I have read some papers who referenced like this
" [23] showed an innovative approach" instead of one of the most common way "author X in 2017 showed an innovative approach [23]" .
My question is that way of referencing
a) completely wrong ?
b) aggressive but ok ?
c) other
and should I do it also ? Cause it saves space and reduces unnecessary writings like "author X in 2017". And this comes in handy esp for journal/conferences with page limits
The style of writing references varies from periodical to periodical. Your innovative style will not be accepted by any periodical unless they follow in the same way.
In my opinion, completely wrong. It should follow the quote or thought but not precede this.
There are some standard referencing styles in scientific writing like Harvard, APA, MLA etc. Other then that journal specific referencing styles also can be identified. Some time this style can be that type of journal specific one. If you submit any manuscript to a any journal you want to adhere the guidelines of that journal including referencing style. If you wish to publish your research findings in this particular journal you want to follow this style. In that case you can not say that style is "right" or "Wrong".
Between the two choices that you gave I would choose the second one, but I would omit the mention of the year.
a) Yes. First it is ugly. We should never start a sentence with a number (although it is quite acceptable to begin a sentence with reference to an author). Next, it is ungrammatical, because the paper did not showed, the author did.
b) Lazy. Only OK for an early, private draft. Don't copy. Only use for note-taking at lectures you attend. Don't mix styles, except in very rough personal notes. Note that “[23]” is IEEE style, which has the advantage of compactness. However, “AuthorX (2017)” is APA style which feels that the author and recency is important and should be stressed.
In your field, the numeric system is expected, so it is useful to start recording that way.
Absolutely wrong, injustice to the author and the Journal. Imagine you are the author of the paper referred to as [23]. You don't have to mention the year. If you can mention the name or names of the author, it is good. But it is not necessary to mention names. You can well frame your sentence as ' Recently, Ramaiah and Karla [23] demonstrated .....' Check the Journal in which you intend to send your paper for style. 'Guidance to authors' is given by all leading Journals.
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