Citing with Purpose
Why do we cite? What is the purpose? How can we cite more effectively?
Can you use difference types of citations within a paragraph?
The following is the first paragraph from an article in the most recent issues of the American Sociological Review.
The sentences have been separated and numbered for purposes of this exercise.
Literature Review:
Kreager, Derek A., Jacob T. N. Young, Dana L. Haynie, Martin Bouchard, David R. Schaefer and Gary Zajac. 2017. "Where "Old Heads" Prevail: Inmate Hierarchy in a Men's Prison Unit." American Sociological Review 82(4):685-718. doi: 10.1177/0003122417710462
1. The extraordinary embrace of mass incarceration in the United States has pushed the causes and consequences of imprisonment to the center of sociological inquiry.
2. For example, more than 15 years ago, Wacquant (2001) claimed in an oft-cited article that the hyperpunitiveness endemic to U.S. criminal justice inextricably enmeshed race and criminality such that “‘Young + Black + Male’ is now openly equated with ‘probable cause’ justifying the arrest, questioning, bodily search and detention of millions of African-American males every year” (Wacquant 2001:118).
3. His premise of the fusion of the “dark ghetto” and imprisonment presaged an explosion in punishment sociology focused on incarceration and social inequality (Alexander 2012; Pager 2003; Wakefield and Uggen 2010; Western 2006; Wildeman 2009).
4. This literature culminated in a 2014 National Research Council (NRC) report, The Growth of Incarceration in the United States (Travis, Western, and Redburn 2014), and direct links to criminal justice reform and Black Lives Matter social movements.
Common Types of Citations
“Referencing is a situated practice of recontextualisation where source texts have to be repurposed to fit into a new line of argument” (Badenhorst, 2017).
Where are the names?
Integral – the author’s name is included in the text of the sentence. Often used to highlight the author’s authority on the subject and/or to directly engage with that author’s argument.
Non-integral – authors’ names only appear in the citation. Often used focus on the research and make statements of fact.
How many works are cited?
Single citation – only one work is cited in the citation. Focus is on the unique contribution of this work.
Group citation – multiple works are cited in the same citation. Focus is on the common characteristics or findings of a body of scholarship.
How are the works cited?
Direct quotation – an author’s exact words are used in quotation marks. Often used when the exact language is critical to understanding or the language is the object of inquiry.
Paraphrase – an author’s idea is reworded to fit better within the new context.
Global Summary – an entire work or group of works is briefly described.
Plagiarism – an author’s exact words or ideas are included without proper citation.