Giving Credit

(this article was originally published at a UNG-hosted blog, which has now been deleted)

Stealing ideas is just as bad as stealing money from the bank or supplies from the office. People work hard for their ideas and even harder to get them on paper. You need to give them credit for their effort, which is why you should always cite information others share.

Is plagiarism only an issue in academic papers? Absolutely not. You can just as easily plagiarize when you write a production report, produce a marketing plan, or identify and share best practices within your company. The key thing to remember is that if you found some of your information from a public source (e.g., website, newspaper article, magazine article, or academic journal), you must provide a reference for that source. Give the authors credit for their work if you plan to rely on their work to support your own.

I’m not going to lecture you on how to correctly cite sources or how to paraphrase, but I am going to give you a few resources to help you correctly cite sources in your academic and professional writing. Here are a few that I use on a regular basis that you might find helpful.

Google Scholar

I use Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com) as my first resource to easily identify scholarly articles. This resource looks up scholarly literature and provides the most relevant articles and citations for your topic. You can set up a link to your university’s library and access copyrighted material if your university has access (set up this option in Settings). Google Scholar also produces formatted references for any article you select. Click on the quotation mark and see formatted references in a variety of formats. Copy the formatted reference of your choice and paste it into your reference list. You can also export the reference to a citation management software of your choice (see below).

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word includes an option to manage references with your document. In Word, click on the References Menu to find tools to help you manage your citations and bibliography (reference list). Click on the image below to access the support page for using citations and references in Word.

Citation management software

If you find yourself referencing material on a regular basis, you may want to consider purchasing citation management software. You can purchase an online or downloadable database to store and track your references. I find this helpful because I often refer to a single source in multiple articles I write.

Check with your university library to see what software is available to use as a student. I use EndNote to manage references, but there are other options that are just as good and less expensive.

A note on paraphrasing

Now that you have a way to manage your sources, how do you make sure you do not unintentionally plagiarize? Well, you can either directly quote the authors of the text you are including, or you can learn to paraphrase. Paraphrase means you explain what the author said but in your own words. For instance, suppose an author wrote,

“Fit was examined in terms of both congruence (static) and convergence (dynamic). As hypothesized, convergence for certain aspects of group climate was related to session attendance and reduction in PTSD symptoms. Specifically, members who, over time, deviate from their groups in their perceptions of group conflict attend fewer sessions. Additionally, members who, over time, deviate from their group in their perceptions of group avoidance report less PTSD symptom improvement” (Paquin, Kivlighan, & Drogosz, 2013).

The above quote is 69 words and very complex. Further, directly quoting the source does not indicate you understand what the author was saying. You need to paraphrase to demonstrate you understand.

Paquin and colleagues (2013) observed that group psychology participants perceived less group conflict when they attended more group sessions. Participants who attended regularly also saw their PTSD symptoms improve (Paquin et al, 2013).

The paraphrase is only 33 words long, shows that you understood the author, and prevents you from accidentally plagiarizing the original article. The paraphrased material is also MUCH easier to understand.

Key Takeaways