IL Step 5: Understanding Citations Information Literacy 1

IL Step 5:IL Step 5:Understanding CitationsUnderstanding Citations

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 11

Citations: Citations: OverviewOverview What are citations (i.e., references)?

► Citation • A reference to a source of information being presented• Consists of in-text citation & bibliographic entry at the end

► What should be referenced?• Any info (e.g., idea, data) not your own must be cited

► Use of others’ work without citation → Plagiarism• Serious academic offence

e.g., paraphrasing, summarizing, copy & past

Why use citations?► To give authors credit for their work► To allow readers to find the original work► To add credibility & reliability to your work► To support your ideas & arguments► To avoid plagiarism

Tips► Identify information that may be useful from search results► Take notes of information (e.g., facts, ideas) and its source (i.e., bibliographic information)

• Data, quotes, summary, ideas, etc. bibliographic entry► Use your own ideas. Use ideas of others sparingly (only to support/reinforce your ideas)


In-text Citations: In-text Citations: StyleStyle

Author-Date► Summaries of the authors & publication year► Reference list at the end is in an alphabetical

order of the first author’s last name

Numeric► Citations are given numbers in the order of

appearance► Reference list at the end is ordered in a numeric

order


Bibliographic Citations: Bibliographic Citations: StyleStyle Guidelines

► Selection of bibliographic citation styles depends on• Types of documents (e.g., thesis, journal article)• Subject discipline• Institutional guidelines & regulations

e.g., Journals have their own requirements for citation style

Types of Bibliographic Citations► APA (American Psychological Association) Style Social Sciences

► MLA (Modern Language Association) Style English

► Chicago Manual of Style Humanities

► IEE (Institute for Electrical & Electronic Engineers) Style Engineering & Computer Science

► CSE (Council of Science Editors) Style Life Sciences

► NLM (National Library of Medicine) Style Medicine► Numeric/Numbered-List Style Biomedical Sciences


http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa



http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla



http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/~writing/handbook-docum1b.html



Bibliographic Citations: Bibliographic Citations: ElementsElements Citation Elements (i.e., Bibliographic Details)

► Most citations styles contain the same basic information► Details of citation depend on type of the source (and citation style)

Minimal Set of Citation Elements► Journal Articles

→ Authors, Publication Year, Article Title, Journal Name, Volume Number (issue number), Pagination

Smith, J. (1987). Close range photogrammetry for analyzing distressed trees. Photogrammetria, 42(1), 47-56.

► Books→ Authors/Editors of book, Publication Year, Book Title (Edition), Place of Publication, Publisher

Kidder, T. (1981). The soul of a new machine. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.

► Book Chapters→ Authors of book chapter, Publication Year, Chapter Title, Authors/Editors of book (if different), Book Title

(Edition), Place of Publication, Publisher, Chapter Pagination

Milkman, R. (1998). The new American workplace: high road or low road? In P. Thompson & C. Warhurst (Eds.), Workplaces of the Future (pp. 22-34). London: Macmillan Press.

► Web Documents→ Authors, Date of Last Update, Title of Page, Date of Viewing, URL

Schwarz, A. (Sept. 13, 2010). Penn Football Player Had Brain Disease, Autopsy Shows. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/sports/14football.html?_r=1&hp


Citation Methods: Citation Methods: QuotationsQuotations Quoting Directly copying the words of another author (word for word)

► Must include page numbers• e.g., (Einstein, 1984, p. 234)

► Short text• Put the quoted text within quotation marks (“ ”)

► Long text (i.e., block quotations)• Separated from the rest of text without quotation marks• Usually indented and in smaller font size

► Use ellipsis (…) for skipped text• Einstein (1984, p.234) said, “Everything is relative … Time-space curve of the universe is where we exist.”

► Use sparingly (only when you have a good reason)

► ExampleIn his book, An Agricultural Testament, Howard (1940) explained a key concept of organic farming: The

interrelationship between the health of soil, plants, animals and man. This concept also included the idea of self-regulation in nature. Howard stated that “crops and live stock look after themselves” (p. 3), like in nature where pests and diseases are overcome without the use of poisonous chemicals and vaccines, because “the plants and animals can very well protect themselves” (p. 4).


Citation Methods: Citation Methods: ParaphrasesParaphrases Paraphrasing Using one’s own words to present ideas/information of other author

► Restate in your own words instead of simply rearranging or replacing words► Do not alter the meaning► Do not provide your interpretation or opinion► Page numbers are not essential► Preferable to quotations

► Example

Original Text The crops and live stock look after themselves. Nature has never found it necessary to design the equivalent of the spraying machine and the poison spray for the control of insect and fungous pests. There is nothing in the nature of vaccines and serums for the protection of the live stock. It is true that all kinds of diseases are to be found here and there among the plants and animals of the forest, but these never assume large proportions. The principle followed is that the plants and animals can very well protect themselves even when such things as parasites are to be found in their midst. Nature’s rule in these matters is to live and let live.- Howard, A. (1940) An Agricultural Testament. Oxford University Press, London, pp. 3–4.

