The use of Source Notations by Organizations.

IN THE EDUCATIONAL SETTING professors require students to indicate their sources of information through the use of notations following a prescribed format. Although the format varies, the data provided permit a reader to find the author of an article or artistic piece, the developer of a concept

or model, or the originator of a quotation, and thereby avoid plagiarism, a primary ethical consideration (Haas, 1995). Business writing class instructors generally assign reports that require source notations in a specific format. However, current guidelines or examples of what businesspeople use to document sources is needed.

To determine what type of material might be referenced and what publication methods organizations use, if any, to indicate the source of information, members of the Business Practices Committee developed questions to be asked in interviews with middle or senior level managers at several different businesses. Each person responded to the same questions, with an open-ended discussion following the responses.

Of the four organizations surveyed, the first was a multi-state bank holding company employing about 14,000 people, whose primary business is banking, with its largest subsidiary holding over $30 billion in assets. The second firm was a publicly held international manufacturing and distribution company with over 100,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of over $24 billion. The third company, a subsidiary of a privately owned corporation, developed products using esters in four US plants, as well as one in Canada and one in Mexico, and had revenues exceeding $350 million last year. The final organization, a family firm with three operating divisions and total revenues approaching $300 million, had about 750 employees and had been in business since 1886.

Interview Results

Each company representative was asked the following questions. A discussion of responses is included with each question.

Does your company have a written communication policy manual to assist employees with reports, letters, memorandums, or other documents?

Although three of the organizations had no written communication manual, the manufacturing and distribution company did. The complete communication process manual was based upon the Associated Press Stylebook and was available to employees with corporate communication responsibilities, but all managers had a basic "how to" booklet for formatting documents and for citing sources. Even though no manual existed at the bank holding company, departments had available, for all employees to use as guides, samples of basic business letters that could be sent by individuals in the specific functional area. The other two firms said that files were available if a manager wanted to see what had been sent previously in a similar situation but that it would take an individual's initiative to find a document that might be suitable to use as a guide.

Does your company have a written policy regarding copyright laws, fair use regulation, or plagiarism?

Only the ester product development firm had no written policy for documenting the source of secondary information in company documents. Of the other organizations, the family-run manufacturing company had a company policy statement that defined plagiarism and discussed copyright infringement as well as fair use guidelines, while the bank holding company's written policy only discussed copyright infringement and fair use guidelines without specifically mentioning plagiarism. Only the use of copyrighted material, including not only publications but CDs and videos as well, was included in the manufacturing and distribution company's written policy manual.

How do writers of internal or external documents such as reports provide their sources of secondary information for readers?

Only the manufacturing and distribution firm responded that documentation was expected in reports, although both the family run company and the ester product development firm answered that sometimes, when appropriate, footnotes were used. Appropriateness, according to the interviewees, was based upon the reader of the information as well as the nature of the secondary information. For example, if the document was attempting to convince a superior (to change a policy) or was an analysis requested by a superior (to compare product line sales) or a customer (a proposal for a future job), footnotes or endnotes were generally used.

Crucial items for source documentation included numeric data and scientific information, according to the ester product development manager. The manufacturing and distribution company representative thought that human resources used documentation more often than other areas, with two formats generally being used: an in-house method that used only title and author or the American Psychological Association (APA) format. The bank holding representative stated that, although no policy regarding documentation existed at his company, its use generally heightened the credibility of the message; therefore, many reports did use a parenthetical source notation with the author's name, publication name, and date, and the attorneys at the bank holding company used footnotes.

Only the firm which had a manual, the international manufacturing and distribution firm, showed a concern for format; the other firms generally held that if the title and author or date were provided, that was a sufficient notation. All interviewees mentioned that the writer could be called if the reader needed more information.

If documentation is ever used, what documents generally contain source material?

Among other documents, annual reports, financial reports, in-house newsletters, internal informational reports, press releases, and training manuals were listed in answer to this question. All company representatives responded that sources were referenced in internal informational reports, with one person emphasizing that this practice was employed "Big time!" Three of the companies had in-house newsletters, and documentation was used in these publications. Press releases included citations "sometimes," according to interviewees from the ester product development firm, the bank holding company, and the family-run manufacturing business. Both the bank holding company and the manufacturing and distribution company used documentation in training manuals, with the latter company noting that attorneys assigned to each "group" reviewed all materials included in training publications. Financial reports included reference information in the ester firm and the family-run manufacturing business, while only the family b usiness used documentation in its annual reports.

The manager from the ester product firm said that little was "published" by the company, but documentation was critical when material might be reviewed several years later or used in long range planning or forecasting. The manufacturing and distribution representative noted that documents that were "trying to prove a point, persuade others to use a new practice, or show industry trends" should always document secondary sources for increased credibility. That interviewee also pointed out that, while the research group required more reports and was therefore more likely to use documentation, all employees were having to do "more and more business reports." Examples of these reports included research involving employees, market research, and analysis of internal data; the latter was less likely to use documentation.

What types of information are referenced?

Again, a list of possible items was provided, including books, magazines or journal articles, newspaper articles, online sources, and trade publications. Trade publications were cited in every respondent company. Newspaper articles and online sources were referenced in the manufacturing and distribution firm as well as the bank holding company, with both noting that citing online sources began occurring recently. The person from the ester product development company added independent research studies to the list of items referenced. Books were not included in any list.

Using a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being very important), how important do you feel documentation is in business documents?

All four respondents were emphatic that documentation was extremely important for credibility. The bank representative stated that a person's inability to use secondary sources was actually a handicap to the firm and to that employee. This interviewee also observed that the subject of ethics needed to be included in almost every business class so that students could be aware of ethical issues in specific business areas before being exposed to such incidents on the job; a manager's ethical credibility was at issue with documenting secondary sources, according to the bank representative.

Conclusions

These responses provide strong support for requiring students to reference sources in classroom report writing assignments. Every interviewee noted the importance of source notations for credibility of both the writer and the information. Asking students to provide a reference list with notations in the document itself would also increase their job readiness, thereby significantly improving their transitions into the workplace. By giving assignments that require documentation of sources, instructors could increase students' workplace credibility in the future.

In student writing requirements, mandating a particular format may not be as important as the source notation itself: often document evaluation includes markdowns for a missing period at the end of a reference or for spacing errors, neither of which is considered important by the businesses surveyed. As long as sufficient information is included to permit the reader to find the data and the reference format is consistent throughout the written document, perhaps some leeway could be permitted by instructors. For example, in many on-the-job cases, information such as issue or volume number, page number(s), or publishing house is not even included in the business reference. Moreover, format appears to vary in business practice, with several firms reporting more than one usage across the company and with no specific format prescribed.

All respondents agree that readers consider information contained in reports with references more credible. They also substantiate the need for businesspeople to know how and when to use source notations. Including documentation in business communication courses thus seems necessary for students.

Reference

Haas, M.F. (1995). The undergraduate research paper: Teaching ethical relationships. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 387810)