Module 2b —
Report Writing
| Course Guide | Module 1 | Module 2a | Module 2b |
Using references and citations
Many if not most reports are supported by references and citations. In such cases, it is not uncommon to refer to previous studies or reports to bolster your own arguments or conclusions. A well researched report often uses the work of others to provide some background to the issue that is under consideration. As a report writer, you need to alert your reader when you are using the ideas or words of another author. The way to do this is through citations and reference lists.
Citing an author simply means acknowledging their words or ideas within your text. For example:
“Human resource management emphasizes fairness and distributive justice, especially to enhance organizational performance (Folger and Cropanzano, 1998).”
In this example the writer acknowledges that the description of human resource management is not an original idea, but is borrowed from the authors Folger and Cropanzano. For an in-text citation, it is enough to provide the name of the author(s) cited followed by the year of publication. Full details of the source document are provided in the reference list.
Following are some examples of how citations are used in the text itself and in a reference list, using the Harvard style.
| In-text citation |
Reference list entries |
Human resource management emphasizes fairness and distributive justice, especially to enhance organizational performance (Folger and Cropanzano, 1998). |
Folger, R and Cropanzano R, 1998, Organizational Justice and Human Resource Management, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage. |
They tend to be what McEvoy (1999) calls social-community movements. |
McEvoy, A 1999, ‘The relevance of theory to the safe schools movement,’ in R R Verdugo (ed.), Quality Schools, Safe Schools, Special Issue of Education and Urban Society, vol. 31, 275-285. |
For published documents, all citations need to be confirmed in the editorial process. It makes the editors’ work a lot easier if the citations and references are all clearly marked and sourced properly according to an accepted reference style.
For ILO reports, Official Documents (OFFDOC) recommends the Harvard style of referencing. The resources page of this course provides a more detailed list of variations of reference entries using the Harvard style. Please consult this document when you are writing your report. It is better to implement the style as you write your report rather than leave it all for the end.