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Citation Styles & Tools

What your citation looks like depends on the style that your academic discipline follows. If you don't know where to start (and if your instructor hasn't specified a style guide to follow), read through the overview of common citation styles.

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What is Plagiarism?

Failure to properly cite sources is considered plagiarism, whether intentional or not.

Plagiarism is:

  • Using others work/ideas without citing sources
  • Making up citations/sources
  • Passing off another’s work as your own
  • Paraphrasing someone's work without citation

How Do You Avoid Plagiarism?

In order to avoid plagiarism:

  • Keep track of your sources and cite everything.
  • If you’re not sure whether something needs to be cited, ask your instructor or a librarian.
  • Make sure you cite even when you paraphrase – not just when you use direct quotes.
  • When you do paraphrase, use your own words. Don’t just rearrange sentences or replace select words. You need to show that you understand this information and are using it for a reason.

Plagiarism Checkers

Before you turn your work in, check for accidental plagiarism using Turnitin.

Other Helpful links

If you are quoting or paraphrasing information, reusing an image, restating information presented in a table, or if you otherwise did not think of the information you are using, a source should be cited. Citations give authors/creators/researchers credit for their work.

 

A flowchart demonstrating whne you cite if what you are using is a quote, paraphrase, common knowledge or original thought.The text above the image explains more.