Assessment of In -Text Citations and Referencing Styles Adopted in Theses Submitted to University of Ilorin Postgraduate School between 2010 and 2016
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Date
2020
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International Journal of Research in Library Science (IJRLS)
Abstract
This study assessed in-text citations and referencing styles adopted in theses submitted to the University of Ilorin
Postgraduate School between 2010 and 2016. The objectives of the study were to: identify the number of theses
submitted to the University of Ilorin Postgraduate School according to the faculties and departments; assess the
departmental, faculty and postgraduate school requirements for the submission of doctoral theses; identify the
predominant in-text citations and referencing styles adopted in the submitted theses; examine the accuracy in the
use of in-text citations and referencing styles adopted; ascertain the consistency in the use of in-text citations and
referencing styles adopted; and assess the uniformity in the use of in-text citations and referencing style formats
adopted. The study adopted citation analysis design of the qualitative method. Purposive sampling was used to
select 255 Ph.D. theses out of 683 doctoral theses from 12 faculties and over 50 departments offering postgraduate
programmes in the institution. The document review, checklist, personal observation and interview were the data
collection instruments. Six research questions were answered using qualitative content analysis. The findings
revealed that Faculty of Education had the highest number of Ph.D. theses (203) submitted during the period. There
were variations in the referencing methods used in the theses. However, APA was the most predominantly used
citation formats, though with errors, inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the reference citations, which were found
to have improved in correctness and appropriateness in both the in-text citations and reference since 2015. Also,
there was lack of uniformity in the referencing styles adopted. The study concluded that there was a low quality in text citations and referencing and lack of uniformity in the presentations in the submitted theses. It therefore
recommended the issuance of the University of Ilorin Manual of Styles to provide guides for writing theses and
dissertations, employing all strategies for enforcing compliance.
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TundeShamsudeen AJIBOLA 1 ; AbdulwahabOlanrewaju ISSA 2 Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria1,