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Databases UAS

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Examples of references

The reference of a book source follows the basic formula: 1) The name of the author and the year of publication. 2) The full title (including the subtitle). 3) Details of the publisher in the form “The publisher’s domicile: the name of the publisher”.

Greetham, B. 2019. How to write your undergraduate dissertation. 3rd edition. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Kananen, J. 2013. Design research (applied action research) as thesis research: A practical guide for thesis research. Jyväskylä: HAMK University of Applied Sciences.

It is unnecessary to mention it explicitly in the reference list if the source is an ebook that can be accessed only by logging in to the library database.

If there are several authors in the source, all of them are listed in the same order as the names appear in the source book.

Linstead, A., Helin, J. & Harding, N. 2020. Writing differently. Bingley, England: Emerald Publishing.

When the source is not an ebook but a book that can be freely read online, a permanent link to the work (e.g. URN/DOI) is added at the end of the reference if one can be found. If there is no permanent link, the URL is used. 

Mört, M. & Sääski, S. 2022. Guidelines for reliability testing on circuit level. Rovaniemi: Lapland University of Applied Sciences. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-316-405-5.

Tourism, nature and sustainability 2018. A review of policy instruments in the Nordic countries. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1209894/
FULLTEXT01.pdf.

Scientific article (journal article)

Custódio Santos, M., Ferreira, A., Costa, C. & Santos, J. A. C. 2020. A model for the development of innovative tourism products: From service to transformation. Sustainability, 2020, 12(11), 4362. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114362.

Plaskoff, J. 2017. Employee experience: The new human resource management approach. Strategic HR Review, Vol. 16 No. 3, 136–141. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-12-2016-0108. 

When the source is a scientific article, a permanent link to it (URN/DOI) is added at the end of the reference if one can be found. If there is no permanent link, the URL isused. Before the link, the accessed date, i.e. the time when the source in question was referred to in the text, must be mentioned.

An article in an edited book (a compilation as a source)

Fossgard, K. & Fredman, P. 2021. The nature-based tourism product. In P. Fredman & J. Haukeland (Eds) Nordic perspectives on nature-based tourism: From place-based resources to value-added experiences. Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar Publishing, 208220. 

Tunkkari-Eskelinen, M., Matilainen, A. & Asunta, J. 2014. Customer insight as a driving force for development of sustainability elements in rural tourism. In J. Suni & R. Komppula (Eds) International conference on rural tourism and regional development, 5666. Accessed on 7 April 2022 http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-61-1416-3.

Serial publications, reports and committee reports

National core curriculum for early childhood education and care 2018 2019. Regulations and guidelines 2018:3c. Helsinki: Finnish National Agency for Education.

National programme on ageing 2030 2020. For an age-competent Finland. Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2020:38. Accessed on 22 April 2022 http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-00-8431-8.

Sipilä, J., Aminoff, P., Aho, K. J., Hasu, J., Ikäheimo, J., Lounasmeri, S. & Mäkynen, J. 2022. Vision 2030. Towards a responsible and competent ownership society. Publications of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment 2022:9. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-327-646-8.

The reference is formed as follows: 1) The name of the author and the year of publication. 2) The title of the article. 3) The name of the publisher and the exact date of publication.

Popularised articles rarely have a permanent link (URN/DOI), but if one can be found, it should be primarily used. If there is no permanent link, the URL is used. Before the link, the accessed date, i.e. the time when the source in question was referred to in the text, must be mentioned. If the source requires logging in to a database (cf. an ebook), no link is added to the reference. In the following examples, the second is an electronic article requiring a login, and the third is an article that can be freely read online.

News, columns, expert blogs and the like of different organisations are entered in the reference list in the same way if they have a named author:

Newspaper and magazine articles

García-Rosell, J.-C., Koljonen, S., Kähkönen, O., Maijala, V., Majuri, K., Ojuva, J., Raasakka, E. & Äijälä, M. 2018. Animal welfare in tourism services: Examples and practical tips for the well-being of animals used for tourism in Lapland. Lapland UAS: Rovaniemi. Accessed on 25 April 2022 https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-316-247-1.

Mitchell, A. 2022. Think like a bear. Canadian Geographic 11 April 2022.

