مرور درس و نکات بیشتر

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Often times, you’ll want to pull ideas or information from scholarly publications to use as supporting details for a university course assignment. You’ll want to make sure that you properly give credit to any sources that you reference in academic writing. We do this by using citations.

What are Citations?

Citations signal to your reader that some material in your writing came from another source or another author. They also tell your reader the information they’ll need to find that source again for their own purposes.

 Citation — A quotation from or reference to a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholarly work.

So, you may be thinking, “This sounds like a lot of work.” “Do I have to include citations in my paper for everything that isn’t my own original thoughts?” Thankfully, the answer is no. According to the Hoover Library at McDaniel College (n.d.), there are five cases where you should cite your sources.

1.)  direct quotes of more than one word. If the author’s words are powerful or you need to be specific for your argument, the authors’ words can be used as a direct quote.

2.)  paraphrasing or summarizing. If you want to use someone else’s idea to help you make your point or to support your own ideas, in this case you would “translate” the ideas into your own words. A summary generally addresses the overall theme of a passage, article, opinion, etc. while a paraphrase generally restates a more specific thought or idea.

3.)  Information which may be common knowledge but still unfamiliar to your reader. This would also include statistical information which may be familiar information but still requires confirmation.

4.)  Not just books or articles should be cited. Any source that you use for information can and should be cited including interviews, websites, TV programs, and more.

5.)  Whenever you are not sure if something should be cited, be cautious and cite sources.

Key Points from the Video Lesson

Remember!
1. APA citation style is used in social science classes.
2. MLA citation style is used in humanities classes.
3. In-text citations occur inside a piece of writing.
4. End-of-text citations are longer and are found at the end of an essay on a works cited page.
5. Correctly citing sources helps you avoid plagiarism.