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Writing instructions

These guidelines for writing are used in all the schools of VAMK, University of Applied Sciences.

Important information about adding citations and references

Each reference cited in the text must be listed in the bibliography. There must be a citation in the text for every entry in the bibliography.

  • Citations refer directly to the bibliography.
  • Readers can check references.

Add citations and references in a consistent manner throughout the text with sufficient accuracy.

Use original sources.

Referencing style

The citation style used in the theses at Vaasa University of Applied Sciences is APA 7, except in the field of Electrical and Automation Engineering, where the Vancouver style is applied.

This guide uses examples and instructions according to APA 7 style. The instruction applies only to the reference style, not the appearance.

Sources are referred to in the text by marking the author's last name, year of publication, page number in parentheses. When referring to the entire text, page numbers are not needed. Instead of the page number, you can add, for example, the chapter number or name, slide number, time stamp of the video or other similar specification to the source mark.

Students of Electrical and Automation Engineering use the Vancouver referencing style.

Referencing in text; guide and examples

When you write text and make a reference to previous research (your source material), you indicate the duration of the citation with small details. The reference shall indicate how much of the text is based on sources. The reference shall be indicated in all the following cases:

  • When you summarize the essence of the source and express it in your own words.
  • When you explain the content of a source in your own words without a condensation goal.
  • When you use a direct quote (i.e., when the original point is expressed so succinctly that it cannot otherwise be said, or you want to comment on the thoughts of another). Direct quotes always use quotation marks.

There are two citation methods, content-oriented and narrative (i.e. author-oriented). It is recommended to use either method to liven up the text. In both citation methods, the pages to which the reference relates exactly are indicated in parentheses. Pages are separated by a short dash, which is longer than a regular hyphen but shorter than a dash. When referring to the entire inscription, page numbers are not required. Instead of a page number, you can add a chapter number or title, slide number, video timestamp, or other similar clarification to the source entry.

In a content-oriented citation method, the names of the author or authors are enclosed in parentheses in addition to the year and page numbers. The example below uses a content-oriented citation method and direct citation:

Artificial intelligence is "a collection of different technologies and applications, from data analysis to machine learning and robotics" (Kopponen, 2019, p. 27).

If there are two authors, the content-oriented approach uses an & inside parentheses. In the example below, the core issue has been summarized from the source in its own words and a content-oriented citation method has been used:

More and more attention has been paid to the usability of mobile devices (Harrison &; Flood, 2015, pp. 368–374).

If there are three or more authors, then already when referring for the first time, only the first author can be mentioned, after which "and others" are written. Example: (Anttila et al., 2022, p. 58).

For example, if you use the same source in the first two sentences of a paragraph and then continue with your own "voice", but then add something from the source you used earlier, you need to rewrite the citation exactly. Likewise, if you still use the same source in the next paragraph, you will again have to mark the source.

The referencing mode in the text indicates the reference to the dimension

If the reference refers to the whole paragraph or more than one sentence, the citation is placed at the end of the last sentence or paragraph after the period. Note that the second dot comes inside the parentheses. In the example below, the content of the source is explained in your own words and the reference applies to the entire preceding paragraph:

There are various ways to strengthen your expert brand. One is to operate in different networks and be actively visible. Communicating about one's own field is also one way. Visibility and communication are therefore central. (Kannasto, 2021, p. 227.)

Please note that this policy differs from the general APA guidelines, where this type of so-called APA guideline is used. A loose referencing style with more than one sentence as the field of reference retroactively is not allowed.

In narrative citation, the author's name(s) is part of the narrative text, with only the year and page(s) in parentheses. In narrative referencing, the conjunction and is used, not the &. The following examples:

According to Harrison and Flood (2015, pp. 368–374), more and more attention has been paid to the usability of mobile devices.

Kannasto (2021, p. 227) examines strengthening the expert brand. According to him, there are different ways to do this, such as working in networks and communicating about one's own field.

Kopponen (2019) deals with robotics in his work.

Note that the example above (Kopponen) does not have page numbers, as it refers to the entire work.  