Parkes, L. 2022. 10 travel firms turning green: New initiatives to boost sustainability. The Guardian 21 April 2022. Accessed 22 April 2022 https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/apr/21/10-travel-firms-green-new-initiatives-to-boost-sustainability-eco-travel.

Koponen, E. 2020. People need help quickly in times of crisis. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 28.10.2020. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://stm.fi/en/-/people-need-help-quickly-in-times-of-crisis.

Lehtonen, H. 2021. Circular bioeconomy should be planned in synergy with wider sustainability transitions. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) 10.12.2021. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://www.luke.fi/en/blogs/circular-bioeconomy-should-be-planned-in-synergy-with-wider-sustainability-transitions.

Needle, F. 2021. What is content intelligence? HubSpot 28 October 2021. Accessed on 2 February 2022 https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-intelligence.

There are many online sources which, despite the lack of author information, can be used as sources for theses. These include the website content of companies, organisations or ministries, as well as press or news releases. This content can be referred to as online sources without an author, as the content is not personalised to a single author, but the content of the page represents the view of the entire organisation. The reference is written in the following form: 1) The name of the publisher and the publication year. 2) The title of the page used. 3) The date of reference and a direct link to the source.

Lapland University of Applied Sciences 2021. Thesis. Accessed on 1 December 2021 https://www.lapinamk.fi/en/Students/Study-Guide,-Degree-Programme-Students/Thesis.

Ministry of Education and Culture 2021. Higher education institutions, science agencies, research institutes and other public research organisations. Accessed on 1 December 2021 https://okm.fi/en/heis-and-science-agencies.

Stora Enso 2021. Towards a circular bioeconomy. Accessed on 1 December 2021 https://www.storaenso.com/en/sustainability/circular-bioeconomy.

Suomen Yrittäjät 2021. Entrepreneurship in Finland. Accessed on 1 December 2021 https://www.yrittajat.fi/en/yrittajat-organization/information-about-yrittajat/entrepreneurship-in-finland/.

Similar websites of companies, organisations, associations or others may also contain other content that is not tied to one person, such as newsletters. The same method of citation is applied to these sources: 1) The name of the publisher and the publication year. 2) The title of the page used. 3) The date of publication of the content. 4) The accessed date and a direct link to the source. If the source contains a clear indication of the source type (e.g. release), this information may be added before the date of publication.

Ministry of Justice 2022. All companies, cooperatives and associations to be given the possibility to organise virtual meetings. Press release 21.4.2022. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-/1410853/all-companies-cooperatives-and-associations-to-be-given-the-possibility-to-organise-virtual-meetings.

Stora Enso 2021. Plastic-free packaging with an artisanal flavor. 21 October 2021. Accessed on 1 December 2021 https://www.storaenso.com/en/newsroom/news/2021/10/plastic-free-packaging-with-an-artisanal-flavor.

An online source without an author refers specifically to a certain kind of content found on the site, not to the publisher of the site itself. For example, the websites of ministries include content without authors, as well as various reports, studies, news and expert blogs whose references are written in accordance with the guidelines for the source types in question. The following examples illustrate different source types found on the same publisher’s website:

Haatainen, T. & Pihlman, M.-R. 2021. Local government pilots offer lessons on cooperation and joint development. Blog 17.11.2021. Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://tem.fi/en/blog/-/blogs/local-government-pilots-offer-lessons-on-cooperation-and-joint-development-1.

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment 2022. New e-training tool to help increase diversity in public administration. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://tem.fi/en/-/new-e-training-tool-to-help-increase-diversity-in-public-administration-.

Strategy for social enterprises 2022. Publications of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment 2022:5. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-327-586-7.

Statistics may also be included in the reference list in accordance with the practices of an online source without an author unless they have a named author.

Eurostat 2021. Being young in Europe today – health. Accessed on 2 February 2022 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Being_young_in_Europe_today_-_health.

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) 2022. Domestic waterborne traffic. February 2022. Helsinki: Statistics Finland. Accessed 25 April 2022 https://stat.fi/en/publication/cktyerxyo26ll0c589twmoy9p.

Statista 2021. Media usage in an internet minute as of August 2021. Statista Research Department 6 October 2021.

