Apr 4, 2023 |14 Mins Read

One of the most defining aspects of academic research writing is a demonstration of research-oriented findings. Referring to credible sources and data is made possible through the concept of citations. In this blog, we’ll equip you with citation knowledge across multiple different formats and aid in understanding the purpose of each one. The purpose of citations When you search the definition of the term ‘citation’ on google, you’re met with the following description: a quotation from or reference to a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholarly work. Citing sources has multiple purposes, the primary focus is to give credit to the original author. When writing a specialised research paper, the author will cite external sources when referencing the material in their own work to establish strength, transparency and authority within their research. This positions their work in a specific context to depict their stance in the larger discussion. Citations also serve as an efficient way to provide references to others wanting to explore the subject or even use them within their own academic research papers. Overall, citing establishes an important roadmap in the research process. Why are there different types of citations? Different citation formats are utilised across different disciplines. While it might be convenient to have one universal citation format, it is not possible because different fields focus on unique information within their respective research; this requires citation formats to be tailored to the field’s primary focus. The APA (American Psychological Association) citation format is utilised in social sciences like psychology, sociology, anthropology as well as education. Moreover, the MLA (Modern Language Association) citation format is largely used within humanities and the Chicago citation format is applied in the fields of Business, History & Fine Arts. Finally, the Harvard citation format is primarily used in education. Citing in APA Referencing Format APA (American Psychological Association) referencing style is a widely used referencing style in social science disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, and education. The style is characterised by the use of in-text citations, which typically include the author's last name and the year of publication of the source being cited. The APA style requires a detailed reference list, which includes all sources referenced in the text. The reference list is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name, and each entry provides comprehensive information about the source, including the title, publisher, and publication date. Book: Author, A.A. (Year of Publication). The Title of work. Publisher City, State: Publisher. Journal Article: Last name, Initials. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL Magazine: Author, A.A. (Year, a month of Publication). Article title. Magazine Title, Volume(Issue), pp.-pp. Newspaper: Author, A.A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Magazine Title, pp. xx-xx. Website: Author, A.A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Retrieved from URL Citing in MLA Referencing Format MLA (Modern Language Association) referencing style is a popular method of citing sources used in academic writing, particularly in the humanities. The style is characterised by the use of in-text citations, which typically include the author's last name and the page number(s) of the source being cited. The MLA style also requires a comprehensive list of Works Cited at the end of the document, which includes all sources referenced in the text. The Works Cited page is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name or, if there is no author, by the first word of the title. Book: Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Publisher City: Publisher Name, Year Published. Medium. Journal Article: Author last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Name, vol. Volume, no. Issue, Month Year, Page range. DOI or URL. Magazine: Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Magazine Name Publication Date: Page Numbers. Medium. Newspaper: Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper Name Publication Date: Page Numbers. Medium. Website: Last Name, First Name. “Page Title.” Website Title.Sponsoring Institution/Publisher. Publication Date: Page Numbers. Medium. Citing in Harvard Referencing Format Harvard style referencing, also known as author-date referencing, is a widely used referencing system that originated from Harvard University. It is a method of acknowledging sources of information in academic writing, by citing the author's last name and the year of publication in the text. Harvard referencing style also requires a detailed list of references at the end of the document, arranged alphabetically by the author's last name, which includes all the sources cited in the text. This style of referencing is used in many disciplines, including the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. Journal Articles: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), page reference. If accessed online: Available at: DOI or URL (if required) (Accessed: date). Books: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title. Edition if later than first. Place of publication: publisher. Series and volume number if relevant. Newspaper Article: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper, Day and month, Page reference. Online Newspaper Article: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper, Day and month, Page reference if available. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). Website: Surname, Initial. (Year that the site was published/last updated) Title of web page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). Citing in Chicago Referencing Format The Chicago referencing format is commonly used in the fields of Business, History and Fine Arts. It offers two main citation styles: the notes and bibliography style and the author-date style. The notes and bibliography style involves the use of footnotes to provide brief citations within the text and a corresponding bibliography at the end of the document. In contrast, the author-date style involves in-text citations that include the author's last name and the date of publication. A comprehensive reference list is also required at the end of the document. Journal Article: Author last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume, no. Issue (Month or Season Year): Page range. DOI or URL. Book: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher City: Publisher Name, Year Published. Magazine: Last Name, First Name. Article title. Magazine Title, Month Date, Year of publication. Newspaper: Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper Name, Publication Date. Website: Last Name, First Name. “Page Title.” Website Title. Web Address (retrieved Date Accessed). Citations and referencing bring attention to details within each format. While it is a time-consuming section to fulfill in an academic paper, it’s also an important skill to have as a researcher, to be able to dissect other research papers and build an authoritative and strengthened academic paper with your own research. Understanding which citation format is best suited for your discipline is equally important; this citation pocket guide covered the 4 commonly utilised citation styles which are APA, MLA, Harvard and Chicago. Discover an array of academic resources now on Zendy where you can read through research worry-free because we offer automatic citations across all our books, journal articles, proceedings and more.

