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Academic Integrity Tutorial

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Cite and Reference

Slide 10/17

How to Cite

Immediately after each quotation, or piece of paraphrased material, include a citation tag 
This is a number, year, or other identifier in square brackets […]

  • different styles exist, but you must always use the same style throughout each essay or report
  • typically your lecturer will tell you which citation format they require

For example

  • “the other pre-eminent name … in the popular perception” [Halley 2005]
  • Wilkes, though not as famous as Turing, perhaps made greater practical contribution [3]

Creating a Bibliography

This is where you list your sources

  • Start each item is on a new line
  • You may also use a hanging indent for later lines
  • Order the list, alphabetically or numerically, according to the style of your citation method

The references below are in alphabetic order:

[Gravell 2006] …
[Halley 2005] Electronic Brains: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age, Halley M, 2005, Joseph Henry Press,
Washington, DC

The same references are now listed in numeric order
[2] …
[3] Electronic Brains: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age, Halley M, 2005, Joseph Henry Press, Washington, DC

Why do we Cite our Sources?

  • We are legally obliged to respect the author’s moral right to be acknowledged as the source
  • Citation also supports the scientific process: new results are published, leading to new claims being made, these results and claims may be challenged or they may be supported by further findings.
  • Readers need to be able to follow the development of the argument being presented.
  • Citing your sources enables the reader to return to original literature. It also gives credit to other authors for work which they have previously carried out.Effectively the citations are part of a process which provides a clear audit trail. Other parts of the audit trail include you providing accurate details of your methods and results (see the tutorial on Falsification)

Material in this section is based on the University of Southampton Academic Skills Site

Citation Guides
See the University’s Academic Skills Guide http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk or the Library’s Guide to Information Skills http://www.soton.ac.uk/library/infoskills/index.html for further information about proper formats for citations and references, or ask for guidance from your subject librarian. Always make sure you are clear about which citation format you are expected to use.