 Hi there, I'm Christopher Shepard. And I'm Adrienne Chang. And we're here to talk to you about how you can integrate your references into your paragraphs. But don't worry, adding citations to essays is not hard when you know how to do it. And doing it right will help you to get higher marks in your assignments. Absolutely. We use references as a way to show your reader where you found your information. It also shows your teacher that you've done your research and understood it. It certainly does, and it can help to show that an expert agrees with what you're saying. It also shows you supporting evidence in your essay. But the trick is, how do you citations effectively? First, let's review the structure of a paragraph. Usually, it starts with a topic sentence. This tells the reader what the paragraph will be about. Then you have your supporting evidence. This would include citations and examples to support the topic sentence. And the paragraph should end with a concluding sentence that links back to the topic sentence and the main idea of the essay. Right, so let's look at an example, shall we? So did the writer do anything right here? Well, yes. There is correct use of quotation marks, and the citation is correctly referenced. Here you can see APA style. And here's IEEE style. But there are quite a few problems. Yes. First, the complete sentence is copied. It is better to only quote the key words. Second, the quotation starts the paragraph and it's not related to the rest of the paragraph. Third, the writer does not comment upon or explain the citation. So now let's look at a good example. Well, as you can see, first this paragraph starts with a topic sentence. We now know what the paragraph will be about. Next, the quotation is integrated into a sentence with only five words quoted rather than a complete sentence. The writer uses according to to introduce the views of others. Another way to introduce the citation is to use a reporting verb, such as point out or believe. But you need to be careful about what reporting verbs you use. Verbs like say and tell should not be used in academic English. Yes, and be careful with claim. If I say that a student claims to have done her homework, but she left it at home, it means I don't fully believe her. Claim is used in a similar way in academic writing. Using less common verbs is another way to enhance your writing. Not only use verbs such as state. Finally, the writer goes on to explain the citation. Remember, your teacher wants to know what you've understood from doing the background reading. Show this by explaining the citation and giving examples to illustrate your explanation. Okay, a few things to remember when using quotations. Use the exact words of the authors and put those words in quotation marks. Try to keep your quotations short. Only quote the most important words. With APA and Harvard referencing style, you need the author, followed by the year, page or paragraph number in round brackets to show where the quote came from. And with IEEE referencing style, you need the author, followed by the reference number in square brackets. And if your quotation is over 30 words, you need to indent it like this. But generally, in your university assignments, you should only have a small number of short quotations. Remember to always check with your teacher or program leader about any specific referencing requirements. The other way to add a citation to a paragraph is to paraphrase the idea of the author. This means you take the idea that someone else has had and you rewrite it in your own words. But remember, this is still someone else's idea, so you still need to reference it. But when you use your own words, it shows that you have understood it better than just using a quotation. Here is an example of the original text. And the paraphrased text below it. Notice how key words and ideas have been rephrased. And remember, you still need to cite the authors. So far, we've looked at integral citations. This means a citation that is part of a sentence. We often use integral citations when we want to highlight the author. With integral citations, you need to introduce it using a reporting verb such as argue or an introductory phrase such as in the view of. However, if you want to highlight the information in a paragraph, then you can use a non-integral citation. As you can see in this example, the information is more important than the author. So author details are put in brackets at the end of the sentence. With the APA or Harvard style, it's done this way. And with IEEE style, you just need the reference number in square brackets like this. There are many ways you can integrate citations into your work, and it will always depend on the sentence grammar and the information. If you're still stuck, don't forget you can always ask the staff in the sill for help. Or you can ask your teachers. And remember to look at the online referencing guides. We hope this has helped you to understand how you can use references in your writing. Use this information well, and your academic writing will improve a lot. Good luck. Bye.