Writing Guidelines:• Organization and Content |
Documentating Sources
General Documentation Rules
Avoiding Plagiarism
When you write a paper, you must acknowledge any ideas or information that came from another source, whether this information is from a book, a journal article, a newspaper, a website, a lecture, etc. To fail to acknowledge, or cite, such information is plagiarism and is a serious academic offense.
Plagiarism generally occurs in one of the following ways:
- Writers fail to cite information, ideas, or quotes.
- Writers fail to put quotation marks around direct quotes.
- Writers fail to put summaries or paraphrases in their own words (they treat quoted material as a paraphrase or summary).
In academic papers, most citations occur in the introduction, in the historical review, when past research on the topic is discussed. Often, these sources will also be cited in the discussion section of the paper. No matter where in your paper you use borrowed information, you must acknowledge the source.
Borrowed information can be incorporated into your paper in one of three ways:
- Summary
- Paraphrase
- Direct quote
Most of your citations should be in the form of summary or paraphrase. Little or no quoting appears in most academic writing.
Summary
When you write a summary, you restate the author’s main ideas in your own words. Summaries of long passages or even an entire article are commonly used in research writing. A summary of an experimental research study might be three or four sentences long and include the purpose, methods, results, and significance of the study.
Paraphrase
A paraphrase is also written in your own words, but the paraphrase contains all the ideas in the passage, not just the main ideas. Your paraphrase of an author’s passage would be approximately the same length as the original, unlike a summary which would be much shorter.
Writers must exercise extreme caution when presenting information as paraphrase. If phrases are lifted word for word, or if synonyms are simply substituted for the original wording, the writer has committed plagiarism.
For a detailed explanation of plagiarism, visit the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
Quotes
If you use direct quotes in your paper, be sure to follow these rules:
- Enclose the quoted material in quotation marks.
- Attach the quote to a signal phrase (some of your own words).
- Make the signal phrase and quote flow together to make a grammatically correct sentence.
- Include the page number of the quote in your citation information.
Common Citation Formats
Social Sciences • Physical Sciences • Humanities and Fine Arts
Social Sciences
Most academic fields in the social sciences, as well as business and journalism, follow the documentation rules of the American Psychological Association (APA). This format uses an author/year of publication arrangement for in-text citations and an alphabetical listing by author for references at the end of the paper.
In-text Citations
APA uses the author/date format for in-text citations. The author and date can appear in several arrangements:
Rogers (1994) compared reaction times. . . .
In a recent study of reaction times (Rogers, 1994), . . . .
In 1994 Rogers compared reaction times. . . .
Once you have given the date for a single source in a paragraph, do not repeat the date if you cite the source again in that paragraph. If you cite the source in a later paragraph, repeat the date the first time you cite it in the later paragraph. (One date per source per paragraph).
If a source has one author, cite that author’s name every time you cite the source in your paper.
Rogers (1994) or (Rogers, 1994)
If a source has two authors, cite both authors’ names every time you cite that source in your paper.
Rogers and Johnston (1997) or (Rogers & Johnston, 1997)
If a source has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors’ names the first time you cite the source in the paper. For all other citations of that source in your paper, use the first author’s name and the et al. abbreviation.
Rogers, Johnston, and Smith (2001) or (Rogers, Johnston, & Smith, 2001) (first citation in paper)
Rogers et al. (2001) or (Rogers et al., 2001) (second and subsequent citations in paper)
If a source has six or more authors, use the et al. abbreviation for all citations, including the first.
References
When typing your reference list using the APA format, include the sources you actually cited in the paper. When determining the alphabetical order of a source, use the first author’s last name. Type the list single-spaced, with a double space between each source. Indent the first line of each source.
While the APA Manual contains examples of all types of bibliographic record formats, the most commonly used types are shown below:
Periodicals (journals, magazines, scholarly newsletters)
Bekerian, D. A. (1993). In search of the typical eyewitness. American Psychologist, 48, 574-576.
Nonperiodicals (books):
Cone, J. D., & Foster, S. L. (1994). Dissertations and theses from start to finish: Psychology and related fields. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Part of a nonperiodical (chapter in a book)
Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., & Berry, A. (1996). There’s more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low. In H. L. Roediger & F. I. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory and consciousness (pp. 309-330). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Note: Italics may be used in place of underlining in APA format. Be consistent in your use within your paper.
Links to on-line style guides in the social sciences
Physical Sciences
In-text Citations
The physical sciences, as well as engineering and medicine, use a numerical system for in-text citations. The first source used in the paper is given the numeral 1, and subsequent citations to other sources are numbered in ascending order. If a source is cited a second time in the paper, the original numeral is used again. Many fields use the superscript numeral format, while others include the numeral in parentheses at the end of the citation. Check with your faculty mentor about the format used in your field.
Often, author names will also be mentioned when citations are used. While it is not necessary to use author names, you certainly may do so. Most science fields allow the use of et al. or and others for sources with co-authors.
References
The numerals you assign to citations in the text of your paper are used to organize the reference list at the end of your paper. List all sources used, beginning with the citation given the numeral 1. List the remaining sources in ascending order.
The format for the references varies from one field to another in the physical sciences. Refer to the style guide used in your field or check the format used in leading journals in your field. Links to several of the on-line guides appear below.
Links to on-line style guides in the physical sciences
- CSE-Council of Science Editors
- IEEE-Engineering
- ACS-Chemistry
- AIP-Physics
- Physical Review-Physics
- AMA-Medicine
Humanities
and Fine Arts
In the humanities and fine arts, the style guide of the Modern Language Association (MLA) is used most often. This format uses the author name/page number arrangement for citations in the body of the paper, with an alphabetical listing of sources at the end of the paper.
In-text citations
In-text citations in the humanities use the author’s (or authors’) last name(s) and the page number that the information is found on. The author name(s) can appear in a signal phrase with the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence, or the name(s) and page number can both be placed in parentheses.
For sources with one, two, or three authors, all names must be used in the citations. For sources with four or more authors, list all author names the first time the source is cited in your paper. Subsequent references to the same source should have the et al. abbreviation. Examples of citation format can be found in the Link to MLA style guide below.
Works Cited
MLA uses the term Works Cited rather than References for the list of sources at the end of the paper. Only those sources actually cited in the paper should appear in the Works Cited. Alphabetize the list according the last name of the first author listed on each source. The specific formats for books, journals, websites, dissertations, etc. can be found in the link below.
