In academic writing, if you copy or paraphrase another person’s words, or adopt their ideas or data, without giving credit by properly citing the source, you are plagiarizing—whether you had intended to cheat or not. Universities do not take plagiarism lightly. The possible consequences range from an awkward confrontation with your instructor to expulsion. Therefore, the best approach is avoidance.
To avoid plagiarism in written assignments you need to understand the conventions of academic research and writing, including the rules for citing your sources of information. You can develop and improve your skills in these areas by consulting some of the books and websites listed below.
Also check out Plagiarism: A How-NOT-to Guide (lib.unb.ca/instruction/Plagiarism.html) which contains practical tips, as well as a selected list of other websites which provide examples and practice exercises on avoiding plagiarism.
Every student should have a good academic writing and research handbook. These handbooks provide details of how to write good academic research papers and assignments, including how to follow accepted academic citation methods. The following recommended titles are available for in-library use at the Harriet Irving Library, either next to the Research Help Desk (Quest location: HIL-REFDSK) or in the nearby Reference Stacks (HIL-REF).
Booth, W. C., et al. (2003). The craft of research (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
HIL-REF Q180.55 .M4 B66 2003
Buckley, J. (2004). Fit to Print: The Canadian student's guide to essay writing (6th ed.). Toronto: Thompson/Nelson.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .B83 2004
Fowler, H. R., et al. (2008). The Little, Brown handbook (5th Canadian ed.). Toronto: Pearson Longman.
HIL-REFDSK PE1112 .F685 2008
Hacker, D. (2006). Research and documentation in the electronic age. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .H33 2006
Also see Research and Documentation Online (www.dianahacker.com/resdoc).
Harnack, A., & Kleppinger, E. (2001). Online!: A reference guide to using Internet sources. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
HIL-REF TK5105.875 .I57 H364 2001
Johnson, J. (1997). The Bedford guide to the research process (3rd ed.). Boston: Bedford Books.
HIL-REF LB2369 .J56 1997
Kennedy, X. J., et al. (2002). The Bedford guide for college writers : With reader, research manual, and handbook (6th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
HIL-REFDSK PE1408 .K49 2002b
Lunsford, A. A. (2008). The St. Martin's handbook (6th ed.). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.
HIL-REF PE1112 .L86 2008
Messenger, W. E., et al. (2008). The Canadian writer's handbook (5th ed.). Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REFDSK PE1408 .C35 2008
Northey, M., & McKibbin, J. (2007). Making sense: A student's guide to research and writing. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .N67 2007
Northey, M. (2007). Making sense: A student's guide to research and writing: social sciences. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REF H91 .N67 2007
Rosen, L. J. (2006). The academic writer's handbook. Toronto: Pearson Longman.
HIL-REFDSK PE1408 .R6768 2006
Soles, D. (2005). The essentials of academic writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
HIL-REF LB2369 .S65 2005
Troyka, L. Q. & Hesse, D. (2006). Simon & Schuster handbook for writers (4th Canadian ed.). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall.
HIL-REFDSK PE1408 .T76 2006
For more titles, search Quest using a subject phrase such as academic writing. You will find additional books at the library, some of which are available for borrowing from the main stacks (HIL-STACKS) or online as e-books (INTERNET). In addition to general titles like those listed above, the library has several discipline-specific handbooks, such as The criminal justice student writer's manual (HIL-REF HV9950 .C74323 2005).
Instructors often specify the use of a standard citation style in research papers or assignments. These styles come from manuals which are the standard in different disciplines. UNB librarians have created brief citation style example sheets for the four main standard styles:
You will need to consult a style manual when you are unsure of exactly how to cite an unusual information source, or when you require other specifics with respect to academic writing. The library has copies of all the standard manuals. Below is a list of manuals available near the Harriet Irving Library's Research Help Desk for in-library use (Quest location: HIL-REFDSK) or at another library location.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
HIL-REFDSK BF76.7 .P83 2001 (3 copies; also available at SCI-REF & ENG-REF)
Standard for the social sciences.
American Psychological Association. (2007). APA style guide to electronic references. Washington, DC: Author.
HIL-REFDSK BF76.7 .A63 2007
Updates the electronic sources section of the 2001 manual. Also available online in PDF (lib.unb.ca >> e-Resources >> Reference Materials).
Council of Science Editors; Style Manual Committee. (2006). Scientific style and format: The CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers (7th ed.). Reston, VA: CSE and the Rockefeller University Press.
HIL-REFDSK & SCI-REF T11 .S386 2006.
Standard for the sciences.
The Chicago manual of style (15th ed.). (2003). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
HIL-REFDSK Z253 .U69 2003
Standard for the humanities, especially history.
Gibaldi, J. (2003). MLA handbook for writers of research papers (6th ed.). New York: Modern Language Association of America.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .G53 2003
Standard for the humanities. For undergraduate students.
Gibaldi, J. (1998). MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing (2nd ed.). New York: Modern Language Association of America.
HIL-REFDSK PN147 .G444 1998 (copies also at HIL-REF, HIL-STACKS)
Standard for the humanities. For graduate students.
Harvard Law Review Association. (2005). The Bluebook: A uniform system of citation (18th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association.
HIL-REFDSK & LAW-REFDSK KF245 .B59 18th 2005
American standard for law.
Lipson, C. (2006). Cite right: A quick guide to citation styles—MLA, APA, Chicago, the sciences, professions, and more. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
HIL-REF PN171 .F56 L55 2006
McGill Law Journal. (2006). Canadian guide to uniform legal citation (6th ed.). Toronto: Thomson Carswell.
HIL-GOVREF KE259 .C35 2006 & LAWRESERVE KF245 .C28 2006 (HIL-REFDSK KE259 .C35 2002)
Canadian standard for law.
Spacek, R., & Ploude, R. (Eds.). (2004). Form and format: A guide to the presentation of essays and reports (9th ed., rev.). Fredericton, NB: University of New Brunswick.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .N39 2004 (copies also at HIL-STACKS)
UNB's own pocket-sized manual, covering all the standard citation styles. Also available for purchase at the University Bookstore.
Turabian, K. L. (2007). A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations (7th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .T8 2007
Uses Chicago style.
Walker, J. R., & Taylor, T. (2006). The Columbia guide to online style. New York: Columbia University Press.
HIL-REFDSK PN171 .F56 W35 2006
Standard for electronic publications. Fills gaps not covered by other standard style manuals.
As you conduct your online research you can export citations to your own RefWorks database, and later use RefWorks to automatically format your bibliography using any of the standard citation styles. See the RefWorks page (lib.unb.ca/instruction/RefWorks) for details. If you are using library databases from CSA (Sociological Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts, etc.), you also have the option of directly creating a formatted bibliography using QuickBib.
In some cases, RefWorks and QuickBib make minor errors with respect to access information in references to electronic publications. Double-check references created by RefWorks against one of the library's example sheets or the manual at the library.
Copyright © 2003-2008 by Barry Cull, Information Services Librarian, Harriet Irving Library. The author grants permission to link to or otherwise use this document for non-commercial purposes, assuming it is not altered in any way or copied to another server.