How to cite in Economic papers

How to cite in Economic papers

Economics, like every other university discipline, requires a top level of meticulosity during the construction of its academic papers and/or assignments. However, since economics is not a basic discipline, it could be quite difficult to pinpoint the referencing style that should be used, how and when these citations should take place.

It is important to note that Economics is a social science discipline and like all other social science disciplines, it requires the adoption of the American Psychological Association(APA) referencing style. This article will educate you on all you need to know about citing economic papers, projects or assignments, when to cite and how to cite.

WHEN TO CITE

Academia has been in existence for a very long time. Hence, the theories and topics given to students to write about have, at one point in time or another been equally researched and written about. This is the basic reason why referencing was created, to give credit to the works of others and also to avoid plagiarism.

Therefore, during the course of academic writing, you must cite every time you use the idea of another person, whether directly or indirectly. Note that, citing the words written by a source should not be general knowledge but a specific one.

For example, if the source writes something like “Money is a legal entity”, it does not require any form of referencing because it is general knowledge.

On the other hand, if the source writes something like “Money-in some way, shape or form has been part of human history for at least the last 3,000 years”. It has to be referenced because the source was specific about both the structure of the sentence and the statistical knowledge, which is unknown to most people.

HOW TO CITE

Referencing in APA style, like all other referencing styles, consists of two basic elements namely:

• An in-text citation.
• A list of references.

IN-TEXT CITATION

An in-text citation is a form of referencing that is included in the body of an academic piece. An in-text citation should be used every time the idea of another scholar is directly quoted, summarized or paraphrased in the body of a research write-up. Note that the sources cited in the body of the work ought to be added to the list of references as well.

An in-text citation written in APA style includes the last name of the Author(s) and the year of publication. For example: (Odimegwu,2013). If the authors of the source exceed three, be sure to add ‘et al’ as in (Odimegwu et al,2013).

Words that are directly quoted should include the page number in the citation bracket with the letter ‘p.’, if the pages exceeds one, it will be ‘pp’ . Summarized and/or paraphrased words do not require the page number of the work cited in the citation bracket and the name of the author(s) need not be in the bracket. For example Timothy et al.(2007). Journals, articles, web pages and other materials are referenced the same way in an in-text citation.

However, if the author(s) of the piece is unknown, use the title of the source instead. For example:(Importance of being honest,2013), if the title is too long, use the first few words. Similarly, if the year of publication is unknown, use the term ‘n.d’ instead, it means ‘no date’.

When citing the work of a singular author with different published works, you add the name of the author and the year(s) of publication. For example: (Gibbons, 2012,2015,2020). Similarly, if the source cited is a secondary source, that is a source that has already adopted the work of yet another scholar, both works should be equally cited. For example, Gibbons(1914) as cited in Odimegwu(2020) or (Gibbons 1914, as cited in Odimegwu,2020).

For web pages and articles that do not have page numbers and are directly quoted, you can cite them by doing the following:

• Count the number of paragraphs that were written from the top to the current paragraph where the source belongs.
• Including a distinct word or heading from the paragraph where the source is situated.

For example, if the source begins with the word ‘Meager Bills’ and it is situated in the third paragraph of the article, the citation for a direct quotation will be: (Meager Bills, 2019., para 3).

When citing the work of a singular author with different published works, you add the name of the author and the year(s) of publication. For example: (Gibbons, 2012,2015,2020). Similarly, if the source cited is a secondary source, that is a source that has already adopted the work of yet another scholar, both works should be equally cited. For example, Gibbons(1914) as cited in Odimegwu(2020) or (Gibbons 1914, as cited in Odimegwu,2020).

Note that the way an in-text citation is quoted is the same way it will begin in the list of references, excluding the quotation bracket.

LIST OF REFERENCES

A list of references is the overall list of all the works cited in an academic piece.

The basic information needed for citations in a reference list includes:

• The name of the author(s).
• The year of publication
• The title of the academic piece.
• The source/place where the piece was gotten from.

Additional information could be required depending on the type of material cited.

REFERENCING LIST EXAMPLES

The basic information needed for different materials will be stated accordingly with an example of each.

• BLOG POST

The basic structure includes:

The last name of the author(s), the initials of other names of the author(s)(year of publication, month, day). Title of the blog post. Name of blog. Retrieved from: link to the article.

For example:

Timothy, B., Pius.,S(2019), Inflation in Nigeria today. The money hub. Retrieved from

https://themoneyhub.com/inflation-in-nigeria-today/

• PRINTED BOOK

The basic structure includes:

The last name of the author(s), the initials of other names of the author(s)(year of publication). Title of book. Name of publisher.

For example;

Simon.,C.,et al(2010), Mordern Economics. Cassava Republic Press.

• NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ONLINE

The basic structure includes:

The last name of the author(s), the initials of other names of the author(s)(year of publication).Title. Title of the Newspaper. Column/section. Page number(s). Retrieved from URL.

For example:

Tony.,C(2001). Inflation and Deflation. The Daily Digest. Business Review. Pp.23-25. Retrieved from

http://thedailydigest.com/businessreview/inflation-and-deflation/

• ELECTRONIC BOOK CHAPTER

The basic structure includes.

The last name of the author(s), the initials of other names of the author(s)(year of publication). Title. In initials of the editor, surname(ed). Title(edition, page number, range or volume of chapter) Retrieved from: URL

For example

Stellar.,G., Snipes., W(1990). Faith. In J.T Fellow(ed). Lack of faith(1st.ed.,pp13.30-35).Retrieved from: https://themoneyhub.com/inflation-in-nigeria-today/

Note that the referencing structure for a the chapter of a printed book and an e-book are the same. The publisher of the hard copy will the used in place of the URL.

GENERAL GUIDELINES IN FORMATTING A REFERENCE LIST IN APA STYLE

This includes basic instructions regarding how the list of references should be typed on the computer.

• Begin the list of references on a fresh page, centre and capitalize the title ‘References’.
• All references should be arranged in alphabetical order.
• The whole entry should be double spaced.
• Create a hanging indentation for each entry. This refers to where is the first line of a paragraph is placed on the margin whereas subsequent paragraphs are spaced away from the margin or indented.
• The margin should be set at 1 inch on all sides.
• The most recommended font is ‘Times New Roman’. It should be set at 12pt.