Citing

If you use the texts, ideas, research data, pictures or any form of information published by somebody else, you must always refer to the source (the original publication), no matter where it originates from. For example your source may be an article from a scholarly journal, a thesis, a conference proceeding or a publication on the internet.

Referring to your sources correctly and in the right places increases the readability and verifiability of your publications.

• By mentioning your sources correctly and completely, you make clear which information you have taken from other authors and where your readers can find the original information. This way they can check whether you have referred to the information correctly.
• Correct citing contributes to the transparency of scientific communication and the prevention of plagiarism
• You also make clear to the reader how your publication relates to other publications in the same field and you point out publications that could be of interest
• And by acknowledging your sources you give credit to the original author(s).

A reference to a journal article usually contains:
Author(s), title of the article, title of the journal, year of publication, volume and/or issue and pages.

A reference to a book usually contains:

Author(s), title of the book, year of publication, (sometimes) place of publication and the name of the publisher.

 A reference to an article/chapter in an edited volume (every chapter written by another author, book itself edited by one or more persons) contains both data on the specific chapter and on the book as a whole. The details of the specific chapter are stated first:
Author(s) of the chapter, year of publication, title of the chapter, the word "in" followed by the details of the book as a whole (including editors) and finally the page numbers of the chapter.

A reference to an online publication will, in addition to the information mentioned above, contain a reference to the location where the source can be found, for instance a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or a DOI (Digital Object Identifier).

• Whether you use a formal set of citation rules (citation style) or not, always keep in mind:
  • ​Completeness:  give all information needed to be able to retrace the source in your reading list (for the version/edition you used)
  • Unambiguity and consistency: refer to the same kind of sources in a consequent manner
• Keep to the citation style recommended by your teacher or supervisor
• If you are managing a lot of citations: use a reference management tool such as RefWorks, Endnote, Zotero, Papers or Mendeley. These tools will save you a lot of time
• You do not have to cite sources in the case of your own (original) ideas and generally known facts such as: water consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom
• