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Translation

Basic resources you should know if you are researching and/or studying into translation.

What is a citation?

A reference providing information about where a particular quotation, text, etc., is to be found; a bibliographical reference.  [Oxford English Dictionary]

In general, citations help readers to locate your sources of information, as well as avoid plagiarism.

Use a Reference Machine (by PolyU ELC) to help you construct citations for various usages.

Which citation style shall I use?

The citation style you use depends on your discipline. If you're not sure, check with your professor. Citation styles commonly used by various disciplines are listed below:

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

 

Understanding and avoiding plagiarism

You need to understand why and how to use citations to help you avoid plagiarism! The Online Tutorial on Academic Integrity has been developed to raise students’ awareness of academic integrity and the University’s expectations for honest academic behaviour. Use this interactive tutorial to understand the importance and mechanics of avoiding plagiarism through proper citing. You may access this online tutorial via Learn@PolyU:

Online Tutorial on Academic Integrity 

Citation and Journals

The following are the top 10 publishers which PolyU researchers have their works published across various subject areas in the recent 5 years. [Data from Scopus]

1.       Elsevier
2.       IEEE
3.       Springer
4.       Wiley
5.       Taylor & Francis
6.       Sage
7.       Royal Society of Chemistry
8.       Emerald
9.       American Institute of Physics
10.     American Chemical Society

If you are writing a paper for a journal, always check the citation style requirements from that specific journal, because different journal (or publisher) may use different citation styles.

You may refer to the following examples:

1. Elsevier

2. Springer

3. Wiley

4. Taylor and Francis

APA style for Humanities

Two parts of a citation:

1. In-text citation

  • Mainly include Author name and publication year

Example of In-text citation:

(McWhorter & Aaron, 2009) Or McWhorter and Aaron (2009) point out that…

2. References

  • Sorted by the author name in alphabetical order
  • Consistent with the in-text citation

NOTE: The references list should have hanging indents for the second and subsequent lines of citations. The hanging indents are not included at below examples because of how this guide displays across different browsers.

Example 1 (Print Book)

APA Style (6th edition)

McWhorter, K. T., & Aaron, J. E. (2009). The successful writer's handbook. New York: Longman.

Example 2 (Electronic Book)

Davis, H. G., & Taylor, T. J. (2003). Rethinking Linguistics Communication and Linguistic Theory.

Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=97208&site=ehost-live

Example 3 (Chapter in an Edited Book)

Jahandarie, K. (1999). Development of the Literate Mind. In D. Olson (Ed.), Spoken and written discourse : a multi-disciplinary perspective (pp. 113-130). Stamford, Conn: Ablex Pub.

Example 4 (Print Journal Article)

Ellis, D., & Cromby, J. (2012). Emotional inhibition: A discourse analysis of disclosure. Psychology & Health, 27(5),  515-532.

Example 5 (Electronic Journal Article)

With DOI

Johnson, S. L. (2015). Workplace bullying prevention: a critical discourse analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71(10), 2384-2392. doi:10.1111/jan.12694

Or

Without DOI

Xiaoming, L., & Atkins, M. S. (2004). Early Childhood Computer Experience and Cognitive and Motor Development. Pediatrics, 113(6), 1715-1722. Retrieved from http://www.jpeds.com/

MLA style for Humanities (8th Edition)

MLA released the 8th edition in May 2016. Read MLA's "What's New in the Eight Edition" for changes since the 7th edition. Double check with your instructors to see which edition to use.

Two parts of a citation:

1. In-text citation

  • Author(s) last name
  • Page number(s) on which the cited material can be found (the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses)

Example of In-text citation:

Widdowson mentioned that “A text can be defined as an actual use of language” (20).

Or

“A text can be defined as an actual use of language” (Widdowson 20).

2. Works Cited

  • Sorted by the author name in alphabetical order and be double-space
  • Consistent with the in-text citation

NOTE: Your Works Cited page should have hanging indents for the second and subsequent lines of citations. The hanging indents are not included at below examples because of how this guide displays across different browsers.

Example 1 (Print Book)

Widdowson, H. G. Discourse Analysis. Oxford University Press, 2007.

Example 2 (Electronic Book)

New, Christopher. Philosophy of Literature: An Introduction. Routledge, 1999. EBSCOHost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=60555&site=ehost-live.

Example 3 (Chapter in an Edited Book)

Jahandarie, Khosrow. "Development of the Literate Mind." Spoken and Written Discourse: A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective, edited by David Olson, Ablex Pub., 1999, pp. 113-30.

Example 4 (Print Journal Article)

Wintner, Shuly. "Hebrew Computational Linguistics: Past and Future." Artificial Intelligence Review, vol. 21, no. 2, 2004, pp. 113-38.

Example 5 (Electronic Journal Article)

Ellis, Nick C. et al. "Formulaic Language in Native and Second Language Speakers: Psycholinguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and Tesol." TESOL Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 3, 2008, pp. 375-396. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/40264474. Accessed 6 Feb 2017.

MLA style for Humanities (7th Edition)

MLA released the 8th edition in May 2016. Read MLA's "What's New in the Eight Edition" for changes since the 7th edition. Double check with your instructors to see which edition to use.

Two parts of a citation:

1. In-text citation

  • Author(s) last name
  • Page number(s) on which the cited material can be found (the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses)

Example of In-text citation:

Widdowson mentioned that “A text can be defined as an actual use of language” (20).

Or

“A text can be defined as an actual use of language” (Widdowson 20).

2. Works Cited

  • Sorted by the author name in alphabetical order and be double-space
  • Consistent with the in-text citation

NOTE: Your Works Cited page should have hanging indents for the second and subsequent lines of citations. The hanging indents are not included at below examples because of how this guide displays across different browsers.

Example 1 (Print Book)

Widdowson, H. G. Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Example 2 (Electronic Book)

New, Christopher. Philosophy of Literature : An Introduction. London: Routledge, 1999. EBSCO eBooks. Web. 19 May 2016.

Example 3 (Chapter in an Edited Book)

Jahandarie, Khosrow. "Development of the Literate Mind." Spoken and Written Discourse : A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective. Ed. Olson, David. Stamford, Conn: Ablex Pub., 1999. 113-30. Print.

Example 4 (Print Journal Article)

Wintner, Shuly. "Hebrew Computational Linguistics: Past and Future." Artificial Intelligence Review 21.2 (2004):113-38. Print.

Example 5 (Electronic Journal Article)

Ellis, Nick C. et al. "Formulaic Language in Native and Second Language Speakers: Psycholinguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and Tesol." TESOL Quarterly. 42.3 (2008): 375-96. JSTOR. Web. 20 May 2016.

Citation link on databases

Many databases provide 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:

1. OneSearch  

2. ProQuest

Subjects: Humanities