Avoiding Plagiarism
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 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/research/Plagiarism.html) which contains practical tips, as well as a selected list of other websites which provide examples and practice exercises on avoiding plagiarism.
Writing and Research Handbooks
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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 (HIL-REFDSK) or in the nearby Reference Stacks (HIL-REF).
American Psychological Association. (2010). Mastering APA style : student's workbook and training guide (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
HIL-REFDSK BF76.8 .G452 2010
Booth, W. C., et al. (2008). The craft of research (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
HIL-REF Q180.55 .M4 B66 2008 [also available electronically as an ebrary book]
Buckley, J. (2004). Fit to Print: The Canadian student's guide to essay writing (6th ed.). Toronto, ON: Thompson/Nelson.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .B83 2004
Fowler, H. R., Aaron, J. E., & McArthur, M. (2008). The Little, Brown handbook (5th Canadian ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson Longman.
HIL-REFDSK PE1112 .F685 2008
Hacker, D. (2006). Research and documentation in the electronic age (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .H33 2006
Also see Research and Documentation Online (www.dianahacker.com/resdoc).
Johnson, J. (1997). The Bedford guide to the research process (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford Books.
HIL-REF LB2369 .J56 1997
Kennedy, X. J., Kennedy, D. M., & Holladay, S. A. (2002). The Bedford guide for college writers : With reader, research manual, and handbook (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's.
HIL-REFDSK PE1408 .K49 2002b
Lunsford, A. A. (2008). The St. Martin's handbook (6th ed.). New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin's.
HIL-REF PE1112 .L86 2008
Messenger, W. E., et al. (2008). The Canadian writer's handbook (5th ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REFDSK PE1408 .C35 2008
Northey, M., & McKibbin, J. (2009). Making sense: A student's guide to research and writing (6th ed. rev. with up-to-date APA & MLA guidelines). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .N67 2009b
Northey, M., & Jewinski, J. (2009). Making sense: A student's guide to research and writing: engineering and the technical sciences (3rd ed. with up-to-date APA & MLA guidelines). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REFDSK T11 .N67 2010
Northey, M. (2009). Making sense: A student's guide to research and writing: geography and environmental sciences (4th ed. with up-to-date APA & MLA guidelines). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REFDSK G74 .N67 2009
Northey, M. (2009). Making sense: A student's guide to research and writing: social sciences (4th ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
HIL-REFDSK H61.8 .N67 2009b
Rosen, L. J. (2009). The academic writer's handbook (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Longman.
HIL-REF PE1408 .R6768 2009
Soles, D. (2010). The essentials of academic writing. [includes 2009 MLA update] Boston, MA: Centage Learning Houghton Mifflin.
HIL-REF LB2369 .S62 2010
Troyka, L. Q. & Hesse, D. (2010). Simon & Schuster handbook for writers (5th Canadian ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson Prentice Hall.
HIL-REF PE1408 .T76 2010
For more titles, search the catalogue using a subject phrase such as academic writing. You will find additional books at UNB Libraries, some of which are available for borrowing from the main stacks (e.g. HIL-STACKS) or online as e-books (INTERNET). In addition to general titles like those listed above, UNB Libraries has several discipline-specific handbooks, such as The criminal justice student writer's manual (HIL-REF HV9950 .C74323 2005).
Style Manuals: Standard Citation Styles
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. 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. UNB Libraries have copies of all the standard manuals.
APA (Social Sciences)
APA Citation Style Examples - American Psychological Association (lib.unb.ca/research/APA6citation.html)
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
HIL-REFDSK BF76.7 .P83 2010b (also available at SCI-REF & ENG-REF)
Standard for the social sciences.
MLA (Humanities)
MLA Citation Style Examples - Modern Languages Association (lib.unb.ca/research/MLA7examples.pdf)
Modern Language Association of America. (2009). MLA handbook for writers of research papers (7th ed.). New York, NY: Author.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .G53 2009
Standard for the humanities. For undergraduate students.
Gibaldi, J. (2008). MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America.
HIL-REFDSK PN147 .G444 2008
Standard for the humanities. For graduate students.
Chicago (Humanities, especially History)
Chicago Citation Style Examples - Chicago Manual of Style (lib.unb.ca/research/Chicagocitation.html)
The Chicago manual of style (15th ed.). (2003). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
HIL-REFDSK Z253 .U69 2003 (Copies also at LAW-REFDSK and WCL-REF)
Standard for the humanities, especially history.
CSE (Sciences)
CSE Citation Style Examples (PDF) - Council of Science Editors (lib.unb.ca/research/CSEcitation.pdf)
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.
Other
Harvard Law Review Association. (2005). The Bluebook: A uniform system of citation (18th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association.
HIL-REFDSK KF245 .B59 18th 2005
LAW-REFDSK KF245 .B59 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, ON: Thomson Carswell.
HIL-GOVREF KE259 .C35 2006
LAWRESERVE KF245 .C28 2006
Canadian standard for law.
Turabian, K. L. (2007). A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers. (7th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
HIL-REFDSK LB2369 .T8 2007
LAW-REFDSK LB2369 .T8 2007
WCL-REF LB2369 .T9 2007
Uses Chicago style.
Walker, J. R., & Taylor, T. (2006). The Columbia guide to online style (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
HIL-REFDSK PN171 .F56 W35 2006
Standard for electronic publications. Fills gaps not covered by other standard style manuals.
RefWorks and Citation Formatting in Databases
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/RefWorks/) for details.
If you are using library databases from ProQuest or EBSCO, you also have the option of directly creating a formatted bibliography using ProQuest databases’ Cite option, and EBSCOhost databases’ Citation Format option.
Double-check references against one of the library's example sheets or the manual at the library.
Copyright © 2011 by Barry Cull, Information Services Librarian, Harriet Irving Library. The author grants permission to copy or otherwise use this document for non-commercial purposes, assuming it is not entirely copied to another server.