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Academic Integrity

This guide has been created to provide access to resources on the topic of Academic Integrity.

Citing your Sources

Citing your sources means acknowledging and giving credit to the original authors or creators of the information or ideas you have used in your work.

There are many ways of citing resources. Speak with your faculty to confirm the citation style they prefer.  

Quotation of Sources

The following are some practices that may assist you in your research experience:

  • practice effective note-taking

  • keep a working bibliography

  • paraphrase ideas into your own words

  • refer to the text to make sure you have not unintentionally copied information

  • use your own voice to put a new twist on information

  • when in doubt, provide full and complete references

  • remember that research, writing, and citing take time

For more information on effective research practices, visit Library Services Research Guide.

libsncu. (2014, July 23). Citation: A (very) brief introduction [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/IMhMuVvXCVw

A direct quotation is reproducing word for word material directly quoted from another author's work. A direct quote is the exact words of the original author without any changes to the text.

The following guidelines may help further your understanding of when to provide an in text citation:

  • cite direct quotations that you copy from another source

  • cite statistics and data

  • cite pictures, illustrations and other multimedia

  • cite resources located in the public domain

  • cite online sources including websites, articles, blogs, listservs, discussion boards, etc.

An indirect quotation (paraphrase) is when you express an idea or concept from another author’s work in your own words. Using an indirect quote involves taking information from the original source and paraphrasing or putting it into your own words.

When you paraphrase, you must also credit the original source.

The following guidelines may help you when citing indirect (paraphrase) quotations:

  • cite all indirect or paraphrased quotes

  • cite ideas or concepts from another author that are not your own original ideas

Common knowledge refers to information you can reasonably expect the general public to know. Common knowledge can be basic facts, historical events, or well known cultural or geographical information. 

Two Categories Of Common Knowledge

  • information that most people know
  • information shared by a specific group of people, such as a national or cultural group, or discipline specific common knowledge

Common knowledge does not need to be cited because it is widely known, undisputed, easily verified, and generally not attributable to a specific author; however, a good practice is to speak with your instructor when you are unsure if information is common knowledge.

Examples include

  • a year has 365 days
  • Canada uses the dollar as its currency

 

How To Determine If Something Is Common Knowledge

Ask yourself the following:

  • are you writing for a general audience or for experts in a specific field?
  • if your reader might be surprised by your statement, question its accuracy
  • could your reader verify the information across multiple sources?
  • if you are unsure, check with you faculty for guidance and provide a citation

 

Discipline Specific Common Knowledge

Discipline specific common knowledge is information that is so well-known within a field of study that it is considered common knowledge within this particular field.

To determine what is common knowledge can be tricky, so when in doubt, cite!