Citation in the text

- When adopting foreign thoughts for your text, cite the primary source in the text!

- Refer to second-hand quotes with the words 'cited after ...'

- Cite scientific sources (scientific journals, scientific books, proceedings of scientific conferences); only very rarely use non-scientific sources (figures etc. from press, consulting reports, company websites, blogs)

- Positioning of references

    -- If a reference refers to a single word or group of words, place the reference directly behind the word or group of words and before a punctuation mark that may follow

    -- If a reference refers to a sentence or a part of a sentence separated by a punctuation mark, place the reference before the closing punctuation mark

    -- Avoid references to entire passages of your text if possible

- Formatting of references

    -- For in-text citations, use the format (last name(s), year). If there are more than two authors, mention only the first author's last name followed by 'et al.'

    -- Always put the year directly after the author, i.e. (Mueller, 2021) or "Mueller (2021) says" - NEVER "Mueller says"

    -- Exact page references ONLY, but then mandatory, for direct quotes, NEVER: f. or ff.

    -- No 'cf.', no 'see'

    -- No literature reference in footnotes

    -- Rare use of footnotes - never for references, if necessary for commenting additions

    -- No 'ebd.', 'ibid.', etc.

- Figures and tables

    -- Do NOT copy pictures into your document. Instead, create all figures and tables by yourself in Word, PowerPoint etc!

    -- Figures and tables ALWAYS require an exact page reference, either (Source: Own analysis) or (Source: after Meier 2000, p. 17) and if entirely reproduced (Source: Meier 2000, p. 17)

Reference List

- Always single-spaced

- No empty lines

- Alphabetic order (1st criterion: 'last name of first author', 2nd criterion: 'year')

- List of all sources cited in your work with complete bibliographic information

- List only references referred to in the text

- Author names without academic titles or the like

- Only initial of the first name per author - no middle initials!

- Period at the end of each reference

- Language of reference list SAME AS language of text

- Citation formats in the bibliography

o  Articles in journals: Author(s) last name, initial first name. (year) title of the article, title of the journal, volume (issue of the journal), first-last page of the article.

    Example: Markus, M., Loebbecke, C. (2013) Commoditized Digital Processes and Business Community Platforms: New Opportunities and Challenges for Digital Business Strategies, Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), 37(2), 649-653.

o  Books: Author(s) last name, initial first name, alternatively the editor(s) with addition (eds.) (year) title, and if applicable: edition, publisher, location(s).
Example: Klein, S., Loebbecke, C. (eds.) (2001) Interdisziplinaere Managementforschung und -lehre - Chancen und Herausforderungen, Gabler Publishing, Wiesbaden, Germany.

o  Chapter in edited book: Author(s) last name, initial first name. (year) title of chapter, title of book, publisher's last name, initial first name. (eds.), if applicable: edition, publisher, location(s), first-last page of the chapter.
Example: Loebbecke, C., Schepers, S. (2013) European Innovation Policy and Political Processes in the Light of Information and Communication Technologies, in: Wettbewerb und Regulierung in Medien, Politik und Märkten, Dewenter, R., Haucap, J., Kehder, C. (eds.), Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden, Germany, 99-113.

o  Dissertations and Bachelor/Master/Diploma theses cited in the same format as books - Attention: non-published work NOT citable

o  Online sources: Author(s) last name, initial first name. (year) title of source, book, journal, page references etc., URL, accessed on YYYY-MM-DD. Online sources are only acceptable if a paper version is not available. Scientific sources are cited via journal references including page numbers, not just an URL

- Using words or ideas from another author's intellectual property without reference is considered a violation of intellectual property rights and copyright and could lead to failing the exam or module corresponding to your thesis!