Academic English:
Avoiding Plagiarism
Citing Your Sources
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
• When using other researchers’ ideas it’s
important to give credit to those
researchers. This usually involves a two
step process:
(1) Give a brief in-text citation
(2) Include a more detailed reference at
the end of your written work on a
reference list or bibliography.
Displaying Your Knowledge
• Crediting other research also has the
added benefit of allowing you to display
your expertise in your field. It shows that
you have read the research of others and
know what research has been done. It
helps to position yourself as a researcher.
Substantiating Claims Made
• More importantly, it helps to substantiate
claims you are making. Few researchers
will trust results that come from an
unreferenced paper.
• In short, it makes your research more
believable.
Citation Systems
• Several types of citation systems are
used.
(1) APA – American Psychological
Association
(2) MLA – Modern Language
Association
(3) Chicago Manual of Style
APA
• Most linguistics, TESOL, or SLA journals
use APA so that is what we will use.
• You will not need to know MLA for the
purposes of this course.
In-text Citations
Here are three examples of in-text citations:
(1) More children prefer Big Bird to Cookie
Monster (Smith, 2005).
(2) Smith (2005) found that children prefer Big Bird
over Cookie Monster.
(3) In 2005, Smith's study demonstrated conclusively
that children prefer Big Bird to Cookie Monster.
Source: http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/citing_apa.html#text
In-text Citations
with Direct Quotes
• Here are examples with direct quotes.
• Aufderheide (1996) argues that without "help
from regulators to shape and constrain market
conditions" (p. 28), we cannot expect the state of
educational television to improve.
• From the moment it hit the air, Sesame Street was
"a lightning rod for all sorts of ideas about
children and television" (Morrow, 2006, p. 109).
Source: http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/citing_apa.html#text
Including Page Numbers
If you directly quote material, provide a
page number (or paragraph number for
sources without page numbers).
If a page or paragraph number would be
helpful to the reader in locating specific
ideas or paraphrases, APA format also
encourages providing them.
Citation and Number of Authors
• The number of authors of a study affects
the method of citing the study.
One work by one author
• nclude the author's name and the year of
publication.
Smith (2005) conclusively
demonstrated ...
... an argument supported by decades
of research (Smith, 2005).
One work by two authors
• Cite both names every time the reference
occurs. In the text of your paper, write out
the word "and" but use an ampersand in
the parentheses and the reference list:
as Fisch and Truglio (2001) argue ...
... as has been demonstrated (Fisch &
Truglio, 2001).
One work by more than two
authors.
• If the work has three, four, or five
authors, list all names in the first
reference but use only the first author's
name and et al. in subsequent references.
Segal, Cole, and Fuld (2002) show ... [first
reference]
Segal et al. show ... [second reference
and thereafter]
One work with six or more
authors
• Cite only the last name of the first
author followed by et al. in all references
in the text.
Smith et al. rebut the notion ...
• You must also create a reference in your
reference list for each source you cite in
your text.
• Every source
must appear
every source
must appear
that appears in your text
in the list of references;
in the list of references
in your text.
• Be sure to proofread carefully so that
author names and dates in both citations
match perfectly.