Finance and Investment
IN-TEXT CITATION AND REFERENCING CHALLENGES:
A CASE OF IAA STUDENTS’ RESEARCH REPORTS
BY ADONIJAH ABAYO
Abstract
In-text citations and referencing are key competencies in all genres of academic writings. Despite their importance, students in higher learning institutions, particularly, the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA) third-year students pay little attention to them when writing their research reports. This article aims at identifying the in-text citation and referencing challenges faced by third-year students; it also accounts for the existence of such challenges. The methodology used was to compare forty randomly sampled research reports against the established norms for citation and referencing. The challenges identified were: plagiarism, poor blending of citations into the text, mismatch between citations and list of references, Inconsistencies in the presentation of lists of references, incomplete citation of the website details, citation of outdated sources, inconsistencies in the citations of authors’ names and lack of reference section. Lack of clear citation and referencing guidelines/ policies by the Institute and lack of attention to these challenges by both lecturers and students were cited as the main reasons for the existence of these challenges. It is therefore recommended that guidelines for citations and referencing be developed by the Institute and great importance, through marks allocation, be attached to citation and referencing in all academic and research- based writings.
1.0 Introduction
Different writing genres call for different writing styles. A research report certainly calls for a different writing style from a poem, a novel, an essay, a letter, etc. Some of the distinctive writing features of a research report include: objectivity in expression, accuracy in facts and figures, verifiability of the information given, reliability of the methods used in data collection and analysis, authenticity of the
A CASE OF IAA STUDENTS’ RESEARCH REPORTS
BY ADONIJAH ABAYO
Abstract
In-text citations and referencing are key competencies in all genres of academic writings. Despite their importance, students in higher learning institutions, particularly, the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA) third-year students pay little attention to them when writing their research reports. This article aims at identifying the in-text citation and referencing challenges faced by third-year students; it also accounts for the existence of such challenges. The methodology used was to compare forty randomly sampled research reports against the established norms for citation and referencing. The challenges identified were: plagiarism, poor blending of citations into the text, mismatch between citations and list of references, Inconsistencies in the presentation of lists of references, incomplete citation of the website details, citation of outdated sources, inconsistencies in the citations of authors’ names and lack of reference section. Lack of clear citation and referencing guidelines/ policies by the Institute and lack of attention to these challenges by both lecturers and students were cited as the main reasons for the existence of these challenges. It is therefore recommended that guidelines for citations and referencing be developed by the Institute and great importance, through marks allocation, be attached to citation and referencing in all academic and research- based writings.
1.0 Introduction
Different writing genres call for different writing styles. A research report certainly calls for a different writing style from a poem, a novel, an essay, a letter, etc. Some of the distinctive writing features of a research report include: objectivity in expression, accuracy in facts and figures, verifiability of the information given, reliability of the methods used in data collection and analysis, authenticity of the
Citations: |A.H Millicamp in his book categorized……… |A.H. Millichamp, (1987) “Auditing”, 4th E.D, DP Publication ltd 12 | | |Romsy Road |This is according to space land and sepe (1998) in their book of |-------------------------------------- | |intermediate accounting… | | |------------------------ |Allan Pizzey (1976), “Financial Accounting” Revised 5th E.D, | | |Von-Hoffman Press Inc |--------------------------- |Prof. Benjamin, (1964), “Auditing” A CPA review, 2nd E.D, John Wiley | | |and sons Inc, New York | |------------------ |K.Gupta (1978) “Contemporary Auditing” 1st ED, TATA Mc Graw-Hill | | |Publishing Co Ltd |The following features have been shown by Norman Et All (1987) |------------------------------------------- | |Marshall, A.H (1974) wrote that…………… |Marshall AH, (1974) Financial Management in local government, George | Dougler P.S. (1992), Business Management, Gower Publishing Ltd. Brief on the East Africa Community by the East Africa Co-operation, 1998. The East Africa Community Development Strategy, 2001-2005 Management concepts and Evaluation second Edition by Emanuel, David Otley and Kenneth Merchant. Saleemi, N.A. (1989); Auditing Simplified, Nairobi: N.A. Saleemi Publishers. The East African Community Development Strategy, 2001-2005. The East African Community Council Report 2001 Longman (1982), Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1st Ed Harlow Long-man Group U.K Yessler S.W. (1999), Fund Management, London Hall International, Inc. b) Management responsibilities relating to cash have been given by Meigh (1976) whereby…… 4.7 Inconsistencies in the citation of authors’ names