Citations: The Way to Avoid Plagiarism

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “plagiarize” as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: use (another’s production) without crediting the source.” (plagiarize. 2020. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved April 3, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize)

Plagiarism is unethical. It also leads to a loss of trust in you and your work.

In this post, we are talking only of citations in general. The two upcoming posts will describe the citation formats prescribed by the:

1. American Psychological Association (AMA)
2. Modern Language Association (MLA)

Plagiarism Can Cost You a Doctorate and a Presidency

After he was found guilty of plagiarism, the Hungarian President Pal Schmitt’s doctorate was revoked and he had to resign from the presidency.

The New York Times ​(Karasz, 2012)​ reported that Budapest’s Semmelweis University conducted an investigation that found that a significant portion of Mr. Schmitt’s thesis on the modern Olympic games was copied from the work of two other authors. Mr. Schmitt announced his resignation from presidentship soon after losing his doctorate in the plagiarism scandal.

How Can We Avoid Plagiarism?

Plagiarism occurs and in many forms. While intentional plagiarism is unforgivable, unintentional plagiarism can be avoided and very easily.

There is only one way to avoid plagiarism and that is clearly credit the source using a citation. A citation is a formal way of referring to or attributing the source content.

Some Points to Note

• You must cite all content from another source, even when you have not used it verbatim (or “as is”). For example, if you draw conclusions based on some published data , you must still cite the source of the data.
  
  Thus, you must use a citation every time you summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.

• As we are researching and writing, we must maintain a meticulous record of every source and what we have used from that source. This ensures that we can easily locate the source of a particular piece of information and cite it correctly in our work.

Citation Styles

To ensure that a citation includes all necessary information and is understood universally, many organisations or publications have defined citation styles for different types of publications and formats. Over time, these have become global standards.

Some of the most commonly used citation styles are from:

1. American Psychological Association (AMA)
2. Modern Language Association (MLA)
3. Chicago Manual of Style
4. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

How to Cite Sources

You must always cite a source such that it is clearly and unmistakably identified.

Every citation has two components:

1. an in-text citation, which as the name suggests, indicates the source of the information at the point that the information is being used. The in-text citation is a shortened version of the full reference.
2. the full reference contains the complete details of the source and is placed in the list of references at the end of the document.

We have added an in-text citation in the section Plagiarism Can Cost You a Doctorate and a Presidency The corresponding reference can be found under References.

For every in-text citation, there should be a corresponding entry in the reference list. Conversely, every entry in the refence list must be cited in the text.

Irrespective of the citation style used, we must:

• verify that the citation references the correct source.
• be consistent and adhere to one citation style throughout our document.

Important: Bibliography vs Reference

You may have referenced more sources that you have cited.

If you are using the MLA style, you will include all useful sources in a separate Bibliography. So, a document following the MLA style will have both a Works Cited list and a Bibliography.

However, the APA style recommends that you include only the works you have cited under References, and omit all other sources.

References

1. Karasz, P. (2012, April 2). Hungarian President Resigns Amid Plagiarism Scandal. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/world/europe/hungarian-president-pal-schmitt-resigns-amid-plagiarism-scandal.html