In narrative referencing, care should be taken to ensure that it is always clear to the reader which part of the text is the author's own and which part of the source. The choice of words in the text can clearly indicate when the paragraph contains the author's own, e.g. "to see", "in my opinion", etc.

Multiple citations

If multiple studies support your statement, include multiple citations inside the same set of parentheses in the same order that they would appear in the list of references:

Studies of reading in childhood have produced mixed results (Albright et al., 2004; Gibson, 2011; Smith & Wexwood, 2010).

Smith and Wexwood (2010) reported an increase in the number of books read, whereas Gibson (2011) reported a decrease. Albright et al. (2004) found no significant results.

List of References

List references in alphabetical order in the bibliography, with publications from the same author listed in chronological order from the oldest to the newest. Publications by the same author published in the same year are separated by the letters a, b, c and so on. All different source types are entered in one alphabetical list.

Each reference includes four elements:

  1. Who is responsible for this work? Author.
    • writer, editor, director, photographer, etc.
    • the reference list is alphabetized according to this element
  2. When was this work published? (Date).
    • with an accuracy of at least one year
    • in more detail in the online material
    • if, for example, the time is nowhere to be found on the website, the expression n.d. is used.
  3. What is this work called? Title.
    • the name of the book, article, book chapter, blog post, picture, etc
  4. Where can I retreive this work? Source.
    • where the source comes from
    • the publisher, journal, edited book, or website
    • if the site name is the same as the author element, there is no need to repeat it
    • DOI and link belong to this element

Ensure that a period appears after each reference element. If a title ends with a question mark, the question mark replaces the period.

However, do not put a period after a DOI or URL because it may interfere with link functionality. For the same reason, do not hyphenate DOI or link yourself, let the word processor you use do it.

Elements in colours. Author. (Date). Title. Source.

Missing elements

Nothing is missing:

Author. (Date). Title. Source.

Author is missing:

Title. (Date). Source.

Date is missing:

Author. (n.d.). Title. Source.

Title is missing:

Author. (Date). [Description]. Source.

Persistent identifiers (PIDs)

Always use a persistent identifier, if one is available, also when referring to printed material. Enter the persistent identifier in the bibliography as a web link, for example like this:

DOI https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-02-2022-3149
URN https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-5784-60-2

If the online material has a persistent identifier, there is no need to separately add information to the reference list that it is an online material or the date when it was viewed, but the reference can be made in the same way as for printed material.

The persistent identifier can be found, for example, with the terms Pysyvä osoite, Permalink or Permanent address.

Terms

DOI - Digital Object Identifier
A handle-based identifier often used by commercial publishers.

URN - Uniform Resource Name
An identifier issued by the National Library, you can find examples in addition to Theseus and Energiaa journal in many publication archives, such as Valto and Julkari.

Handle
Used in some publication archives, e.g. DHanken. Note that the handle found in Theseus' address line is not a persistent identifier!

Regular URLs

If the source does not have a persistent identifier, the source should always be treated with caution.

Do not add the web address or the name of the database if the reader cannot access the source by following the link, or if the link or the name of the database does not add substantial value to the source. For example, no link or database name is added to books in Ebook Central.

If you add a web address, before that add the information when you viewed the source "Retrieved Month dd, yyyy, from".

APA style allows shortened URLs. Because shortened URLs are not guaranteed to last, they may be most appropriate for short-lived works like exercises rather than for theses or other published works.

Restricted access, AI generated content

These sources can be cited in the classroom assignment or thesis because they are recoverable by the instructor and fellow students. Likewise, an employee might cite resources from the company intranet when writing an internal company report.

However, if the work is for a professional publication such as Energiaa journal or intended for a wider audience who will not have access to these sources (i.e., Moodle or the company intranet), cite the sources as personal communications., and leave them out from the bibliography.

The problem with content generated by artificial intelligence, for example, ChatGPT or DALL-E, is that the reader may not reach the same conclusion despite the input being the same. However, you can use it as a source, see APA's instructions.

Reference management programs

With Mendeley, EndNote Basic and Zotero you can

  • save and manage references and documents (e.g. PDF files) from different databases and websites
  • make citations and bibliographies in Word
  • join and share references in different groups

The free versions of Mendeley and EndNote have limited functions and storage.

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