Mar 7, 2023 |8 Mins Read

Understanding H-Index The H-index is a metric that measures an author’s productivity by the number of publications that have published their work and the impact of the work based on the number of citations their research receives. In general, authors with a higher h-index score will have produced more research and therefore published more content which, to their peers, creates their reputation of credibility. This quantitative metric was brought about in 2005 by Argentinian-American professor of physics Jorge E. Hirsch to analyse publication data. Finding an author’s H-index There are multiple platforms on which you may find an author’s H-index score. To name a few, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of science etc. However, in this blog, we’ll take you through the process of locating an author’s H-index on google scholar as shown below. Visit Google Scholar Enter the author’s name in the search bar If a profile exists for the author, it will appear at the top of the search results, click the author's name, and their profile page will open. View their h-index on the right side of the screen. Calculating H-Index Score The H-index measures the importance, significance, and impact of research contributions. To calculate an author’s H-index, you’d need to create a list of all publications in which the author has been published and rank them in descending order of the citations his/her work has received. Understanding the H-index of an author is an indication of their credibility, so that brings us to the question: What is a good H-index score? J. E. Hirsch (2005) observes that Noble Prize winners in physics have an average H-index score of 30, this highlights that Noble prize winners are selected with a scientific body of research and a history of contributional impact. This proved that successful scientists do need a good h-index score. Hirsch stated that after 20 years of research; an H-index score of 20 was good, 40 was outstanding and 60 was truly exceptional. Does the H-index score evaluate an author in all important aspects? Undoubtedly, it is appealing to have a singular value that measures an author's productivity and impact. Many committees have opted the H-index as their metric of choice as well. Bordons and Costas (2007) stated that the key advantage of the H-index metric is that it measures the scientific output of a researcher with objectivity. This plays a vital role in making decisions about promotions, fund allocation and awarding prizes. However, there are suggestions that H-index does not take other important variables into account. According to Enago Academy (2022), a higher H-index score does not indicate better quality of research. The article further elaborates that the H-index score does not account for an author’s career stage, research and journal quality and contribution to the scientific community. The score also has potential unintended negative impacts; for example, a younger researcher may not challenge a researcher with a high h-index score and researchers aiming for a higher h-index may only pursue popular fields of science. Furthermore, BiteSizeBio (2021) states that the H-index score does not take into account the number of authors on a research paper. If a paper has 1 author with about 100 citations, this researcher deserves more recognition than a paper that had 10 authors with similar citations. The fluctuation of the H-index score The H-index score does not decrease unless the paper is redacted or deleted. Older papers may continue to gain new citations, and the h-index can potentially increase indefinitely, even after the researcher has stopped actively publishing. What is the difference between H-index and the journal impact factor? The Journal Impact Factor metric is used to evaluate the importance of a journal within its respective field or discipline. In simpler terms, it measures the frequency of citations the average article within this journal receives. On the contrary, the H-index metric is used to measure the productivity and quality of an author’s publications. While they are both measures of research quality, they measure different aspects of research and can therefore not be compared. To conclude, having a good H-index score is impressive. However, every author’s research contrasts with that of another. There are many more aspects to investigate when evaluating a researcher. Discover millions of e-books, journal articles, proceedings and more on Zendy.

Feb 27, 2023 |5 Mins Read

At Zendy, we aspire to make access and discovery of academic research more seamless. We’re excited to announce a suite of new features to the platform: reading lists, read history, and favourites. The process of academic research is often a complex cycle involving large volumes of reading, interpretation, re-reading, and then ultimately shaping a hypothesis. To simplify the cycle of reading and saving academic research, we've developed reading lists and a read history function to help students, researchers, and professionals organise research by project. You can also favourite key articles you want to read later while you search through journals and proceedings. Create personalized reading lists This reading list can be customized entirely by you! You get to arrange your articles, e-books, journals, and so much more, however you may like. You no longer have to search again for what you need; you can pick up right where you left off. Create your reading list tailored to your preferences. Access your read history Read something 2 weeks ago and didn’t add it to your reading list? We’ve got you covered because you can now access your read history! Your read history collates every piece of academic research that you have accessed on Zendy. Favourite research articles while you search Have you ever wanted to create a wish list but for research you come across? You can now do that with our latest favourites feature. You can essentially add articles to read either later or come back to. Quickly find all your favorite research and save time scrolling. As signatories to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) compact, this feature, along with a host of new platform enhancements, is aimed at simplifying the process of research. We've developed our online research library to promote greater inclusivity in the academic spectrum, with over 45 languages and millions of articles from researchers around the world. Explore our range of new tools and academic resources that are in line with our commitment to SDG-4, which is quality education. Use our reading list feature and discover new research now on Zendy.