Alba English

Materials for Class

Invention - Repeating Citations

Imagine you have three sentences, each with a fact

Medium size dogs like the Shiba usually weigh up to 11kg (Suzuki, 2020). However, smaller ones like the Chihuahua can weigh less than 3 kg. Meanwhile, large ones like the Akita often weigh up to 60kg (Yamashita, 2021).

Question: Where did the 3kg fact come from? Suzuki or Yamashita? Source of facts should always be clear. There are three fixes for this:

Easy Fix 1 - just repeat the citation (not good style)

Medium size dogs like the Shiba usually weigh up to 11kg (Suzuki, 2020). However, smaller ones like the Chihuahua can weigh less than 3 kg (Suzuki, 2020). Meanwhile, large ones like the Akita often weigh up to 60kg (Yamashita, 2021).

Easy Fix - join sentence 1 and 2. Move citation to end of new longer sentence

Medium size dogs like the Shiba usually weigh up to 11kg, however smaller ones like the Chihuahua can weigh less than 3 kg (Suzuki, 2020). Meanwhile, large ones like the Akita often weigh up to 60kg (Yamashita, 2021).

POINT BACK to the previous sentence’s citation

According to Suzuki (2020), medium size dogs like the Shiba usually weigh up to 11kg. This article also notes that smaller ones like the Chihuahua can weigh less than 3 kg. This article also notes that smaller ones like the Chihuahua can weigh less than 3 kg. Meanwhile, large ones like the Akita often weigh up to 60kg (Yamashita, 2021).