The review of literature is mandatory for generating an authentic research idea. Citing the literature that you consulted for your topic of research is yet another prerequisite to cover while scripting your research. In a grant application, the literature citation section works as a referencing list for the reviewers. It is often taken for granted by many research writers. This is because they are usually new in the field of research. They do not know the actual purpose, rules, and potential errors of the literature citation section. So, this article exclusively addresses those research writers who are new to this field.
To be able to cite responsibly, you first have to know the basic reasons for citing the relevant literature. The rationales behind referencing are:
Citing serves as a backbone for your research idea and its potential outcomes. It shows the results of sampling, calculations, and evaluations that are relevant to your topic in light of previously conducted research found in the literature (Sadaf & Patricia, 2010). It justifies your proposed aims, techniques, and outcomes. Hence, validating your point of view with the support of literature makes your grant proposal stronger.
When you cite, your literature surfing skills are put to the test. The reviewers scrutinize each grant application by evaluating the writer’s grip on the literature. Therefore, the literature citation serves as a power show of your competence in the literature search.
Without citation, the literature analysis data will get mixed in yours. Your reviewers will not be able to differentiate between the consulted data and the new one. Hence, literature citation is necessary for separating the background research analysis from your research.
Claiming someone else’s research work as yours is known as plagiarism and is considered a crime in the field of research. Acknowledging the research work conducted by others. If you do not quote properly, it will cause a major ethical breach in your research. Your application will be rejected without proper citation.
Several definite principles are there to govern the literature citation section of your grant application. These are:
The literature citation is the main differentiating feature that makes your scripture different from other pieces of writing. It raises the level of your publication from a normal to an authentic one. Similarly, you have to be extra cautious while writing a research grant application, as well. Scripting an error-free citation section should be the topmost priority of any research writer. Commonly seen errors in the literature citation section of most of the applications are:
This is one of the commonest mistakes found in the citation. The writers are in a hurry to cite the literature and do not review this section thoroughly. This results in a major blunder in the form of misspelling. The information provided in your reference link is inaccessible if you cite the author’s name with wrong spellings.
Rectification Rules
Any sorts of writing typos are unacceptable in research writing. Writing and typing mistakes can only be rectified via continuous review of whatever you are scripting. Another basic way to avoid such type of gross errors is to practice writing and typing. The more you write, the better.
Another error in the citation is missing the names of authors, the relevant volume number, or title of the journal from which reference information was extracted. This incomplete referencing is of no use to the reviewers, nor does it fully acknowledge the rightful owners. This can be the cause of concern for the reviewers as improper citation may breach the code of conduct.
Rectification Rules
While citing references in the text, one has to be very cautious and detail-oriented (Jason, Karim & Robert, 2013). Similarly, the literature citation section needs a full description of the title of the journal and its volume along with the issue number. Any credible online literature should be accompanied by its respective online journal links. All these are essentials of the citation section and should be fulfilled.
Nowadays, researchers can easily extract literature from the internet. Several databases provide direct access to the literature. The known popular databases that are freely accessible are PubMed, MedlinePlus, Embase & PsycInfo (Xiaochun & Cheng, 2016). These electronic portals of literature have a special feature of automatic citation extraction. The citation can be extracted in any of the specified referencing styles. But, these extracted references usually have sequencing errors. There is no alphabetical arrangement of authors’ names and lack of proper online links. Hence, being dependent on these citation extractors can risk your application approval.
The database extractors surely save your time but always prefer reviewing each citation after each extraction. This will ensure that the cited author names are properly sequenced in alphabetical order, and the prescribed pattern of citation is followed.
It is frequently seen in many of the rejected applications that the cited references do not match with the referred content or do so partially. It means that the writers sometimes misinterpret the actual meaning of the literature and use them as a reference in their research. The rising trend of the sources not complementing the writer’s statements shows that many of these writers are not competent enough to correctly grasp the literature to start with. (Mertens & Baethge, 2011)
Rectification Rules
To avoid this error, the rule of thumb is to regularly read research articles to raise your level of comprehension. Exercising your mind through frequent reading will increase your knowledge-grasping ability. Only then you will be able to interpret the actual meaning of the research analysis found in the literature databases.
Some of the applications have a very low level of organization and esthetics. Their reference list is jammed packed with little spacing in between. Furthermore, they lack the numbering of citations according to the text. This gives this section a crowded look. The reviewers will get dejected from the start of this section. Your overall impression of the application can be deeply compromised by this last section of the application.
Rectification Rules
This mistake can be corrected by following these guidelines:
Then there are those research writers who have the habit of giving unnecessary references. This is another major error that can compromise your impression of literature searching skills in the minds of reviewers. Everyone knows that the excess of anything is bad. The writers with the habit of excessive irrelevant cite are the worst. They belittle their research ideas under the mountains of other authors’ references.
Rectification Rules
The literature databases are full of all sorts of information. You will find loads of data relating to your research question, but not to a full extent. This type of data is indirectly relevant and should be avoided for reference in your application. The key to filtering such type of referencing error is to regain the equilibrium. This type of balance is achieved by observing these guidelines:
Staying objective in your research application is yet another challenge for the research writers. Most of the writers are unable to pass it. They are unable to stay neutral throughout the application. They only cite the references that support their research and leave out all the reference material that contradicts their research outcome. Consequently, the literature citation section is filled with references favoring their research idea. It gives a one-sided story impression to the reviewers who like the taste of objectivity within each application.
Rectification Rules
The reviewers always search for alternative references in your research proposal. They like the way you justify your research in front of them to prove your point. For a new investigator, it is rather difficult to stay away from biased opinions favoring your outcomes. There are two basic steps to gain neutrality in your research so that your literature citation section won’t look biased. These guidelines will help you to surpass the objectivity challenge in your research:
Documenting the consulted literature is an important part of constructing your research proposal. These references are mentioned inside the text briefly and in a detailed form in a separate literature citation section at the end. Literature citation is scrutinized two times, unlike the other sections of your application. Firstly, it is checked by the ethical committee and then by the reviewers’ panel. The ethical committee makes sure that all the consulted literature mentioned in your article is properly acknowledged to their original authors in the form of a literature citation. The reviewers further testify the literature citation section and in-text citation to evaluate the credibility of the proposed research idea. Making errors in this section is very dangerous for your application and your career, as well. So, beware!
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