Citing sources in written assignments

These pages provide information on the use of sources and how to avoid plagiarism. As a student of the University of Agder, you are obligated to become familiar with the rules that apply to citing various types of sources in the written assignments that you submit for evaluation.

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When you as a student work on a written homework assignment, you must draw on insight and knowledge gained from various sources. Required literature will often be a central source, but you may also use other academic literature and other types of sources, such as brochures, websites and images.

You can search for literature and other written sources in the library, in databases and on the Internet. Ask your instructor or a librarian for help in finding good sources.

The purpose of citing sources is to make clear what you have taken from sources and what are your own analyses, interpretations and conclusions.

Your obligations

As a student of UiA, you are obligated to learn the rules that apply to how to cite sources of various types in the written work you submit for evaluation. In return, it is your department's obligation to give you the guidance you need to feel secure that you are following sound and acceptable practice in terms of citing of sources. Ask your advisor if you are in doubt.
Standard of academic integrity

Written assignments must meet the standards of academic integrity required for scientific work. This means that your work needs to be verifiable, and that you acknowledge other authors' work. In order to fulfill these requirements, your assignment must include a bilbliography, meaning a list of literature or references, which provides a complete overview of all texts and other sources you have used. Within the text, you must refer to the sources that form the basis of the information, theories and arguments you present.

If you are reusing texts from your own previous examination work, you should also refer to these texts. This is in accordance with the Examination Regulations at the University of Agder § 31.2 (fourth indent)

Bibliography: Literature and reference lists

The bibliography should be placed at the end of the assignment. It whould contain all of the sources you have used in your work and that you have cited in your text.

The bibliography should provide all of the information the reader needs to identify the sources you have used and be able to find them.

There are several standard formats for writing bibliographies, depending upon the subject you are studying. You must check this with your advisor or instructor. Once you have chosen one standard, it is important that you follow this consistently. Below, you will find the three most common types of documents: a book with one author or more, an article from a periodical, and a website.

A book with one author can, for example, be listed like this (APA 6th):

	Last name, First initial. (Year). Title of the book in italics (Edition – if available). Place of publication: Publisher.
	Fitzgerald, F. S. (1926). The Great Gatsby. Chatto & Windus: London.

When you write up the information about the source, you always follow the same pattern of punctuation (parantheses, commas, italics, etc.) as found in the template.

Periodical article

	Last name, First initial. (Year). Article title. Periodical title in italics, volume(issue), page numbers.
	O'Dwyer, M., & O'Flynn, E. (2005). MNC-SME strategic alliances - A model framing knowledge value as the primary predictor of governance modal choice. Journal of International Management, 11(3), 397-416.

Website with author

	Author/editor, Initial. (Date oppdated/Copyrighted). Title in italics. Downloaded day, month, year, from http://...
	Thaller, M. (2007). Cool cosmos. Retrieved August 27, 2007 from http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/.

The bibliography is sorted alphabetically by the first author's name or corporation name in the entry. If the sources have the same authors, sort next by year of publication, oldest first.

See more examples at the Citation Compass

Quoting sources

A written homework assignment is the student's own independent work. This means that you must be able to use the material to develop your thesis and produce the text in your own words.

Information and elements you have taken from sources will therefore be woven into the text, with sources being cited using the system you have chosen to follow (see citing sources).

Sometimes it is appropriate to quote or summarize a paragraph or section from a source. Short paragraphs can be quoted directly, indirectly, summarized or reproduced in the form of a résumé:

Direct quotation

is a word-for-word reproduction of an expression or a section of a text. The quotation should be clearly separated from the rest of the text, so that the reader can see where the quotation begins and ends. Short quotations can be separated from the rest of the text with an extra line of space before and after and/or by using indentation. You choose to use a direct quotation when it is important that the source's choice of words and tone is conveyed, but this technique should be used in moderation in a written assignement.

	Example
	Students do not always see the importance of citing all sources in written work. ”Serious academic literature authors use sources, and they cite the sources they use" (Spangen, 2007, p. 9). This is just as important when writing a semester assignment as when writing a scientific dissertation.

When using direct quotations, you should always cite which page(s) you are referring to.

Indirect quotation

is a reproduction of the meaning of an expression or a section from a source formulated in your own words. This way, you achieve better flow in your text. It is important that you choose your words so that you retain the original meaning. It is good practice to also provide page numbers when quoting indirectly.

	Example
	Students do not always see the importance of citing all sources in written work. All of the sources you use in written work must be provided if you are to be perceived of as a serious academic author (Spangen, 2007, p. 9). This is just as important when writing a semester assignment as when writing a scientific dissertation.

Résumé (summary)

is a short summary from a source or a section which you write in your own words. This technique is used when it is appropriate to provide a more comprehensive reproduction of the content of a particular academic text, or when you are summarizing the content of a novel or film. You must evaluation what is relevant for your assignment, and select the parts of the source's content that you want to cite. The summary should only contain the main elements. It is important that you are aware of your choice of words, so that you are loyal to the source and are not in danger of distorting its meaning.

	Example
	In her book, Spangen (2007) provides the necessary knowledge regarding the most central aspects of referencing and writing bibliographies. From first explaining the structure of a written assignment and what the various parts should contain, one becomes familiar with the citing and referencing techniques one needs to master in order to give the assignement the quality characteristic of an academic work. Especially thorough is the section on quoting original text, and the different issues that you encounter during the writing process. The author starts with the Harvard system in his explanation of the various ways one can refer to works of different character. Finally, Spangen examines the creation of literature lists, where she uses her own work as examples.

Citing sources (referencing)

There are also various systems for citing sources within the text (referencing).

You can use parentheses where you provide the author's last name and year of publication (Harvard system), or you can provide a numerical reference in the text that refers to a footnote or endnote which provides the same information. Footnotes appear at the bottom of each page while endnotes appear at the end of each chapter or collected at the end of the assignment (but before the bibliography).

Example of author / year of publication in parentheses

Students don't always see the importance of citing all the sources used in a written assignment. ”Serious academic literature authors use sources, and they cite the sources they have used” (Spangen, 2007, p. 9). This is just as important when writing a semester assignment as when writing a dissertation.

Example of a numerical reference

Students don't always see the importance of citing all the sources used in a written assignment. ”Serious academic literature authors use sources, and they cite the sources they have used” 1 This is just as important when writing a semester assignment as when writing a dissertation.

1) Spangen, 2007, p. 9

When you cite sources within your text, you should place it at the end of the passage that contains information from the source. This will often be at the end of a paragraph, but the reference can also be placed at the end of a sentence. If you are using parentheses, these are placed before the period. If you are using numerical references to footnotes or endnotes, the number is placed after the period.

What counts as cheating?

If you fail to provide the sources of texts taken from literature, articles, or the Internet in a written assignment (home examination or mandatory written assignment), you are committing plagiarism. Plagiarism is cheating. Read more about the consequences of cheating

Published by Turid Høgetveit <turid.hogetveitSPAMFILTER@uia.no>,Henry Langseth <henry.langsethSPAMFILTER@uia.no> 30/04/2013

Citing sources in written assignments

Last name, First initial. (Year). Title of the book in italics (Edition – if available). Place of publication: Publisher.

Last name, First initial. (Year). Article title. Periodical title in italics, volume(issue), page numbers.

Author/editor, Initial. (Date oppdated/Copyrighted). Title in italics. Downloaded day, month, year, from http://...

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