Undergraduate Research
Citations
Why do I need to cite?
Citation is a necessary component in conducting great research. To avoid plagiarism, it is not optional. Citation allows:
- You to recognize other people's work; and
- Your reader to know that the information you're presenting is credible
While citation is not as easy as:
it can certainly be made manageable by taking the right steps along the research process, and not leaving until the end of your project.
Make the Citation Process More Manageable
| Step 1: Find the appropriate citation style | Step 2: Choose your citation manager |
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Each subject will have a different citation style that is commonly used.
Click on each citation style to access the Style Guide created by the Student Success Centre for an overview of each style |
Using a citation manager is the most efficient way of managing your citations as it does (most of, if not all) the work for you. TThe most commonly used citation manager by students is:
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| Step 3: Cite along the way | Step 4: Reference list |
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Provide in-text citation after every time you use or refer to another person's work in your writing. This will save you from the painful task of going through your entire work and trying to remember which content needs to be cited and what work you're supposed to be citing if you leave the citation process until the end. If you're using Microsoft Word to write your work, here are instructions for in-text citation specific to the citation managers mentioned in Step 2:
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Most likely, you will be asked to provide a reference list at the end of your work. If you used the MS Word plug-in for the citation manager of your choice to insert your in-text citations, you can generate a reference list with a few clicks (i.e., no more typing them all out by hand!) Note: generating a reference list doesn't need to be reserved at the end of your writing process. You can set it up so that each new in-text citation that you add as you write will be added to the list.
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Click here for a list of Research Guides on citation created by our University of Calgary librarians.
| IMPORTANT | Take the time to check your in-text citations and reference list manually. While citation managers are efficient, they can still make mistakes! |