Ethical Use and Citing Sources
It’s helpful to understand why to cite your sources.
You likely know that research projects always need a reference or a works cited page (also called a bibliography). But have you ever wondered why?
There are some big picture reasons that don’t often get articulated that might help you get better at meeting the citation needs of research projects. It’s helpful to understand both the theory behind citing, as well as the mechanics of it, to really become a pro.
Tip: How to Cite Sources
This section introduces the concept of citing source, so you can begin your search for sources with it in mind. See the next section, How to Cite Sources for examples and the steps for citing appropriately.
In everyday life, we often have conversations where we share new insights with each other. Sometimes these are insights we’ve developed on our own through the course of our own everyday experiences, thinking, and reflection. Sometimes these insights come after talking to other people and learning from additional perspectives. When we relate the new things we have learned to our family, friends, or co-workers, we may or may not fill them in on how these thoughts came to us.
In everyday conversation and political speeches, evidence
for arguments is often not provided. (Image source: XKDC)
Academic research leads us to the insight that comes from gaining perspectives and understandings from other people through what we read, watch, and hear. In academic work we must tell our readers who and what led us to our conclusions. Documenting our research is important because people rely on academic research to be authoritative, so it is essential for academic conversation to be as clear as possible. Documentation for clarity is a shared and respected practice, and it represents a core value of the academy called “academic integrity.” It is a way to distinguish academic conversations (or discourse) from everyday conversations (or discourse).
It is hard to talk about citation practices without considering some related concepts. Here are some definitions of those concepts that are often mentioned in assignments when citation is required.
What Is Academic Integrity?
Different colleges and universities have different definitions. Irvine Valley College states a commitment to academic integrity by the following statement from the 2020-2021 IVC Catalog:
Irvine Valley College actively promotes academic and institutional honesty. Academic dishonesty runs counter to a healthy intellectual environment and tarnishes the educational opportunities offered.
Please take a few moments to read the Policies and Standards under Academic Honesty and Dishonesty in the 2020-2021 IVC Catalog that describes the consequences of falsification, plagiarism, and cheating in more detail.
In other words, you must take full responsibility for your work, acknowledge your own efforts, and acknowledge the contributions of others’ efforts. Working/Writing with integrity requires accurately representing what you contributed, as well as acknowledging how others have influenced your work. When you are a student, an accurate representation of your knowledge is important because it will allow both you and your professors to know the extent to which you have developed as a scholar. Part of that development is evidenced by how you apply the ruler for acknowledging the work of others.
What Is Academic Misconduct?
As you might imagine, academic misconduct is when you do not use integrity in your academic work. Academic misconduct includes many different unacceptable behaviors, but the one most relevant to what we are discussing here is submitting plagiarized work:
Submitting plagiarized work for an academic requirement. Plagiarism is the representation of another’s work or ideas as one’s own; it includes the unacknowledged word-for-word use and/or paraphrasing of another person’s work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person’s ideas.
To see the full definition of academic misconduct, refer to the Irvine Valley College Student Code of Conduct.
What Is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is defined by the 2020-2021 IVC Course Catalog in this way:
Students should be advised to state the source of ideas when these are known, since this lends strength to their answers and is part of the ethics of scholarship.
Plagiarism is any conduct in academic work or programs involving misrepresentation of someone else’s words, ideas or data as one’s original work, including, but not limited to, the following:
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intentionally representing as one’s own work the work, words, ideas or arrangement of ideas, research, formulae, diagrams, statistics, or evidence of another.
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taking sole credit for ideas and/or written work that resulted from collaboration with others.
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paraphrasing or quoting material without citing the source.
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submitting as one’s own a copy of or the actual work of another person, either in part or in entirety, without appropriate citation (e.g., term-paper mill or internet derived products).
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sharing computer files and programs or written papers and then submitting individual copies of the results as one’s own individual work.
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submitting substantially the same material in more than one course without prior authorization from each instructor involved.
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modifying another’s work and representing it as one’s own work.
Plagiarism can be intentional (knowingly using someone else’s work and presenting it as your own) or unintentional (inaccurately or inadequately citing ideas and words from a source). It may be impossible for your professor to determine whether plagiarized work was intentional or unintentional. But in either case, plagiarism puts both you and your professor in a compromising position.
While academic integrity calls for work resulting from your own effort, scholarship requires that you learn from others. So in the world of academic scholarship you are actually expected to learn new things from others AND come to new insights on your own. There is an implicit understanding that as a student you will be both using other’s knowledge as well as your own insights to create new scholarship. To do this in a way that meets academic integrity standards you must acknowledge the part of your work that develops from others’ efforts. You do this by citing the work of others. You plagiarize when you fail to acknowledge the work of others and do not follow appropriate citation guidelines.
What Is Citing?
Citing, or citation, is a practice of documenting specific influences on your academic work. See How to Cite Sources for details.
In other words, you must cite all the sources you quote directly, paraphrase, or summarize as you:
- Answer your research question
- Convince your audience
- Describe the situation around your research question and why the question is important
- Report what others have said about your question
