Referencing methods and free reference managers for dissertation work

Dr Mansoor Ali

Referencing methods in post graduate dissertation.
Vancouver style is the most accepted referencing method in Indian Universities for post-graduation.

Use only Standard text book and websites. Wikipedia is not accepted and reliable as far as medical information is concerned.

Methods

• Arrange your list chronologically
• Number all references
• List the first 6 authors followed by ‘et al.’ if there are more than 6 authors
• Use official abbreviations for titles of journals
• Reference list always begins on a new page.
• Superscript after the full stop.1
• Round brackets – before the full stop (1).

Book reference
Surname Initial(s). Book title. Edition – if available. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.

Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM, Moore PK. Pharmacology. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2003

Remember the position of  : . , : ;  too important.

Journal article
Surname Initial(s). Title of article. Journal title/or title abbreviation. Year; volume(issue):page(s). DOI – if available

Leurs R, Church MK, Taglialatela M. H-antihistamines: inverse agonism, anti-inflammatory actions and cardiac effects. Clin Exp Allergy. 2002 Apr;32(4):489-498

Example : 2002 Apr;32(4):489-498

32 stands for volume, usually in a year 1 volume

(4) stands for issue – Quarterly –  4^th issue

489-498 means pages

Dissertation and master thesis
Surname Initial(s). Title [type of publication]. Place: Publisher; Year.

Hasund IK. The discourse markers like in English and liksom in Norwegian teenage language : a corpus-based, cross-linguistic study [dissertation]. Bergen: Universitetet i Bergen; 2003.

Editor(s) or compiler(s) as authors
Beers MH, Porter RS, Jones TV, Kaplan JL, Berkwits M, editors. The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy. 18th ed. Whitehouse Station (NJ): Merck Research Laboratories; 2006.

Web page
Author. Title [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Date of publication [date updated; cited date].

Drug-interactions.com [homepage on the Internet]. Indianapolis: Indiana University Department of Medicine; 2003 [updated 17 May 2006; cited 30 May 2006]. Available from: http://medicine.iupui.edu/flockhart/

Image from internet
McCourtie SD, World Bank. SDM-LK-179 [image on the Internet]. 2009 Apr 29 [cited 2009 Jun 14]. Available from:  ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/3486672699/

Source: http://www.ntnu.no/viko/english/papers/vancouverlist

Referencing Online
You can do all the above referencing online by a single click

Mendely  & Zotero  are two accepted free tools available online incorporated in word also.

Zotero  is free, work with word, simple, word processor plug-in – an open source software.

Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network. Make your own fully-searchable library in seconds, cite as you write, and read and annotate your PDFs on any device

Download : from www.zotero.org or www.mendeley.com

Video tutorial on how to use this simple tool available at youtu.be/4AcPaYVxHaw

Data Entry & Correction methods
Data Entry : Excel & Word

Correction is easy with Microsoft Word
Take Review section -track changes – accept-reject-comment-reviewing pan

Statistical software
Statistics is the most difficult part to many homoeopaths and medical students. You can opt the service of a statistician or utilise this simple tools.

• Epiinfo
• SPSS
• Nmaster

All these softwares are free – but SPSS is the most user friendly and simple.

References

1. Ananatha Krishnan N:medicaal postgraduate dissertation a step by step approach.India:Wolters Kluwer;2013
2. Munir Ahammed R : Research Methodology.Bangalore: Centre for Homeopathic Studies;2005
3. Writing a reference list in the Vancouver style:VIKO; [Published 29.04.2011;Cited on 30-04-2016].Available from http://www.ntnu.no/viko/english/papers/vancouverlist

Dr Mansoor Ali K R BHMS,MD(Hom)
Associate  Professor- Govt. Homeopathic Medical College, Calicut
Email : homoeobook@gmail.com