How Do I Cite Properly? Marking Sources
By referencing sources, the writer shows what previous theories, methods and results he is aware of and how his own results interplay with those interpretations. The list of references and the reference itself provide the reader with sufficient information to recognise and find the publication that is mentioned in the text. This is how e.g., a thesis reviewer can confirm whether the presented information is correct. In addition, references serve to acknowledge those who deserve the acknowledgement.
Quotations and references are an essential part of scientific writing, plagiarism is never done:
- Indirect quote = summarising another author’s words using your own.
- Quotation = using the author’s own words, must be enclosed within quotation marks (aka “citation”).
- Plagiarising = presenting another person’s works as your own.
Referencing sources consists of two phases: the citation in text and the list of references (bibliography)
The reference serves as a direction to the list of references at the end of the publication, which must include specific information on the sources that have been used. The list of references includes all the sources that have been referenced in the work, and enables its reader to find them. The information between a reference and the list must match each other without error so that the sources mentioned in the text are easily found.
Different fields of science, institutes and publications have different practices for marking references. The author must always ensure that the references and the list of references abide by the practices of the community or publication to which the script is intended for.
Visit UEF Library’s References-webpage for more detailed instructions on how to use sources.