Introduction

University students, researchers, and practitioners all write a large number of texts. For the first group mentioned, this includes at least a thesis completed during their studies (of course, students at the bachelor's or master's/engineering level may also publish). For the second and third groups, these include research studies, conference papers, and professional articles. Every year, numerous academic events are organized both in Slovakia and abroad, producing various outputs. Naturally, the requirements for formal formatting and citation techniques can vary — and generally do vary — from one event organizer to another.

Different Texts, Different Events, Different Requirements

If you are writing a thesis, it is always essential to follow the guidelines or internal regulations (usually bearing titles such as "Thesis Guidelines" or "Thesis Requirements Regulations") that every university or faculty typically has. Such documents contain information such as the characteristics of theses or procedures for their submission, as well as formal requirements regarding scope, structure, citation techniques, and the recording of bibliographic references, along with cover and title page templates. These guidelines or internal regulations are generally freely available and downloadable from your faculty or university website. When preparing your bachelor's, master's, doctoral, rigorous, or habilitation thesis, always follow the instructions contained in your faculty's guidelines or regulations. You can generally also apply these guidelines when writing seminar papers or annual assignments completed during the semester for individual courses in your program.

If you are preparing a text for a conference proceedings, journal, or other publication whose editor may not be your faculty or university, the organizer typically publishes so-called author guidelines together with the application for the academic event — these can also be found on the journal's website where you plan to publish. If such guidelines are available, you should always follow them and prepare your text according to the template.

What, however, in the case where it is unclear to you how to formally format the text, or no such template is available? There are international standards that should serve you well. In this article, we will briefly and as clearly as possible describe them.

Basic Types of Professional Texts

Every professional or scientific text can have a different character. While some journals accept only empirical studies, other events — whose output may be, for example, conference proceedings — may also accept review studies — it depends on the nature of the event. The same applies to theses: while a bachelor's thesis may or may not have an empirical section, a master's thesis should have one, and a doctoral or rigorous thesis must have one — here, too, it depends on your supervisor. Professional texts can thus be divided into two major groups:

  • Theoretical or review studies — According to Mareš (2013), these are used primarily at the beginning of research and serve to map out what has been done so far in a specific research area. This is a specific genre of professional literature (see the author's study Review Studies: Their Typology, Function, and Method of Creation, 2013, for further details). A review study may, for example, also have a comparative character. The essential characteristic is that such a theoretical study does not contain your own research results, and
  • Empirical studies — containing research results obtained through qualitative research methods, quantitative research methods, or a combination of both (mixed research design). Since this methodological topic is extensive, we recommend studying, for example, the studies by Mareš–Vlčková (On Methodological Standards for Quantitative Studies in Pedagogy: How to Write About Research Findings?, 2013) and Šeďová–Svaříček (How to Write Qualitatively Oriented Research Studies. Quality in Qualitative Research, 2013), as well as many other methodological publications. As Maczkó (2011, in Tomšik, 2016) states, publishing research results enables new knowledge to spread rapidly around the world.

International Standards for Citations and Bibliographic References

The issue of citations and bibliographic references is addressed by the international standard ISO 690 and ISO 690-2. In our practice, these standards were adopted as the Slovak standard STN ISO 690 Documentation — Bibliographic References — Content, Form, and Structure from 1998, and in agreement with the Czech Republic, ČSN ISO 690-2 Information and Documentation — Bibliographic Citations — Part 2: Electronic Documents or Their Parts also applies in Slovakia, which was translated and adopted in the Czech Republic in 2000. The full texts of these standards are not freely available; they can be purchased (e.g., from the Slovak Institute for Technical Standardization or from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)). However, summaries of these standards by various authors are available, including on the internet. (www.library.umb.sk, cited 2016)

Citation Technique

Citation is the method of presenting quotations, but also paraphrases. It encompasses two aspects:

  • citation ethics — whether and how the author adheres to ethical norms regarding ideas and results contained in other documents and in the literature used, and
  • citation technique — whether and how the author correctly and in accordance with the standard carries out records in cited documents. (Katuščák, 1998, in Višňovský–Brincková–Zólyomiová, 2013)

We have already addressed the issue of citation ethics in the article Publishing Ethics in Theses — Several Tips for University Students (ed. 08.09.2016), which is available on the Prohuman website.

