Academic Writing: Citation and Plagiarism Practices

Academic Writing

• This document is about accurate citation, paraphrasing, and bibliography practices for academic writing.
• It outlines rules and examples for properly citing and referencing sources within academic texts.
• The document covers various types of citations, including those for single authors, multiple authors, authors with the same name, and anonymous works.

When to Cite

• Cite sources when their ideas, theories, or research directly influenced your own work.
• Proper citation requires you to read the cited work thoroughly.
• For each key argument or point, use several primary sources.
• In synthesis articles, citations should be more frequent.

Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is presenting another author's concepts, phrases, ideas, arguments or works as your own.
• It is important to give credit to the authors whose ideas you use.
• To avoid plagiarism, read sources carefully and only use quotes or paraphrased ideas when the source's words or ideas are exactly related to a point in your writing.
• Avoid plagiarism by properly including and acknowledging cited material.

Self-Plagiarism

• Self-plagiarism is submitting previously published work as if it were new.
• The core of a new document needs to present original analysis and contributions to the subject.
• Self-plagiarism does not enhance your knowledge.

Citing and Paraphrasing

• Citing is reproducing words literally from another source, using the same exact words.
• Paraphrasing is expressing another author's idea with your own words.
• To adequately cite or paraphrase sources, clearly note the author, year of publication, page number (if applicable), and any additional information.

Formatting Citations (Based on Length and Placement)

• Short quotations (less than 40 words) are integrated into the text, enclosed in double quotes.
• Longer quotations (more than 40 words) are in a separate paragraph, indented, with an accompanying citation.
• Citations are placed immediately after quotes or paraphrasing.

Formatting Citations (Based on Multiple Authors and Formatting)

• Citations of two authors include the names of both.

• With three, four, or five authors, the first author's name is followed by "et al."

• For more than six authors, only the first author's name followed by "et al." is used.

• The date is placed within the parentheses.

• Format citations in alphabetical order or according to publication dates.

Formatting Citations (Various Cases)

• When citing works by authors with the same name, include the initial(s) of the first name.
• Anonymous works use the name "Anonymous" in the citation.
• Works without an author include the first few words of the title.
• For classic works, cite the year of translation if the original publication date isn't available.
• Provide the specific page number of quotes and paraphrasing from classic texts..

Citing from Secondary Sources

• Primary sources are the original works of an author.
• Secondary sources contain analysis or commentary based on primary sources.
• A secondary citation notes the secondary source, noting the primary source and its content.
• Correctly cite the primary source in the relevant bibliography listing.

Referencing Components

• Reference list contains details for cited sources.
• Key aspects of references: author, date, title, journal, volume, etc.

Document Types

• The document covers formatting of citations for a wide range of academic documents, such as journal articles, books, chapters, conference papers, reports, websites, and more.

• This guide also discusses citations for various types of archival materials, such as letters and personal papers.

• The document includes detailed guidelines for formatting citations and references for various sources.