Bachelor’s or master’s theses should not be used as theoretical sources for the knowledge base. However, it may sometimes be appropriate to mention other bachelor’s or master’s theses that have been written on the same topic, for example. In turn, a dissertation is a scientifically peer-reviewed study, so it is suitable as a source for the knowledge base. For this source type, the reference should include the level of the work and the educational institution after the basic information (author, year of publication, title), as shown in the following examples.

Kuure, E. 2020. Service design workshops in design practice. Dissertation, University of Lapland. Accessed on 21 April 2022  https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-235-1.

Nissilä, V. 2019. Environmental responsibility in meeting and conference arrangements. Case Arctic Council’s ministerial meeting. Bachelor’s thesis, Lapland University of Applied Sciences. Accessed on 21 April 2022 https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019092619275.

Nousiainen, M. 2022. Mundane mobilities in mundane places? The role of proximity tourism in place attachment in the rural north. Master’s thesis, University of Lapland. Accessed on 2 May 2022 https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022021519287.

In the case of acts, the full name of the act, as well as number and year, and possible date, are entered in the reference list. These are entered in the reference list as they appear in the act in question. It is recommended to use a permanent link to the current legislation in Finlex, and this link is placed after the date of reference. This citation method is also applied to regulations and other similar source types.

Maritime Act 674/1994. Accessed 4 May 2022 https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1994/en19940674.

Universities of Applied Sciences Act 932/2014. Accessed on 2 February 2022 https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2014/en20140932.

Similarly, data on different standards, materials in the RT card index and other such sources are recorded in the reference list. For these, the reference starts with the identification number of the standard/card and the year of its publication or confirmation. This is followed by the title of the source and the publisher’s information. The link is not mentioned for e-resources that require a login.

ASTM E2468-05(2018). Standard practice for metadata to support archived data management systems. ASTM International [ASTM].

RT 16-10660 en 1999. General conditions for building contracts. YSE 1998 document. Rakennustieto Oy.

SFS-EN 13306:2017. Maintenance. Maintenance terminology. 3rd edition. Finnish Standards Association SFS.

If necessary, emails and various oral sources can also be used as sources in a thesis. However, the consent of the person who is used as the source is always required to refer to the content of an oral interview or an email in a thesis. In the case of public oral presentations (e.g. presentations in a seminar, podcasts), this consent is not required. These sources are treated as public written sources.

When using oral sources, the reference is formed using the following elements: 1) The person’s name and the year. 2) The organisation the person represents. 3) The person’s title/rank/position. 4) Indication of the source type (interview/discussion/lecture, etc.) and possible title and date of the source.

Beaton-Moscatelli, C. 2021. UK market insights and market update. Presentation by the Market Representative UK & Ireland International Operations at the webinar “Outlook on tourism industry in the UK and the USA” on 25 May 2021. Accessed on 22 April 2022 https://www.businessfinland.fi/ajankohtaista/tapahtumat/visit-finland/2021/outlook-on-tourism-industry-in-the-uk-and-the-usa.

Fry, H. 2021. Hannah Fry on the power and perils of big data. Podcast: The Life Scientific on 7 September 2021. BBC.

Pentikäinen, P. 2020. Nordic Development Oy. Presentation by the CEO at the “Pohjoista osaamista” seminar on 13 May 2020.

Rogers, W. 2021. Company Ltd. Interview with the Account Manager on 12 July 2021.

Sometimes a video itself can be a source rather than the expert who appears in the video. If the source is a video, follow the basic reference formula:

A strict no to all forms of exploitation 2022. TEMvideot 22 April 2022. Accessed on 24 April 2022 https://youtu.be/t7LLQt7SExs.

An expert interview or an interview with the commissioner can in some cases be conducted by email. The reference for an email is formed as follows: 1) The name of the email sender and the year of sending. 2) The subject of the email. 3) Indication of a private email and the time of sending. 4) The name of the email recipient.

Kangasniemi, U. 2021. About the thesis presentation. Private email dated 11 September 2021. Email recipient: Sam Student.

Examples of in-text citations

If there is one author, the author’s surname, the year of publication and page numbers are included in the in-text citation. If an in-text citation is made to several parts of the same work, the pages are marked as a page range or separated by a comma. When indicating a range, an en dash (–) is used without spaces between the en dash and both ends of the page range.

