Citations,

Referencing and
Avoiding Plagiarism

PROF TS. DR AZIZAH ENDUT

FRIT
enazizah@unisza.edu.my
 Citing and Referencing
• Acknowledging your sources of information (journal articles, books, etc.):
– A citation in the text of the document
– A reference list at the end of the document

• Important to validate your research

– Show that your work, ideas and conclusions
are based on those that are authorities
in the field of research

• Help readers to locate your sources and show

readers where your work “fits in” to the existing
literature in the field
 Citing and Referencing
• Citation
– To cite: to mark within your text that information comes from a published
source
– Citations can take the form of (author date), a bracketed number [1], or a
superscript number (e.g. footnotes), depending on the style used

• Reference list
– List at the end of your manuscript/thesis containing the full publication details
of the sources that have been cited in the main text

• Bibliography
– Complete list of sources consulted about a topic but not necessarily cited in
the main text
– Rarely used in scientific papers for the pure sciences
Materials taken mainly from “Demystifying citing and referencing”. Monash University Library.
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/
 Citing and Referencing
• Avoiding plagiarism
– When you put your name on a piece of academic writing you indicate
that it is your own original work – except where indicated by citations
– To maintain academic integrity you must give due credit to the original
authors of the material you use

Materials taken mainly from “Demystifying citing and referencing”. Monash University Library.
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/
 What is Plagiarism?
pla·gia·rism (plā'jə-rĭz'əm)

• Scientists and technologists are continually engaged with other people’s

ideas: we read them in publications and reports, hear them in lectures,
discuss them, and incorporate them into our own writing
What is Plagiarism?
 Why is Plagiarism Important?

• Ideas have value!

• It is very important that we give
credit where it is due
• By giving credit (citation –
providing a reference to the
source of the information) we also
demonstrate that the work has a
factual basis
 Intentional Plagiarism is Theft
• Plagiarism is a serious offence

• It is becoming a very serious problem in education and

publications worldwide

• It may result in expulsion, job termination and blacklisting by

journals

• Unfortunately, plagiarism is often carried out unintentionally

due to lack of awareness
 How to avoid Plagiarism
• You MUST give credit whenever you use another person’s:
– Ideas — Statistics
– Theory — Drawings
– Opinion — Graphs or Charts
– Facts
– Data
– Information of any kind that is not common knowledge
– Actual spoken or written words
• Verbatim
• Even if paraphrased
 How to avoid Plagiarism
• The best way to avoid accidental copying (it is a still a
violation whether you meant to or not), is to read the
passage and then express it in your own words – and don’t
forget to reference the original source(s)!

• Direct copying is really easy to detect (just “Google” it)

• will definitely find it!

How to avoid Plagiarism
 How to avoid Plagiarism
Check what you have written:
• Ideas and facts / data that are your own do not need any
citation or reference
• All other ideas / data that you have included need a “source”
to be mentioned (citation)
– exception is “common knowledge”
 What is “common knowledge”?
Ask yourself:
• Would I expect others to already know this?
• Did I know this before I started this project?

Material is probably common knowledge if you…

• find the same information undocumented in at least five
other sources
• think it is information that your readers will already know
• think anyone could easily find the information with general
reference sources
 What is “common knowledge”?
What about something everyone in my field knows?
• Check if the idea / fact has been reported in a peer reviewed book or
publication – if so, why not give the citation anyway…?

Some other clues….

A. “banana is a monocotyledonous plant" does not need to be referenced
B. “monocot genomes have been shown to contain many repetitive
elements" requires a reference
• In statement B the phrase "have been shown" should elicit the response
"BY WHOM???" - Whenever you can ask a question like this, you probably
need to reference the source.
• Bottom line: If it isn't your work and/or you aren't sure what to do,
provide a reference
 Proper Citation
• It is OK for you to consult work / writings of others when
preparing your paper or report. But:
• You must list the sources you have used in the reference
section, and
• Make sure that you do not copy extended parts
• You can include short sentences or paragraphs in “quotes”
and indicate where they come from, but your paper or report
should be your own work. That means using your own
examples and wording.
• A technical paper / report should NEVER be made by cut-
and-paste from various sources
 Referencing Styles
• There are numerous different referencing styles; however
they can be broadly grouped in three categories
– Author-date
– Numbered
– Footnote