However, before we discuss the various citation techniques, we consider it important to clarify the difference between a citation and a paraphrase. Průcha (2011) states that the function of citations is to document knowledge achieved in a particular issue area. Citation in the proper sense means exact, literal reproduction of a portion of text from another author's work, which is placed in quotation marks (and thereby formally marked), and this source is indicated with the exact bibliographic data. Even more frequently in professional texts, paraphrasing is used. This involves expressing certain ideas or knowledge from another author's work without using literal reproduction, but rather reformulating the information, usually shortening or rearranging it. Paraphrasing is also used for the purpose of condensing or abbreviating the original information of great scope; however, even here, as Průcha (2011) notes, it is always necessary to properly credit the original author of the idea.

Drawing on Knecht–Dvořák (2013), we can add that it is generally true that text taken verbatim must be in quotation marks with the name, year, and page of the document, while paraphrased text need not be in quotation marks, with only the name and year of publication indicated; the page number is not mandatory. However, the authors recommend in both cases identifying the source of information in a way that allows it to be located, i.e., also including the page number in the original document.

The cited text can be linked to a reference to the original source from which you draw in accordance with the ISO 690 standard using one of three in-text citation techniques; all three are equivalent, but in a single document (thesis, study, paper), only one method should be used:

  • numerical reference method — uses a sequential number placed as a superscript¹ or in parentheses (1). If multiple citations from the same document follow each other, they carry the same number as the first citation. In this case, it is recommended to include footnotes for better clarity — they need only list the author, title, and year of publication, and the list of bibliographic references is then ordered by the sequence of occurrence of the author in the text. Example: "citation" (1, p. 25) or paraphrase (1) for the same author, (2) for the next
  • running notes method — uses the same principle as the numerical reference method, except that if a document is cited multiple times, subsequent citations receive different numbers, not the same. Example: "citation" (1, p. 25) or paraphrase (2) for both the same and a different author, but in the list of bibliographic references, each cited document is listed only once, in alphabetical order without numbering.
  • first-entry and date method — the most commonly used in our context. In the text, the first entry (the author's surname or the title of the document) and the year of publication of the cited document, and optionally the page number, are placed in parentheses. Individual items in the list of bibliographic references are listed in alphabetical order and arranged by the first element (surname). Footnotes are not used here. Example: "citation" (Šikovná, 2015, pp. 32-33) or paraphrase (Šikovná, 2015), or you may reference directly within a sentence, for example As Šikovná (2015, pp. 32-33) states "quotation" or According to Šikovná (2015) paraphrase. (www.library.umb.sk, cited 2016)

We can conclude that the first two methods are not as preferred in our context, and this applies even to theses (we reiterate, however, that this depends primarily on the guidelines of universities, organizers, or publishers). Footnotes are more commonly used to clarify or supplement the text.

Method for Recording Data in Bibliographic References

Based on the aforementioned international ISO standards, we can briefly summarize the following basic attributes for recording data in references, providing examples for better clarity:

