Research Skills Tutorial

Citing your sources is important for a number of reasons:

1. It allows your readers to locate the sources you used in order to verify the information, or to do their own research on that subject.
2. It also shows how your research builds on the research of others. A citation after a phrase tells your readers which ideas came from someone else, so that it is assumed everything else in your project was your own, original thinking, whether that thinking takes the concept a step further, in a totally new direction, or disputes the concept.
3. It is an important part of Academic Integrity. Using another person’s ideas or words without indicating via a citation where you found them is plagiarism. 

Plagiarism is using someone else's work without citing the source. It is a form of academic dishonesty that involves quoting, paraphrasing or otherwise using another author’s work without documenting the source of the information. It is plagiarism even if it is unintentional.

Plagiarism can include:

• Re-arranging an author's words (paraphrasing) without citing 
• Using someone else's ideas without citing them as the source
• Using a photograph, image, or video without a citation