How to Cite
Sources
Academic
Papers
• An academic
paper can be defined as a paper that uses outside resources of any kind, rather
than your own creativity and imagination. Writing a poem, short story, memoir,
or novel does not require any citation, although authors of historical fiction
usually provide a bibliography or some other type of recognition for the basis
of their plot and/or characters.
• In a paper
you write for class, there are three main things that require a citation: direct
quotes from articles, books, or websites; photos, graphs, or other images; and
ideas that you might have reworded or paraphrased, but are no longer direct
quotes.
Direct
Quotes
• A direct
quote should be cited immediately following the last quote mark: “Mobility and
independent action have long characterized nomadic pastoralists” (Bates and
Rassam, p. 124).
• Depending on
what citation style your professor asks you to use (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.);
your citation will look different. If you use footnotes or end notes, the number
of the note should immediately follow the quote mark, where the parentheses (…)
are above.
• “Mobility and
independent action have long characterized nomadic pastoralists.”8 The
appropriate bibliographic reference would then be listed under 8 in the end
notes, or at the bottom of the page for foot notes.
• Microsoft
Word will create footnotes by pressing CTRL+ALT+F or it will create and endnote
by pressing CTRL+ALT+D. You can also find footnotes under the Insert menu, under
Reference. Word will number your notes automatically as you go along, changing
the numbers if you add or delete!
• Be sure you
have all the correct bibliographic information such as author name, place of
publishing, and copyright date. If you cite a website, be sure you have the date
you accessed the site, when the site was last updated, and an author of the page
if you can find it (title of the page will substitute here if there is no
specific author or webmaster listed).
Photographs
& Other Images
•
Photographers, cartographers (mapmakers), and tacticians (they make a lot of
graphs) are just like authors, whose work is considered intellectual property.
If you are borrowing it for your paper, any images, graphics, models, and
photographs must be cited.
Paraphrased
Ideas
• When you
“paraphrase,” you are rewording another author’s ideas instead of using a direct
quote. Paraphrasing is often used to summarize or consolidate an idea, or
perhaps to highlight an author’s broader point in a large work. Citing a
paraphrased idea is just as important as citing a direct quote, because often a
professor looking for plagiarism can tell when an idea is not typical of that
student.
• When do you
need to cite paraphrased ideas? If the idea you are discussing is not “common
knowledge,” something that every author would say the same thing about, then the
idea you just put in your paper needs to be credited to the original author. Or,
if you simply rearrange the author’s words or use a majority of the original
vocabulary, then that is paraphrasing and needs to be cited. The mechanics are
the same as a direct quote: the citation (parenthetical documentation or
footnotes and endnotes) needs to come immediately after the end of the idea.
Quality
Sources:
DOs and
DON'Ts of What to Use
Your professor
is always telling you to use “legitimate” or “credible” sources, right? So, what
qualifies in those categories? A good way to judge the difference between
quality and not-so-quality sources: racy headlines and lots of pictures aren’t
likely to have the most reliable information, but a journal that publishes
academic articles is probably a good place to begin.
Unless you’re
trying to write a paper about popular culture and need examples from People or
Seventeen, most people avoid the weekly or monthly popular magazines. Below are
some examples of things to avoid:
• Periodicals
like National Enquirer, People, The Onion
• Websites
expressing extreme political views or articles in propaganda materials trying to
recruit people to specific ideologies.
• Popular
television or radio shows, novels, and personal websites.
Some
alternatives, that are monitored by the academic community and whose information
is typically reviewed by other scholars:
• Journals and
other publications with articles by scholars that have been peer-reviewed by
other experts on the subject.
• Magazines
published by national professional organizations (like the National Association
of Music Educators, etc.)
• Sites hosted
by the United Nations, a state, federal, or foreign government, national or
international scientific associations, or other organizations that are
nationally or internationally recognized (like the American Red Cross or the
Nature Conservancy)
Academic
Integrity Online Resources
The following
websites offer a multitude of resources to check your citations, verify a
website’s credibility, or gain more information regarding the Academic Integrity
Initiative. Feel free to utilize these sites as you assemble your bibliography
and works cited page. When using these sites, be sure to confirm which style of
citation is required by your professor for your specific class and assignment.
Automated
Citation Creators
http://www.noodletools.com/index.html
MLA & APA Reference Sites
http://www.cwpost.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Academic+Integrity
http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/internet/links/Writing/
Credibility of
Internet Sources Helpers
http://www.smpcollege.com/guidebook/online_7.htm#tryit
http://www.uwec.edu/library/Guides/tencs.html
http://contentselect.pearsoned.com/using-internet.html#evaluating
UI Plagiarism
Policy
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/english/comp/plagiarism.htm
UI English Department's Policy on Plagiarism
University of
Idaho Expectations
©2004
University of Idaho. All rights reserved
University of
Idaho Moscow, ID 83844
|