Citing, Plagiarism & Academic Integrity: Other Sources

Crezelda Jequinto

Note: This guide was created as one of the requirements for the LIS subject, Information Literacy.

• What is a reference or a citation?
• Examples of citation
• What is a citation or a reference style?
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Where to get more information about citing and referencing?

What is Citing and Referencing Sources?

Citing and referencing is how you acknowledge the articles, books and other resources that you used when creating your academic work. In-text citations show which source you are referring to, and at the end of your work a Reference List gives the full details of the source so your reader can find it again.

What is a reference or a citation?

When you use information from sources, you need to tell the readers where the information came from and where the readers can locate the sources. This is what citations and references are for. A citation tells the readers where the information came from. In your writing, you cite or refer to the source of information.

Examples of Citations

Example Citations: Articles
AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Article Title." Journal Title, Version, Number, Publication Date, Page Numbers. 

L'Ambrosch, Zampoun and Teodolinda Roncaglia. 
Newspaper Article from an Online Database. 
Newspaper Article from Web or Print Source

What is a citation or a reference style?

A citation style is a set of rules on how to cite sources in academic writing. Whenever you refer to someone else's work, a citation is required to avoid plagiarism. Citation style guidelines are often published in an official handbook containing explanations, examples, and instructions. A referencing style is a set of rules on how to acknowledge the thoughts, ideas and works of others in a particular way. Referencing is a crucial part of successful academic writing, avoiding plagiarism and maintaining academic integrity in your assignments and research.

Avoiding Plagiarism

How to avoid plagiarism

• Keep track of the sources you consult in your research.
• Paraphrase or quote from your sources (and add your own ideas).
• Credit the original author in an in-text citation and reference list.
• Use a plagiarism checker before you submit.
• Where to get more information about citing and referencing?

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.