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:
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:
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:
For additional information on EndNote please visit the websites below:
• Quick reference guide
• EndNote guides, video tutorials, and live online training
• EndNote YouTube channel
What is pagiarism?
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). 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)