  • Author's name (authors) is listed in the order SURNAME, First Name. The first name may be abbreviated to an initial. Authors' titles and degrees are not listed. For publications with two and three authors, all authors are listed. Their names are separated by a dash or a comma. If a document has more than three authors, the first author or the first three authors are listed; after the last name, the abbreviation "et al." or "and others" (a i. / et al.) is included. If no author's name is found in the document, this information may be omitted. Example: SURNAME, First Name. or SURNAME, F. SURNAME, F. – SURNAME, F. – SURNAME, F. (or separated by a comma) SURNAME, F. et al. / SURNAME, F. a i.
  • Title and subtitle are listed in the language of the document and in italics. If the document contains titles in several languages, only one (typographically the most prominent) is listed. The subtitle is listed when useful for identification purposes. It is separated from the title by a space, a colon, and a space. The same formatting applies to reports and theses. Example: SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document. SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document : Subtitle. SURNAME, F. Title of the doctoral thesis : doctoral thesis.
  • Edition order is listed only when referencing a monograph as a whole or an electronic document (if indicated). The first edition is not listed, but subsequent editions are, including when changes are associated with the new edition. It is always written in the language and spelling of the work; Arabic numerals and standard abbreviations are used (e.g., ed. (edition)). Example: SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document. We do not list the 1st edition, but: SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document. 2nd ed., revised and expanded.
  • Place of publication, publisher, and year of publication are written in the form as they appear in the document. If a document lists several places of publication or publishers, the typographically most prominent or the first is listed. If these data are not provided in a printed publication, they are replaced by the abbreviations "s.l." or "s.n." (without place of publication, or without publisher). Note — the publisher is not, for example, the printing house where the book was printed, but the institution or organization that published the work. The year of publication is written in Arabic numerals. If it cannot be determined, it is replaced by the year the copyright was granted, the year of printing, or the estimated year of publication in square brackets (e.g., [printed 1975], [c 1970], or [ca. 1996]). Example: SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document. Place of publication : Publisher. Year of publication. SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document. 2nd ed., revised and expanded. Place of publication : Publisher. [printed Year].
  • Volume and issue number of a periodical — listed only when referencing an article in a journal. Both are always written in Arabic numerals. For periodicals, the article title is not written in italics, but the source document (journal) is. Before the title of the source document, the abbreviation "In" is used (meaning "in"). Example: SURNAME, F. Article title in the language of the document. In Title of the journal, year of publication, vol. X, no. X.
  • Extent — for complete works, the last numbered page is listed; for chapters, contributions, or journal articles (i.e., parts of works), the page range is given. Example: SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document. Place of publication : Publisher. Year of publication. X pp. SURNAME, F. Article title in the language of the document. In Title of the journal, year of publication, vol. X, no. X, pp. X–X.
  • Standard number – books have an ISBN number and periodicals have an ISSN number. The ISBN is mandatory for monograph descriptions (books, textbooks), but if it does not appear in the document, it is not listed. For parts of documents and articles (in journals, proceedings, book chapters), the number is not mandatory, but we recommend including it. Example: SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document. Place of publication : Publisher. Year of publication. X pp. ISBN XXX-XX-XXX-X. SURNAME, F. Article title in the language of the document. In Title of the journal, year of publication, vol. X, no. X. ISSN XXXX-XXX. pp. X–X.

Let us present some additional examples of records, this time from the perspective of the source document.

Monograph or part of a monograph (book, textbook, lecture notes): ŠIKOVNÁ, J. et al. How to Write a Thesis. 2nd ed. Nitra : Gaudeamus, 2015. 40 pp. ISBN 80-04-0567-5. ŠIKOVNÝ, M. How to Cite. In ŠIKOVNÁ, J. et al. 2015. How to Write a Thesis. 2nd ed. Nitra : Gaudeamus, 2015. ISBN 80-04-0567-5. pp. 27-40.

Thesis: ŠIKOVNÁ, J. How to Write a Thesis : master's thesis. Nitra : UKF, 2015. 40 pp.

Journal article (print and electronic): ŠIKOVNÁ, J. – ŠIKOVNÝ, J. How to Write a Thesis. In Methodological Journal, 2015, vol. 1, no. 3. ISSN 5524-4789. pp. 27-40. ŠIKOVNÁ, J., ŠIKOVNÝ, J. How to Write a Thesis. In Methodological Journal [online]. 2015, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 27-40. [accessed 2015-12-21]. Available at: www.akonapisatzaverecnupracu/metodologickycasopis.sk

Conference proceedings article (print and CD): ŠIKOVNÁ, J. How to Write a Thesis. In MÚDRY, A. (ed.). 4th International Methodological Conference : Proceedings. Nitra : UKF, 2015. ISBN 80-04-0567-5. pp. 27-40. ŠIKOVNÁ, J. How to Write a Thesis. In MÚDRY, A. – MÚDRA, E. (eds.). International Methodological Conference : Proceedings [CD-ROM]. Nitra : UKF, 2015. ISBN 80-04-0567-5. pp. 27-40.

Standard: STN 22 06789 Citations and Paraphrases, 2015.

Government decree, law: Decree No. 131/1997 Coll. of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic of 7 May 1997 on doctoral studies. Act No. 131/2002 Coll. on Higher Education and on Amendments to Certain Acts.

All data you need when preparing a record can be found on the title page or the copyright page, i.e., the first and last page of the publication.