Materials taken mainly from “Demystifying citing and referencing”. Monash University Library.
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/
 Referencing Styles
• Author-date:
– In-text citations give the author(s)’ surname and date in round
brackets
– A complete list of references is included at the end of the document,
in alphabetical order by author surname
– Examples of author-date styles
• Harvard
• APA
• Turabian

Materials taken mainly from “Demystifying citing and referencing”. Monash University Library.
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/
 Referencing Styles
• Author-date:
– Example: Journal of Medical Microbiology
 Referencing Styles
• Numbered:
– Numbers are added in the text and a complete list of references is
included at the end of the document, either in numerical order or
alphabetical order
– Examples of numbered styles
• Vancouver
• IEEE
• AIP

Materials taken mainly from “Demystifying citing and referencing”. Monash University Library.
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/
 Referencing Styles
• Numbered:
– Example: PLoS One (references in numerical order)
 Referencing Styles
• Numbered:
– Example: Journal of Bacteriology (references in alphabetical order)
 Referencing Styles
• Footnote:
– Superscript numbers are added in the text and citation details are
provided at the bottom of each page
– A complete list of references is included at the end of the document,
in alphabetical order by author surname
– Usually used in Law and the Arts
– Example of footnote styles
• Chicago

Materials taken mainly from “Demystifying citing and referencing”. Monash University Library.
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/
 Referencing Styles
• Example of Chicago (footnote) style:
 Referencing Styles

• With such a multitude and diversity of referencing styles,

authors should read and pay careful attention to the
Instructions to Authors when preparing a manuscript for
publication
– Each journal / book / thesis will have their own referencing style which
needs to be strictly followed
 Journal abbreviations
• A full list of journal abbreviations is maintained at the ISI/Web of Science:
http://images.webofknowledge.com/WOK46/help/WOS/A_abrvjt.html
 Journal abbreviations
• Abbreviated journal names are also searchable at the PubMed Journals
Database (National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, USA)
at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=journals
 What to cite for the reference list?
• Some people think that you only need to cite when you have
directly copied the words of another author  there is more
to it than that!

• Quotations
– Whenever you directly copy the words of another author (quote),
ensure you use quotation marks
– Please note that in scientific/technical disciplines it is not acceptable
to quote more than a line or two  usually better to paraphrase
rather than use direct quotes
 What to cite for the reference list?

• Direct quotes:
In a recent review, Chan et al. (2012) hypothesized “that the additional promoter
afforded by the BOX element enabled higher noise in the expression of yefM-yoeB,
thereby enhancing its bistable behavior and enabling a faster adaptation to
changing environments”.
 What to cite for the reference list?

• Paraphrase:
In a recent review, Chan et al. (2012) proposed that BOX elements play a role in
helping bacteria to quickly adapt to changing environments through enhancing
bistability in the expression of genes found in their vicinity.
 What to cite for the reference list?
• Factual information
– When using information from any published source, including books, journals,
government reports or websites, it is essential to accurately cite and reference
– A reader must be able to identify what is your own work, what is the work of
others, and where to find the source of your information
 What to cite for the reference list?
• Data, methods & images
– Whenever you use any data, graphs, tables, images, videos, software, research methods
– in fact any kind of intellectual property that is not your own original work - you need
to acknowledge the source
What to cite for the reference list?
 Citing online materials
• It is permitted to cite material from electronic databases
and the internet
• But be sure that you follow an appropriate format. This
should include:
– the author(s)
– the date of sourcing
– the full URL

• Where possible, cite a published article instead

– only use a web page as source if the material is not published
anywhere else – not because you like the way it is written!
 Citing online materials
• Useful for references to online
reports and data

Citation:
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (2012).
URL:
http://econ.mpob.gov.my/upk/daily/
bh_ffb01aug11.htm. Accessed August
2012.
 Citing online materials
• Electronic journals are cited the same way as printed journals
and usually provide information on how they should be cited
 Reference Management Software

• http://endnote.com/

• Not free (USD 299.95) – can download free trial

Reference Management Software
 Reference Management Software
• Mendeley (http://www.mendeley.com/)

• Free reference management software

– Requires users to store basic citation data in its servers – storing copies of
documents is at the user’s discretion
– Provides users with 1GB free storage space, upgradable at a cost
– Enables automatic extraction of metadata from PDF papers (need to recheck
as sometimes metadata extracted is faulty!)
– Downloadable plugin for Microsoft WORD – enables the user to cite as he/she
writes just like for EndNote