Paraphrased Text In his book, An Agricultural Testament, Howard (1940) explained a key concept of organic farming: The interrelationship between the health of soil, plants, animals and man. This concept also included the idea of self-regulation in nature, where there is no need to destroy pathogenic organisms by poisonous chemicals or therapeutic drugs. Howard (pp. 3-4) recognizes that diseases of plants and animals do occur in nature, but never on a large scale, because plants and animals develop their own defense mechanisms against pathogens.


Citation Methods: Citation Methods: SummariesSummaries Summarizing Putting the main points of another author into one’s own words

► Do not alter the meaning or provide your interpretation or opinion► Page numbers are not essential

► Example

Original Text The crops and live stock look after themselves. Nature has never found it necessary to design the equivalent of the spraying machine and the poison spray for the control of insect and fungous pests. There is nothing in the nature of vaccines and serums for the protection of the live stock. It is true that all kinds of diseases are to be found here and there among the plants and animals of the forest, but these never assume large proportions. The principle followed is that the plants and animals can very well protect themselves even when such things as parasites are to be found in their midst. Nature’s rule in these matters is to live and let live.- Howard, A. (1940) An Agricultural Testament. Oxford University Press, London, pp. 3–4.

Summarized Text In his book, An Agricultural Testament, Howard (1940) explained a key concept of organic farming: The interrelationship between the health of soil, plants, animals and man. This concept also included the idea of self-regulation in nature. Howard (pp. 3-4) states that nature does not rely upon poisons and therapeutic solutions to plant and animal health. Although diseases do occur in nature, natural mechanisms prevent plant and animal pests and diseases to become widespread.

Paraphrased Text In his book, An Agricultural Testament, Howard (1940) explained a key concept of organic farming: The interrelationship between the health of soil, plants, animals and man. This concept also included the idea of self-regulation in nature, where there is no need to destroy pathogenic organisms by poisonous chemicals or therapeutic drugs. Howard (pp. 3-4) recognizes that diseases of plants and animals do occur in nature, but never on a large scale, because plants and animals develop their own defense mechanisms against pathogens.


Citation: Citation: DOs & DON’TsDOs & DON’Ts Do Not

► Submit other’s work• Use a report written by an acquaintance.

► Copy & Paste without acknowledgement (i.e., citation)• Copy a part of web page & insert into your report without citing the source

► Quote without acknowledgement• Use someone else’s exact words (in quotes) without citation

► Paraphrase without acknowledgement• Describe someone else’s work (in your own words) without citation

► Summarize without acknowledgement• Summarize someone else’s work without citation

Do Cite, Reference or Document your source► Whenever you use factual information or data you found in a source► Whenever you quote, paraphrase, summarize other’s work► Whenever you use ideas, opinions, interpretations, or conclusions written by others► Whenever you use someone else’s theory, method, or strategy► Whenever you mention some aspects of someone else’s work

• Unless that work is very famous


Citation: Citation: When It’s Okay Not to CiteWhen It’s Okay Not to Cite When using information from cited source within the same paragraph

► e.g., SMART system uses cosine similarity to compute query-document similarity (Salton, 1965). Since cosine similarity includes document length normalization in its formula, SMART term weight uses term frequency and document frequency only.

When dealing with common knowledge► Information that is familiar, easily available in many sources (e.g., encyclopedias, textbooks)► When in doubt, cite the source

When using phrases that have become part of everyday speech► e.g., “All the world is a stage” (As You Like it by Shakespeare)► e.g., “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (U.S. Declaration of Independence)

When you draw on ideas or phrases that arose in conversation► Verbal/electronic conversation with friend/teacher should be acknowledged in footnote► Check with the source before using the information (could be second-hand info)


Plagiarism: Plagiarism: ExamplesExamples Original Passage

Still, the telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before. (Daniel J Boorstin)


The telephone was a convenience, enabling Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before. Worst case of plagiarism: presented Boorstin’s idea as his/her own by changing some words

Daniel J. Boorstin argues that the telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before. Copied Boorstin’s passage word by word without quotation marks to indicate the extent of borrowing

Citation: Citation: ExerciseExercise1. The type of information that you need for citing sources include:

a. Dateb. Author’s namec. Issue numberd. Journal titlee. URLf. All of the above

2. Which of the following statements is accurate?

a. You don’t need to credit someone’s ideas as long as you change some of their words.b. Because the Internet is free you can download and use anything on it.c. You don’t have to cite information that is common knowledge.

3. You can avoid plagiarizing by

a. Using quotation marks when directly stating another person’s words.b. Using the ideas of other people sparingly and only to support your own argument.c. Taking notes about your sources, including citation information for each source—even Web sources.d. All of the above.

Citation Quiz
