In-text references should be short so that they do not unduly diminish the readability of the text. For this reason, only the information needed for the reference to be accurately and unequivocally linked to the list of sources/bibliography is indicated in the reference. In other words, the reference functions as the key and the list of sources as the lock. With the right key, the lock opens and leads to the reader to the source of the information. The following rule of thumb is important to keep in mind in order to ensure the key matches the lock: the first word in the in-text reference must be the same as that in the corresponding entry in the list of sources.
Every paragraph in the body text must include a reference if it includes information that is not your own. A similar principle is applied to other pieces of work that do not follow a paragraph structure, such as presentations slides. In principle, each presentation slide should include a reference if the content is not entirely your own.
Concise expression and precise placement provide clarity
Source references are entered in the text after a sentence or paragraph that cites thoughts and ideas that are not your own. The reference entry refers to the author's surname, the year of publication of the work and the page, pages, or the legislation from which the idea was taken. For example, the first name of the author or their initials are not included, nor is the word “page” or the abbreviation “p.”. Links to electronic sources are also excluded from the source reference.
Do not place a comma between the last name and the year of publication, but do include one between the year of publication and the page number. If the citation spans multiple consecutive pages, the page numbers are joined by a dash. An em dash should be used with no spaces between the numbers; e.g. 21–27. If the citation spans several non-consecutive pages, the pages are marked as individual pages with a comma between them. Depending on your source reference, you may also need to combine these two approaches, e.g. (Ruohotie 1998, 31–37, 75, 145).
Sources are not always attributable to a person. In such cases, the body that has compiled the text and the year of publication are included in the reference instead, e.g. (City of Oulu 2018), (Ministry of Education 2019). If the author is unknown or cannot otherwise be found, the name of the source itself can be used. Acts of law and legislation are only cited under the name of the e.g. act in question, its serial number as stated in the statute book, and the year in which it was brought into force.
All content within a piece of writing that is not explicitly referenced in the references is interpreted as the author's own work. In order to avoid confusion regarding authorship, it is very important to clearly indicate the limits of a citation or indirect reference in the details of the source reference entry. This is done through the correct use of punctuation.
When referring only to the sentence preceding the source reference entry, the source reference is immediately placed after the text and a full stop is placed after the reference. It is placed outside the closing bracket.
Rule of thumb: one sentence, one full stop.
When we wish to insert a reference for more than the sentence preceding the citation, we insert a full stop immediately after the last sentence and then insert the citation itself, as if it was a sentence of its own, with its own punctuation. In this case, the full stop for the reference goes inside the closing bracket.
Rule of thumb: multiple sentences, multiple full stops.
No page numbers are required when the material being cited is such that it is dealt with throughout an entire book, or if we wish to mention on a general level that a book has been written on this topic.
Not every source (e.g. URLs or e-mail messages) has page numbers. Naturally, in this case, page numbers do not need to be provided in the reference.
If we cite several of an author’s texts that have the same year of publication, these works need to be differentiated in a clear and simple way. A lower case letter is used alphabetically to do this. Each source is assigned its own lower case letter, which is used for both the source reference and the bibliography entry. If the chronological order of the sources is known, the alphabetical letter order follows the age order. If the chronology is not known, the author can decide on an order for themselves.
If a publication being cited has three or more authors, all of their last names must be stated the first time you refer to the source in question. The last names are separated by a comma, apart from the last two names, which are separated by the & symbol.
When a second reference is made to the same multi-authored text, only the surname of the first author is cited, followed by the term ‘et al.’ (short for 'et alii', which means 'and others' in Latin).
When referring to the same source multiple times in succession, the first reference should include the author, year of publication, and pages as usual. It is sufficient to use the term Ibid. in conjunction with any further mentions of the same source. The Ibid reference can be used across paragraphs within the same section (=paragraphs separated by a single space), but not across a numbered paragraph or chapter.
In the example below, references to the publication of the Ministry of Education and Culture could not have been indicated as a single reference throughout the entire text, as they are separated by the writer’s own words (in blue). In this example, the page number of the Ibid. reference is the same, but it could also be different.
PLEASE NOTE: The Ibid. reference only refers to the previous citation. As such, caution is required when using it in order to ensure that accidental associations are not made when, for example, making changes to the structure of your text. It is a good idea to use full references during the writing and editing stages of preparing a document, and only replace multiple consecutive references with Ibid. during the proofreading phase of the process.
NB: The names of publications and other sources in this guide are for the most part translations of their Finnish counterparts (translated for this purpose only). Therefore it is not possible to find the publications by their names or other indications given here.
Secondary referencing, or so-called second-hand citation, is always the last option.
Original knowledge and information can become distorted when it passes through many hands. That is why, in principle, only original sources are used. However, sometimes the original source is not available or it is prohibitively difficult to obtain. For example, the source may be written in a language that you do not understand. When referring to the original source through a secondary source, the reference information for both sources must be included. If an author you are reading has referenced another text you have not personally seen or accessed, you should not use that citation. Only the sources you have seen or accessed yourself should be included in the list of sources/bibliography: in the example below, this is Heikkinen 2009.
This text is thus interpreted as follows: Virtanen’s discussion of Caesar’s concerns in her 1996 publication is referred to by Heikkinen on page 124 of his publication from 2009. The author was not able to access Virtanen’s publication and has consequently needed to rely on the accuracy of Heikkinen’s interpretation.
Writer-centric citations can add nuance to a text.
One way of referring to a source is to use the writer-centric citation method. When using this method, the citation is reduced to simply the year of publication and any relevant page number(s), and is inserted into the text in brackets immediately after the name of the author.
Writer-centric citation emphasises the source of the information or knowledge being presented. It signals that the statement being presented is precisely the interpretation of the person (or entity) being mentioned. Writer-centric citations can also serve the purpose of emphasising the weight of an opinion and its status. The first time you use such a citation, it is customary to mention the author's first name and even their title. Subsequent, mentions only need to include the author’s surname (and the year of publication and possibly the page number or numbers).
You can also use a writer-centric citation when you want to start a paragraph with a reference and conclude it with another reference or with your own commentary. When doing this, however, one must take into account the aforementioned emphasis and consider whether it fits the context in question. By making small in-text selections, the reader can be shown where the limits of the citation are.
In the example below, the ideas drawn from the sources and the writer’s own reasoning are highlighted in different colours. The black text in the beginning of the paragraph refers to the work of Timonen and the black sentence at the end is a writer-centric citation of the work of the Paavilainen, Rantanen, and Torikka. The remaining text in the middle in bold is the writer's own reasoning.