Method for Recording Electronic Documents We draw much information when preparing texts from sources that are available only or also on the internet. If an electronic document contains all the usual data found in printed publications, the record is made in the same way. The differences are that it is necessary to indicate the type of document immediately after its title in square brackets, e.g. [online], [database], [CD-ROM], and also that since electronic sources may change in their content, it is necessary to provide the exact date, and optionally the time of data retrieval (e.g., [accessed year-month-day]), and the precise location, i.e., the website (e.g., Available at: http://www.X.sk. — for better clarity, the author is in the habit of underlining the website link). Some documents have been assigned a so-called DOI — a permanent identifier for an electronic document that links you directly to the URL address (this is assigned especially to books, journals, and articles on the web). If the document or website does not have page numbers, you may indicate the line or range of lines. Example: SURNAME, F. Title in the language of the document [CD-ROM]. Place of publication : Publisher. Year of publication. X pp. ISBN XXX-XX-XXX-X. SURNAME, F. Article title in the language of the document. In Title of the journal [online], year of publication, vol. X, no. X, pp. X-X, [accessed year-month-day]. Available at: full link or DOI. Title of the website [online], year (e.g., from the date of last update), lines X-X. [accessed year-month-day]. Available at: full link. For electronic sources, the rule is to always try to find as much data as possible that you can include in the record.

International Standard for the Structure of Scientific Articles

One of the most commonly used structures is the IMRaD standard. The word IMRaD is an acronym of English words intended to help better remember the structure of the future text. This standard is applicable to both qualitative and quantitative empirical studies. The individual initials stand for: I = Introduction & Importance M = Methods R = Results a = and D = Discussion

The abstract, as Meško (2005, p. 63) describes it based on the ISO standard, is "a concise, accurate expression of the document's content without additional interpretation of its exposition or criticism, and without evaluative statements by the author of the abstract." The author further distinguishes two types of abstracts — unstructured (written as a continuous paragraph — used primarily in theses) and structured (mirroring the basic division of the document). Based on Meško (2005), we can summarize that the function of an abstract is to identify the document's content, determine its relevance to the reader (deciding whether the reader will read the text at all, thus also serving to engage), and to outline the main points of your text.

The requirement for the length of an abstract may vary (some organizers specify the length in the number of characters) — an abstract may be one paragraph long or several pages. According to the IMRaD standard, however, its content should consist of, as should the entire study: - introduction and significance of the research (25% of the extent) - methods (25%) - results (35%, which is the most important part of the abstract) - discussion (15%). (www.cmu.edu, cited 2016) Example: If your abstract is approximately 10 sentences long, then roughly 2 to 3 sentences should address the introduction and significance of your research, 2 to 3 sentences the methods by which you examined the problem, 4 sentences the results, and about 2 sentences the discussion (the recommendation is approximate only).

  • Introduction and Significance (What is the significance of the research?) Begin by explaining to readers what the problem was that you investigated and why your research is important at all. Convince them that it is important for them to continue reading. In the introduction, clarify the current state of research on your problem, point to a "gap" or issue in this area, and then explain why your research is a timely and necessary solution to this gap. (www.cmu.edu, cited 2016)
  • Methods (What did you do?) Methods are usually described in the past tense, passive voice, with numerous subsections.
  • Results (What did you find?) Results present the findings and outputs of the research. Data can be presented in two ways: stating and commenting. The statement of findings, for example in the form of mathematical-statistical calculations, is included in this section, while their commentary can be carried out in the following section, in the discussion. Make sure that all tables and figures are individually labeled and numbered. The title of a table is written above it, but the title of a figure is written below it. Reference your tables or figures and identify the main trends. Support these trends with the identified data; also identify additional, secondary trends and support them with data. If necessary, state expectations of trends or unexpected outputs. (www.cmu.edu, cited 2016)
  • Discussion (What does it mean?) In the discussion, it is necessary to summarize the main findings, compare or link these findings with those of other studies, identify limitations in the study, and use these limitations as reasons for further, future research. If necessary, state the implications of your findings for policy or practice. In the discussion, explain and compare your results with other research. If it is a qualitative study, confirm or reject the hypotheses. In short, summarize and emphasize what the data mean. (www.cmu.edu, cited 2016)

The described IMRaD standard is not the only existing publication standard. As Mareš–Vlčková (2013) note, there are also other publication standards accepted (also) in educational sciences. The authors mention, for example, the APA standard (American Psychological Association, 2009, see www.apastyle.org), as well as a brief standard for writing research studies published by AERA (American Educational Research Association, 2006) in the journal Educational Researcher.

