Chapter 4 Literature
There are numerous online sources for searching scientific literature, such as jstor, sciencedirect or ideas. Relationships between papers, authors or subtopics can easily be visualized by using conntectedpapers or vosviwer.
In general, we prefer using newer literature over older literature, and academic journal articles over books. Keep in mind that some publicly available sources (e.g., Wikipedia/news articles) have not gone through a strict review process compared to academic journals. This means that they might be unreliable or biased and should only be used with caution. Refrain from using mere online sources unless you are referring to news articles and current phenomena.
Unless your topic is very narrow, it is advisable to cite from leading journals and scientists. Journal rankings such as the Scimago Journal Ranking or VHB Journal Ranking can provide a good overview of highly relevant journals in your field. Keep in mind that journal articles are oftentimes too specific to be extensively cited within a seminar or bachelor thesis. When writing seminar papers and bachelor theses, books should be your primary source of generating a broad background knowledge about the topic. You can and should extend statements with results found in journal articles.
To keep track of your literature, you can chose between either utilizing a literature software (e.g. Citavi or JabRef), or manually citing and keeping track of your references.
4.1 Citations
Citing academic papers accurately is crucial for acknowledging the sources of information and ideas used in your own work. Different citation styles exist, each with its own set of rules and formats. The most common citation styles include APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), and Chicago. And you can cite sources in a direct or in an indirect form.
In general, indirect citations are preferred. They are also known as paraphrasing or summarizing, and involve expressing the ideas or information from a source in your own words without directly quoting the original text. When you use an indirect citation, you still need to provide a citation to acknowledge the source of the information. By contrast, direct citations (or “quotes”) involve reproducing or copying a portion of the original text word-for-word into your own writing. When you use a direct citation, you must enclose the quoted text within quotation marks and provide a precise citation to indicate the source.
You might wonder how many citations you would need for your paper. For scientific papers of all kinds, the rule of thumb is at least one new (better two) source(s) per page. A paper of 10 pages should therefore be based on at least 10 (better 20) unique sources. However, using a variety of different sources enhances your understanding about the topic and allows you to generate a more comprehensive overview of your research topic.
We use the author-year system for citations. The author-year citation style is commonly used in various academic disciplines. Using the author-year system, the author’s last name and the year of publication are included in the in-text citation, while a full corresponding citation is provided in the reference list at the end of the document. The in-text citation style is not dependent on the type of publication (journal articles, conference papers, books, etc.), but rather determined by the number of authors in the source.
4.1.1 Direct Citations
Keep the usage of direct citations to a minimum.
If you are quoting a long sentence or paragraph, consider centering the quote on the page and putting it into a separate paragraph. Quotation marks are used to indicate that you are citing a complete thought. Direct quotations require citations with precise page numbers.
Example:
“While lower monitoring costs for investors can be beneficial for important aspects of liquidity supply and demand, heterogeneous monitoring costs could also impose information asymmetry on slower traders. Slower traders face adverse selection if faster traders have an information advantage due to access to better and more current information about market conditions” (Hendershot and Riordan 2012, p. 1021).
Additionally, you can directly quote single pieces of information in a sentence.
According to Hendershot and Riordan (2012), “Trades represent liquidity demand and are arguably the most important events in limit order markets” (p. 1008).
In this example, the phrase “Trades represent liquidity demand and are arguably the most important events in limit order markets” is directly quoted from Hendershot and Riordan’s work, and the page number is provided to indicate the specific location of the quote within the source.
4.1.2 Indirect Citations
The vast majority of your citations within your thesis should be of indirect nature (therefore, paraphrased). The following examples illustrate how an indirect citation can be used with different numbers of authors and different sources. Additionally, we show how a citation can be formulated at the end of the sentence.
Example:High frequency trading can be considered […] (Riordan, 2022)
High frequency trading can be considered […] (Riordan and Hendershott, 2022)
High frequency trading can be considered […] (Riordan et al., 2022)
High frequency trading can be considered […] (Riordan et al., 2022; Hendershott, Brogaard and Riordan, 2014)
Starting from three authors we indicate additional authors of the source with the suffix et al.. When referring to multiple authors, order the entries chronologically (with increasing publication year) and separated by semicolons. Citations with precise page numbers are necessary if you are referring to a specific statement made within the source. Citations with precise page numbers are not necessary when referring to the paper on a more general level, e.g. referring to methodology, results and findings.
Alternatively to a citation at the end of the sentence, citations can also be put directly into the sentence by following the same logic as in the preceding example.
Example:According to Riordan (2022) high frequency trading […]
According to Riordan and Hendershott (2022) high frequency trading […]
According to Riordan et al. (2022) high frequency trading […]
According to Riordan et al. (2022) and Hendershott, Brogaard and Riordan (2014) high frequency trading […]
4.2 Reference List
The reference list is sorted alphabetically. Make sure to check your bibliography entries for consistent capitalization. For articles with two authors, names are separated by a comma in the end reference but by “and” in the in-text reference.
For articles with three to ten authors, list all authors in the reference list; in the in-text reference, list only the first author, followed by “et al.”
Journal Article:SurnameAuthor1, ShortNameAuthor1 & SurnameAuthor2, ShortNameAuthor2 (Year). Full Article Title. Full Journal Name, Volume(Issue):PageStart-PageEnd.
Brogaard, J., Hendershott, T., & Riordan, R. (2014). High-Frequency Trading and Price Discovery. Review of Financial Studies, 27(8):2267–2306.
SurnameAuthor1, ShortNameAuthor1 (Date). Title (Working Paper No. XX). Institution.
SurnameAuthor1, ShortNameAuthor1 (Date). Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher. Extent. Notes.
Title of Homepage (Date of publication). Edition. Place of publication: publisher; [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.