it to the reference list of your assignment.

To use the citation generator in ProQuest, you can refer to the steps below:

  1. Select the articles you would like to cite on the result page after searching.
  2. Click on the Citation Button.
  3. Select a citation style.
  4. Copy and paste it to the reference list of your assignment.

Subjects: Business