You must always carefully cite the sources you are using in your papers, essays and theses. That is why it is of the utmost importance that you note down precisely which sources you are using, right from the start of your research. Note down the exact title description and page number of the source you are using. You must also indicate when you are using a particular passage literally (citation) and when your are refrasing a passage in your own words (paraphrasing).
You can manage your literature in various ways:
Once you have evaluated and saved your search results, it is time to organise, analyse and syntesize them. To help you do this, you an use a literature matrix and/or a synthesis matrix. Below, you will find several examples:
Sciflow
With Sciflow you have an intuitive, online AI text editor that allows you to combine your English writing tasks:
Would you like to know more? Check out the tutorial (3 min)
Source: AI-toolwijzer NLDA.
Would you like to optimize your texts? With paraphrasing AI tools, you can strengthen the core of your message, create smooth transitions, and refine your wording in the writing style you prefer.
For example, use one of these AI tools:
Note: AI tools can make mistakes, such as misinterpreting the context of a sentence or generating grammatically incorrect text.
Sciflow offers an AI text processor that you can use for writing and proofreading English texts.
Source: AI-toolwijzer NLDA.
Are you looking for a tool that helps you elevate your English writing?
There are AI tools specifically designed to support students and researchers in writing essays, papers, and other academic texts. They check spelling and grammar, and improve your word choice and writing style. Thanks to automatic review, you save a lot of time and avoid blind spots. This way, your supervisor can focus on the content.
For example, make use of:
Would you like feedback on, for example, the strength of your arguments or the presence of contradictions in your text, in order to deliver a document that is as well-supported as possible? Then choose:
Take the suggestions seriously, but use your own judgment.
Source: AI-toolwijzer NLDA.
Ways to use refences in your text:
Citing
Citing means repeating or copying out someone else’s words. You should cite when a formulation is so precise that it would lose its meaning or significance if worded differently. When you cite someone else’s work, you must put the text between quotation marks and provide a source reference.
Paraphrasing
paraphrasing means describing passages from other people’s publications in your own words. When paraphrasing you are not copying the text but re-writing it. It is very important in terms of linking the work to your own text and ideas. If you do not use paraphrasing, your text will give the impression of being ‘cut and pasted’.
Paraphrasing should not be used to make texts ‘read better’, and certainly not to conceal the fact that a text is actually someone else’s work. You always have to provide a source reference, so also when you paraphrase.
What is acknowledgement of sources?
When acknowledging your sources (also known as citation of sources,quotation of sources or reference), you state where you found the information: in which book or article, or on which website. When doing so, you will always use a citation style, for example APA or Vancouver.
Why cite sources?
It must be clear to the reader which ideas are yours and which ideas are from the works of others.
It must be possible for the reader to verify where you took the information from.
The use of suitable sources will increase the quality of your report and by that also its credibility.
How to cite a source?
In your text, you include a short reference to the source. This consists of: the author’s name, the year of publication and sometimes the page number.
Citing within the text can be done in two ways: by quoting or by paraphrasing. Quoting means repeating a text verbatim. Paraphrasing means repeating a text in your own words.
At the end of your report, you include a list of all the sources you used: this is known as the bibliography, reference list or list of sources.
A bibliography contains at least the following elements for each publication: author + year of publication + title + publisher.
Does the publication have DOI? Then, also mention this one in you reference.
A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique and never-changing string assigned to online (journal) articles, books, and other works. It is a permanent link to the online location of a document. It's access is guaranteed with a DOI, even if an URL changes.
The bibliography, source list or list of references is placed at the end of the text to provide an overview of the information sources you have consulted. There are strict rules for compiling these lists, and there are different styles for different disciplines (APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, Harvard).
In the academic world there are strict rules for setting out source references. Each discipline has its own citation style. Also, references are set out differently depending on whether you use them in a bibliography, in the text itself, in a footnote or in an endnote. During your study you will learn which citation styles should be used for your discipline. The citation styles that are being used within BUas are APA and Harvard. Below, you will find videos, publications and websites about these citation styles.
For more information about citation styles, see Referencing - LibGuides at Breda University of Applied Sciences
Below you will find various sources with explanations about source citation according to the latest edition of APA:
What are Reference Mangers?
Reference managers are digital tools designed to help you organize, store, and cite sources efficiently during your research and writing process. They simplify the task of collecting bibliographic data, managing PDFs, and correctly formatting references and citations for your assignments or publications.
Popular examples of reference managers include EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley. These platforms support a wide variety of citation styles and can save you valuable time when compiling bibliographies or citing sources within your work.
BUas offers and actively supports EndNote for students and staff, providing access to the software as well as guidance to help you make the most of its features.
EndNote
EndNote is a bibliographic software tool which helps you build, maintain and use a personal database with references.
EndNote enables you to:
Installing Endnote
The Library has a license for the latest version of EndNote that is available to all its students and employees.
You can download EndNote via your portal:
EndNote Support & Guides
For information about using EndNote at BUas, check out our EndNote Libguide
For additional information on EndNote please visit the websites below:
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking someone else's work, ideas, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft (definition from the Oxford English Dictionary). Plagiarism means that you, accidentally or purposely, present someone else’s work or ideas as your own without properly referring to the original source. In the academic world, but also at our university, this is a serious accusation that can have severe consequences.
Some examples of plagiarism:
Turnitin
Our university takes copyright and plagiarism very seriously. To prevent plagiarism lecturers and supervisors use the software program of Turnitin to check students' products like essays, placement reports, and theses. This program compares these papers with publications on the Internet and in databases of educational institutions, including our own university. When it detects plagiarism it indicates how many and which resources have been used.
Self-plagiarism
Self-plagiarism is the presentation of your own previously published work as original; like plagiarism, self-plagiarism is unethical. Self-plagiarism deceives readers by making it appear that more information is available on a topic than really exists.
Some institutions may consider it self-plagiarism if a student submits a paper written for one class to complete an assignment for another class without permission from the current instructor. Using the same paper in multiple classes may violate the academic integrity policy, honor code, or ethics code of the university.
However, incorporating previous classwork into one’s thesis or dissertation and building on one’s own existing writing may be permissible; students who wish to do this should discuss their ideas with their instructor or advisor and follow their university’s honor code, ethics code, or academic policies when reusing their previous work. Source: Plagiarism (apa.org)
Re-use materials
You are allowed to re-use materials through summarizing, paraphrasing or quoting as long as you properly identify the source. Watch the videos below to get more insight into plagiarism and how to re-use ideas without plagiarizing:
For information on copyright in higher education, check out the webpage of BUas Library's Copyright Information Point (CIP)
