Citing Sources: Citation Basics
Credo Info Lit Videos
Academic Writing
Why Citations Matter
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism
Copyright
Why citing is important
It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:
- To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information.
- To be a responsible writer and researcher by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas.
- To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors.
- To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way a bibliography or reference list.
- Overall, citing sources is important to show your readers that you’ve used good sources as a springboard to form your own, original and supported thoughts. You’re essentially building upon the research of the scholars who came before you. And citing those sources acknowledge the connection between your ideas, and the knowledge of past scholars.
What to cite
You must cite:
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Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge
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Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other publications
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Publications that must be cited include: books, book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc.
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When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!
Citation elements
Citing a source means that you show, within the body of your text, that you took words, ideas, figures, images, etc. from another place.
Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site). They are found in bibliographies and reference lists and are also collected in article and book databases.
Citations consist of standard elements, and contain all the information necessary to identify and track down publications, including:
- author name(s)
- titles and/or containers (MLA)
- date of publication
- page numbers
- volume and issue numbers (for articles)
- DOI (APA and now encouraged by MLA)
Citations may look different, depending on what is being cited and which style was used to create them.
The UHMC library supports both APA and MLA citation styles. Please contact us for more citation help.
Avoiding plagiarism
Plagiarism occurs when you borrow another's words (or ideas) and do not acknowledge that you have done so. Our words and ideas are considered intellectual property; like a car or any other possession, our words belong to us and should not be used without our permission.
Plagiarism is a serious offense. If it is found that you have plagiarized -- deliberately or inadvertently -- you may face serious consequences. In some instances, plagiarism has meant that students have failed classes or have had to leave the institutions where they were studying.
The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources - both within the body of your paper and in a bibliography of sources you used at the end of your paper.
Some useful links about plagiarism and how to avoid it:
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UHMC Student Conduct CodeDefines plagiarism as prohibitive conduct in Article III.
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Avoiding Plagiarism Video TutorialsThe basics explained by UHMC English faculty
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Recognizing and Avoiding PlagiarismFrom Cornell University. Includes an online learning module