Conclusion

Mastering citation technique is essential for students from the very beginning of their university studies. Although creating references may seem complicated, there is no need to worry. Over time, this activity will become automatic and will no longer be a problem. Regarding the IMRaD structure presented, as we have repeatedly noted, it is a matter of disciplinary consensus — some disciplines may apply it, others may not. Therefore, always follow the guidelines or instructions of the university in the case of theses, or the author guidelines from organizers or publishers in the case of proceedings, journals, or other outputs. Use international structures when such guidelines or instructions are not available.

However, what applies to every text without exception is one of the rules of Šeďová–Svaříček (2013), which can be applied to any type of text: weave a thin red thread that will run throughout the entire text. Begin weaving it in the introduction and continue through the theoretical foundations, the current state of addressing the issue (introduction and significance), the research project (methods), the interpretation of research findings (results), and through to the discussion and conclusion (discussion), where it culminates. This ensures the consistency and logical coherence of your work.

Author: PhDr. Dominika Kadlubeková, PhD. The author belongs to the youngest generation of Slovak andragogists. Since the academic year 2015/2016, she has been working as an assistant professor at the Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Her profile focuses primarily on the education of convicted persons and those released from imprisonment and probation, professional andragogy and personnel management, adult education methodology, and the methodology of andragogical research. In 2015, she published her first monograph entitled Penitentiary and Post-Penitentiary Education of Adults.

List of Bibliographic References

Citations : Standards Valid for Citations and Bibliographic References [online]. Banská Bystrica : UMB. [accessed 2016-09-18]. Available at: http://www.library.umb.sk/publikacna-cinnost/citacie.html

IMRAD Cheat Sheet [online]. [accessed 2016-09-12]. Pittsburgh : Carnegie Mellon University. Available at: https://www.cmu.edu/gcc/handouts/IMRD%20with%20Examples.pdf

KADLUBEKOVÁ, Dominika. 2016. Publishing Ethics in Theses — Several Tips for University Students. In PROHUMAN. Scientific Peer-Reviewed Online Journal — Social Work, Psychology, Pedagogy, Social Policy, Nursing [online], ed. 2016-09-08. [accessed 2016-09-15]. Available at: http://www.prohuman.sk/pedagogika/etika-publikovania-v-zaverecnych-pracach-niekolko-rad-pre-vysokoskolskych-studentov

KNECHT, Petr – DVOŘÁK, Dominik. 2013. Ethics of Scientific Work and Publishing for Intermediate Learners. In Pedagogical Orientation, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 554-578. [accessed 2016-09-05]. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/PedOr2013-4-554

MAREŠ, Jiří. 2013. Review Studies: Their Typology, Function, and Method of Creation. In Pedagogical Orientation, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 427-454. [accessed 2016-09-12]. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/PedOr2013-4-427

MAREŠ, Jan – VLČKOVÁ, Kateřina. 2013. On Methodological Standards for Quantitative Studies in Pedagogy: How to Write About Research Findings? In Pedagogical Orientation, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 455-477. [accessed 2016-09-14]. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/PedOr2013-4-455

MEŠKO, Dušan. 2005. Abstract. In MEŠKO, Dušan et al. 2005. Academic Handbook. 2nd ed., revised and expanded. Martin : Osveta, 2005. ISBN 8080632006. pp. 63-70.

PRŮCHA, Jan. 2011. Ethical Principles in Educational Research. In SKUTIL, M. et al. Fundamentals of Educational-Psychological Research for Teacher Education Students. Prague : Portál, 2011, pp. 23-44. ISBN 9788073677787.

ŠEĎOVÁ, Klára – SVAŘÍČEK, Roman. 2013. How to Write Qualitatively Oriented Research Studies. Quality in Qualitative Research. In Pedagogical Orientation, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 478-510. [accessed 2016-09-12]. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/PedOr2013-4-478

TOMŠIK, Robert. 2016. Statistics in Educational Research. Application of Comparative and Correlational Methods Using Microsoft Excel [CD-ROM]. Nitra : Faculty of Education, UKF, 2016. 302 pp. ISBN 9788055810270.

VIŠŇOVSKÝ, Ľudovít – BRINCKOVÁ, Jaroslava – ZOLYOMIOVÁ, Patrícia. 2013. Pedagogical Methodology and Its Use in the Creation of Theses. Banská Bystrica : Belianum, 2013. 198 pp. ISBN 9788055705330.