Citation Management tools

Why we cite

Quality academic writing is built upon the work of others, to which we add our own unique analysis and contributions.

Citation allows us to acknowledge: how the scholarship of others has contributed to our own work, to distinguish for our readers which ideas are our own and which

are borrowed, and to give our readers a path by which they can trace the

intellectual development of the ideas we present.

To fail to distinguish our original ideas from those of our forebears is plagiarism, "the act of appropriating the literary composition of another author, or excerpts, ideas, or passages there from, and passing the material off as one's own creation."

Why We Cite: The Purposes of Citation

Citations serve three major roles in scholarly work:

They allow you to show how your argument is built upon the ideas of others.

They allow you to indicate which ideas are taken from others, and from whom those ideas were taken; in other words, to give credit where it's due.

They allow the interested reader to follow your argument and confirm its logic by investigating the ideas on which the argument is built, or to further explore those ideas on their own.

In each case, it's important that you acknowledge the ways in which others' ideas contributed to your own. Otherwise, you run the risk of plagiarism.

Why We Cite: What Needs to be Cited?

When you write a paper or create a project, you often use and build upon information that other people have researched and compiled and ideas that others have developed. If you incorporate or refer to others' theories, words, ideas or concepts in your paper, you must document each one using a citation. In addition, you must likewise acknowledge the use of facts and statistics that another has compiled.

Why We Cite: What Needs to be Cited?

You need to document:

Direct quotes, both entire sentences and phrases

Paraphrases (rephrased or summarized material)

Words or terminology specific to or unique to the author's research, theories, or ideas

Use of an author's argument or line of thinking

Historical, statistical, or scientific facts

Graphs, drawings, or other such aggregations of information or data

Articles or studies you refer to within your text

Why We Cite: What Needs to be Cited?

You do not need to document:

Proverbs, axioms, and sayings ("A stitch in time saves nine.")

Well-known quotations ("Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.")

Common knowledge (Thomas Edison invented the phonograph; "Starry Night" was painted by Vincent Van Gogh; Oxygen has the atomic number 8)

Why We Cite: What Needs to be Cited?

Sometimes it can be difficult to be sure what counts as common knowledge, especially when writing in a discipline that's new to you. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if a knowledgeable reader would be familiar with the information in question. If he or she would have to look it up to confirm it, you should usually document it. If you're not sure, document it to play it safe.

Why We Cite: Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is theft;

it is a violation of professional ethics;

it is a violation of UNC at Chapel Hill's Honor Code;

furthermore, the courts have recognized it as a violation of copyright.

There are many ways to violate copyright, including: failure to acknowledge direct quotes or the paraphrasing

of another person's work, and the insufficient acknowledgment of such works.

Why We Cite: Avoiding Plagiarism

The research process involves:

familiarizing yourself with the ideas of others in order to form your own perspectives or arguments,

perform experiments, and create new work.

In doing research you will often read books and articles that present different ideas and arguments from many authors. From these ideas you will create your own and incorporate them into your writing. As a responsible researcher, it is essential to give credit to the ideas and work of other researchers.

Why We Cite: Avoiding Plagiarism

The UNC Honor Code defines plagiarism as "the intentional representation of anotherperson's words, thoughts or ideas as one's own" (Instrument of Student Judicial Governance, Section II.B.1). This is a serious offense in the academic world and can take various forms. Here are some examples of plagiarism:

Buying or using any sort of paper or project from another person or service and turning it in as the product of your own work

Turning in someone else's work as your own with or without that person's knowledge

Submitting or presenting work turned in for one class to fulfill an assignment in another class without the prior agreement of the instructor involved

Copying statements from a source and using them without proper use of quotation marks and citations

Paraphrasing information from a source without proper citation.

This list is by no means exhaustive. The most important tools for avoiding plagiarism are common sense and due diligence. If you ever have to ask yourself whether an act might be considered plagiarism, err on the side of caution.

Citation Formats APA style refers to the citation format established by the American Psychological Association. APA is

the style preferred by most of the disciplines in the social sciences.

MLA style refers to the citation format established by the Modern Language Association. MLA is used by many disciplines in the humanities, including English and other language studies, art, and philosophy. Because of this, MLA style provides citation formats for such things as works of art, correspondence, and archived manuscripts.

Chicago style refers to the citation format established by the University of Chicago Press. A slightly modified version of Chicago Style, intended for writers of research papers, is known as Turabian style after its creator, Kate Turabian. Differences between the two styles are minor, so they are presented together. Chicago/Turabian style supports two citation systems: the Notes and Bibliography system is traditionally used in the arts and humanities, and the Author-Date system is recommended for the natural sciences and social sciences. The following pages provide examples of how to cite information resources using both systems.

CSE style, formerly called CBE style, refers to the citation style established by the Council of Science Editors. CSE is the format preferred by writers in many disciplines in the natural sciences, including biology, geology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics. CSE style provides two different citation systems: the Name-Year system and the Citation-Sequence system (sometimes called the Superscript system. These systems differ in their presentation of in-text citations and in the way works cited are listed. The following pages provide examples of how to cite resources using both systems.