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Know what and why to cite
What:
- Statistics, facts, figures, ideas, and information that is not characterized as common knowledge should be cited.
- Any exact language needs to be in quotations and cited, and ideas and/or theories that are not your own also need to be cited.
- If you are unsure, play it safe and cite it. Understand when to use quotes and how to paraphrase.
Why:
- It gives credit to the person who created the idea. Failure to properly cite your source could be construed as plagiarism, and you could get yourself in a lot of trouble.
- It provides your readers with the information they need to locate and evaluate the sources you used for themselves.
Avoid plagiarizing
Tips:
- Cite everything that isn't "common knowledge", which is best defined as a fact known by the general public. A good example of common knowledge would be that George Washington was the first President of the United States.
- Learn to use reliable, authoritative, and scholarly resources.
- Make an appointment for a research consultation with a librarian. We're here to help with library and research anxiety.
- Learn to be an excellent note taker. For each of your sources keep written documentation, including all citation information, all quotes you might refer to, notes on the source, etc.
- Understand when to use quotes and how to paraphrase. Below are links to some excellent sources that will help you understand how to engage in good scholarship, while avoiding unintentional plagiarism:
Avoid plagiarizing
Indiana University at Bloomington's "Plagiarism: What it is and How to Recognize and Avoid It"
Most Commonly Used Styles
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association Staff
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the style manual of choice for writers, editors, students, and educators in the social and behavioural sciences. It provides invaluable guidance on all aspects of the writing process, from the ethics of authorship to the word choice that best reduces bias in language. Well-known for its authoritative and easy-to-use reference and citation system, the Publication Manual also offers guidance on choosing the headings, tables, figures and tone that will result in strong, simple, and elegant scientific communication. The Sixth Edition offers new and expanded instruction on publication ethics, statistics, journal article reporting standards, electronic reference formats, and the construction of tables and figures. The Sixth Edition has been revised and updated to include new ethics guidance on such topics as determining authorship and terms of collaboration, duplicate publication, plagiarism and self-plagiarism, disguising of participants, validity of instrumentation, and making data available to others for verification; new journal article reporting standards to help readers report empirical research with clarity and precision; simplified APA heading style to make it more conducive to electronic publication; updated guidelines for reducing bias in language to reflect current practices and preferences, including a new section on presenting historical language that is inappropriate by present standards; new guidelines for reporting inferential statistics and a significantly revised table of statistical abbreviations new instruction on using supplemental files containing lengthy data sets and other media; significantly expanded content on the electronic presentation of data to help readers understand the purpose of each kind of display and choose the best match for communicating the results of the investigation, with new examples for a variety of data displays, including electrophysiological and biological data; consolidated information on all aspects of reference citations, with an expanded discussion of electronic sources emphasising the role of the digital object identifier (DOI) as a reliable way to locate information; and expanded discussion of the publication process, including the function and process of peer review; a discussion of ethical, legal, and policy requirements in publication; and guidelines on working with the publisher while the article is in press. Key to this edition of the Publication Manual is an updated and expanded Web presence. Visit the APA Style web site to Look up additional supplemental material keyed to the book Test your knowledge of APA Style with a free tutorial on style basics Learn about the changes in the sixth edition with a free tutorial reviewing key revisions Sign up for an on-line course to enrich and enhance your understanding of APA Style Read the APA Style blog and share your comments on writing and referencing Consult frequently asked questions to sharpen your understanding of APA Style Examine additional resources on such topics as ethics, statistics, and writing Familiarise yourself with submission standards for APA books and journals What''s New in the Sixth Edition? Book has been updated to acknowledge and incorporate advances in computer technology. New discussions of the creation, submission, and storage of supplemental data. New guidelines for referencing electronic sources. New and expanded reference examples for a variety of on-line sources. Redesigned APA Style website, expanded to provide tutorials, on-line courses, and other resources for learning APA style. Book has been reorganised and streamlined for ease of use Organised to describe the writing process from idea to publication, it begins with background information on ethical issues in publishing, then moves on to manuscript structure and content, then writing style and rules, then graphics and references, then guidance on working with the publisher. Sample paper section has been moved up and featured to better exemplify manuscript structure and content Like discussions have been moved to one place in the book, with discussions of function followed by instruction on form. Focus has been broadened to include readers in the behavioural and social sciences. Information specific to APA has been moved to the web, where it is more broadly accessible and can be updated frequently. New examples throughout the book have been drawn from publications in education, business, and nursing as well as psychology.
Call Number: BF76.7 .P83 2010
ISBN: 9781433805615
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
The Modern Language Association, the authority on research and writing, takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, the official guide to MLA format. Works are published today in a dizzying variety of ways: a novel, for example, may be read in print, online, or as an e-book--or perhaps listened to as an audiobook. Writers of research papers routinely need to know how to cite works on Web sites, videos on platforms like YouTube, interviews and other works created by multiple authors, journal articles contained in databases, online images, posts on social media sites, song lyrics, and more. Instead of providing separate instructions for each format, the MLA's unique, innovative approach recommends one set of guidelines that writers can apply to any type of source. This groundbreaking edition of the MLA's best-selling handbook is short and designed for easy use. It guides writers through the principles behind evaluating sources for their research and thus focuses on the key skills of information and digital literacy. It then shows writers how to cite sources in their writing, offering detailed guidance on in-text citations, quoting and paraphrasing, avoiding plagiarism, and more. Intended for students, teachers, librarians, and advanced scholars, the handbook is an indispensable resource in composition, communication, literature, language arts, film, media studies, digital humanities, and related fields.
Call Number: LB2369 .M52 2016
ISBN: 9781603292627
Publication Date: 2016-04-01
The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Staff (Editor)
**The 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been superseded by the 17th edition.** While digital technologies have revolutionized the publishing world in the twenty-first century, one thing still remains true: The Chicago Manual of Style is the authoritative, trusted source that writers, editors, and publishers turn to for guidance on style and process. For the sixteenth edition, every aspect of coverage has been reconsidered to reflect how publishing professionals work today. Though processes may change, the Manual continues to offer the clear, well-considered style and usage advice it has for more than a century. The sixteenth edition offers expanded information on producing electronic publications, including web-based content and e-books. An updated appendix on production and digital technology demystifies the process of electronic workflow and offers a primer on the use of XML markup, and a revised glossary includes a host of terms associated with electronic as well as print publishing. The Chicago system of documentation has been streamlined and adapted for a variety of online and digital sources. Figures and tables are updated throughout the book--including a return to the Manual's popular hyphenation table and new, comprehensive listings of Unicode numbers for special characters.
Call Number: Z253 .U69 2010
ISBN: 9780226104201
Publication Date: 2010-08-01