(Jennings 2010, 79) or

(Jennings 2010, 79–80, 92), if the reference applies to several pages.

If works published in different years by the same author are used in the same reference, the sources are separated by a semicolon:

(Kananen 2011, 158–160; 2013, 120)

If there are two authors, both authors are included in the reference, regardless of whether the source is referred to for the first time or the second time. Surnames are separated by an “&” with a space on both sides:

(Coughlan & Cronin 2017, 55)

If there are three to five authors, all surnames are written in the reference when the source is referred to for the first time:

(Stienmetz, Kim, Xiang & Fesenmaier 2021)

In later references, only the first surname and an abbreviation “et al.” are included. If there are six or more authors, the “et al.” abbreviation is already used when the source is referred to for the first time:

(García-Rosell et al. 2018, 12)

If information from more than one source is collected for the same section of text, different sources can be marked in the same in-text citation primarily in the order of publication. The references are separated by a semicolon:

(Jennings 2010, 54; Richards 2021, 106)

If the author of the source publication is not named, the text reference includes the first section of the reference (the name of the publisher or the title of the source), the year and the page(s) or, in case of ebooks without page numbering, the heading of the chapter used:

(National core curriculum for early childhood education and care 2018 2019, Chapter “Transversal competences”)

(Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) 2022)

(Strategy for social enterprises 2022)

Where several sources from the same year and author have been used in the work, they are separated from each other by adding “a”, “b”, “c” and so on in accordance with the alphabetical order of the titles (see Chapter 4.1.3):

(Lapland UAS 2021b)

The in-text citations of acts and regulations include the name, number and year in the same form as in the reference list. In addition, the referenced chapter, section and subsection are indicated. The subsection is indicated if there is more than one subsection in the section. The chapter and section are separated by a colon, and the section and subsection by a period. The section mark is preceded by a space.

(Universities of Applied Sciences Act 932/2014 § 4:17)

(Maritime Act 674/1994 § 3:2.4)

For interviews, discussions and lectures, mention the person’s last name and the year.

(Viljanen 2011)

The source used should always be the primary, original source. However, the use of a secondary source is sometimes justified. For example, the original source may be so old that it is no longer possible to access it, or the original source may have been published in a language that the thesis author cannot understand.

The reference list must always contain only the sources used in the thesis. Although the original source must always be referred to in the text, its details are not included in the reference list. The in-text citation of the secondary source identifying the original source can be marked as follows:

Smith (2020, 132) has stated in reference to Johnson (1990) that – –

(Johnson 1990, as cited in Smith 2020, 132)

In the following example, the article by Poikela and Poikela is a secondary source that discusses the original work by Kolb:

According to Poikela and Poikela (2010, 25), Kolb (1984) aims to integrate work, education and personal growth into a holistic view of learning.

If the author formulates the text in such a way that the part paraphrased from the source is only one sentence in length, the source reference becomes part of that sentence. In this case, the text reference is included in the sentence, so the period that ends the sentence comes only after the closing parenthesis of the reference.

When thinking about the title of title thesis, it is good to aim for conciseness. However, it should be remembered that the perspective of the subject matter becomes clear (Kniivilä, Lindblom-Ylänne & Mäntynen 2017, 76).

If the author formulates the text in such a way that the paraphrased section is more than one sentence long, a period is added as usual at the end of each paraphrased sentence. In this case, the opening parenthesis at the beginning of the source reference is preceded by a period, marking the end of the previous sentence. Similarly, a period is added before the closing parenthesis.

When thinking about the title of the thesis, it is good to aim for conciseness. However, it should be remembered that the perspective of the subject matter becomes clear. The main title of the thesis must be such that it covers the topics discussed in all the main chapters of the thesis. (Kniivilä, Lindblom-Ylänne & Mäntynen 2017, 76.)

Separate in-text citations can also be included in a single sentence. The reference is added immediately after the information to which it relates.

The prerequisites for lifelong learning and resilience to change are among the competence requirements of almost every employee (Tynjälä 2010, 79), and Paavola, Lipponen and Hakkarainen (2004, 753) hope that educational organisations will also take this into account and teach young students to build these intellectual resources that meet the requirements of working life.