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Entrepreneurship

This guide supports UCI’s innovation and entrepreneurship community by connecting users to relevant resources used to conduct research.

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Why cite tour sources?

In entrepreneurship and business, citing your research adds credibility to your work by showing:

  • where your information came from and giving proper credit to the source material
  • that you are transparent, trustworthy, and collaborative
  • that you are basing your business decisions on quality information

Expectations for citations should adhere to their context. Anything submitted for a class assignment must adhere to academic integrity guidelines - in other words: cite your work.

The key in both situations is to make the information you use as easy to identify and retrieve as possible for your audience.

Citing for pitch decks

A pitch deck not intended for academic contexts has less stringent citation requirements. But this doesn't mean you shouldn't cite your research - just keep it simple!

Open source

If you're citing something that's openly available online, include the source's name and link it, along with the title and year of publication.

Example

Source: Pew Research Center, 10 tech-related trends that shaped the decade, 2019
 

Proprietary source

If you're citing proprietary information from a library database, include the name of the publisher (the database), the title, and the year of publication.

Example

Source: IBISWorld, Gym & Fitness Franchises, 2020
 

Primary research

If you're citing data or information collected through your own primary research (e.g., surveys, interviews, or focus groups), include a short description of your research method and participants, along with the year the research was conducted.

Example

Source: UCI Team's survey of 10 gym managers, 2020

 

Citing for assignments

APA (American Psychological Association) Style

  • Requires that you cite your sources using both in-text citations and reference-list citations. 
  • Reference list citations present four pieces of data, in this order: 1) Author, 2) Publication date, 3) Title, and 4) How/where to access.
    Author/Analyst surname, First initial. (Date). Title of document. Source/Publisher. Retrieval information. 
    (If the Author/Analyst and Source/Publisher are the same (i.e., when there is no individually named Author/Analyst, you do not need to include the Source/Publisher field.)

Examples

APA Citation Examples
Source type Example citation(s)
Industry / market research reports

Known author or analyst:

Le, T. (2020, May). Gym, health & fitness clubs in the US. IBISWorld. https://my.ibisworld.com/us/en/industry/71394

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Le, 2020)
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: Thi Le (2020), writing for the market research firm IBISWorld, predicts that...


Ortega, M. (2022). Pet supplies - US. Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/1102889

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Ortega, 2022)
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: Ortega (2022), writing for the market research firm Mintel, predicts that...

Unknown author:

Euromonitor International. (2020, March). Retailing in New Zealand. Passport. http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/euromonitor/

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Euromonitor International, 2020)
  • Tip: For twin citations, such as two Euromonitor reports, put a lowercase letter after the year to tell them apart: (Euromonitor International, 2020a)
     
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: The market research firm Euromonitor International (2020b), estimates online retailing will...
Company profiles

Standard & Poor's. (n.d.). Netflix, Inc. [Company profile]. Capital IQ.  https://www.capitaliq.com/CIQDotNet/company.aspx?companyId=32012

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Standard & Poor's, n.d.)
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: In the Netflix, Inc. company profile, Standard & Poor's (n.d.) reports...


PitchBook Data. (n.d.). Airbnb [Company profile]. https://my.pitchbook.com/profile/51261-67/company/profile

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (PitchBook Data, n.d.)
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: In the Airbnb company profile, PitchBook Data (n.d.) reports...
List of companies

Since this source would have no official title, put in [square brackets] a narrative description of the criteria that's included in the list.  

PitchBook Data. (n.d.). [List of VC-backed biotechnology companies in California with a minimum revenue of $10 million, as of 9/30/2023]. https://my.pitchbook.com

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (PitchBook Data, n.d.)
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: According to PitchBook Data (n.d.), 19 companies...
News article

Ansberry, C. (2020, August 31). An Alzheimer’s quest: Enrolling more black people in clinical trials. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-alzheimers-quest-enrolling-more-black-people-in-clinical-trials-11598891561

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Ansberry, 2020)
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: In the Wall Street Journal, Clare Ansberry (2020) reported on how...
Journal article

Galloway, M. K., Callin, P., James, S., Vimegnon, H., & McCall, L. (2019). Culturally responsive, antiracist, or anti-oppressive? How language matters for school change efforts. Equity & Excellence in Education, 52(4), 485–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2019.1691959

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Galloway et al., 2019)
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: Galloway et al. (2019) suggests that...
Book

Kendi, I.X. (2019). How to be an antiracist. Random House Publishing Group.

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Kendi, 2019).
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: In the introduction of his book, Kendi (2019) explains...
Podcast

Thomas, T. (2019, September 23). The short stacks 22: Ibram X. Kendi//How to be an antiracist [Audio podcast]. The Stacks. https://thestackspodcast.com/2019/09/22/ss22/

  • In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Thomas, 2019).
  • In-Text Narrative Citation: On an episode of her podcast from September 2019, Thomas discusses the book How to be an Antiracist with author and historian Ibbram X. Kendi, who says...

Tip!

Business resources may lack stable article URLs that you can use in a citation. 

  1. Look for a permalink icon, similar to this:  Permalink icon
     
  2. If you don't see a permalink icon, examine the URL. Does it appear to have a unique name/number that goes to the article? Does the URL work if you try it in a different browser or a browser set to incognito?
     
  3. If you are unsure of whether the article URL is stable, then use the URL to the resource provided by the UCI Libraries (see the Euromonitor International example above).

The citation style required for assignments will vary by discipline.

The UCI Libraries' Citation Styles & Tools covers:

  • why and when you should cite
  • common citation elements
  • the major citation styles


APA is the preferred citation style in the field of business. Here are some helpful resources for using APA:


Want help keeping track of your research? 
Bibliographic Management Software helps you create a bibliography and keep track of your citations.

Credit

Content adapted from Citing for startups by Carey Toane, University of Toronto Libraries