Referencing: Why cite correctly?

WHY SHOULD I CITE CORRECTLY?

Research is built upon previous research, and similarly, your projects will always rely, and expand upon existing research, data, theories, ideas and more. In academic writing, it is therefore essential to document every instance where you use other sources. whether it is someone else's ideas, quotes, facts and so on.

In practice this means you must cite/reference the source, and when this is done correctly, you achieve several things:

• You acknowledge and credit others' work

• You demonstrate transparency and thoroughness

• You help your reader locate the sources you use

• You avoid plagiarism

Within academia, there are several different sets of rules (formats) for referencing correctly. However, there are also some general rules that apply across these formats. This guide provides an introduction to these general rules and to the various standards, so you can get started with referencing properly. 

HOW DO I CITE MY SOURCES?

Citations can look different depending on which citation format you use and the type of source you are citing. You can read more about the different citation formats using this link: Citation formats 

Generally, citations consist of two parts:

1. In-text citations are written in the text it self, for the purpose of making it clear to the reader which exact part of the text is referencing previous works or a source. In some citation formats, this is shown by writing the author(s) in a parenthesis, sometimes with the year of publication. Other citation formats show this with a number that refers either to a specific reference or to a footnote. In both cases, the citation in the text contains minimal information that point the reader to a more detailed description in the reference list.
2. The reference list is a more detailed list of the works and sources used, appearing at the end of the paper. Depending on the citation format and type of source, the information listed varies. The purpose of the list is to enable your reader to find the sources and works you have cited. Most of the time, it will only contain the sources that you cite in text. The list may be titled differently depending on the citation format such as "References", "Works Cited", or "Bibliography". The list is either sorted alphabetically or by the order in which the references appear in the text, again this depends on the citation format.

During your literature search, it is thus important to note information about the sources you intend to cite. You will often need information like:

• Author/creator
• Title
• Year/date of publication
• Publisher (for books)
• Page numbers
• Journal name (for journal articles)
• Volume and issue (for journal articles)
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier). 
• URL (for online ressources)
• Date the source was downloaded/visited

It is worth considering whether using a reference management software would be useful for your project. Read our guide to using the reference management software Zotero here.

CITATION OF GENERATIVE AI

Regardless of the ongoing debates about the use of ChatGPT or generative AI in general, maintaining academic integrity is crucial. If you use tools like ChatGPT, it's important to provide proper source citations. Any content generated with assistance from tools like ChatGPT should be explicitly marked as such – either through direct quotes with citations or simply citing the source if there's a rephrasing of the generated material. But how do you reference material from ChatGPT?

Since generative AI is not a person and, therefore, isn't accountable for its statements, it should never be credited as a co-author of a text. However, it should be treated as a source that needs to be referenced. It's also advisable to keep a record of conversations.

Different citation formats have different guidelines, for how to cite AI. Read our libguide on AI, for more information.

WHEN SHOULD I CITE?

You should always provide citations to the sources you rely on when doing research or writing papers. In general you should cite everything you use that is not "common knowledge".

This applies to all information coming from specific sources including but not limited to: books, book chapters, articles, websites, film clips, reports etc.

It is important to reflect on the fact that what is considered common knowledge can vary depending on the field you are working ind.

When in doubt, it is better to include one citation too many than too few!

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a permanent identifier assigned to a digital document. A DOI is formatted as a link that will always lead to the document. DOIs are mainly associated with research articles, and including it in the reference list will make it easier for your reader to find the article now and in the future. A DOI is similar to a ISBN-number which is an identifier for books.

Example of a DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03142-8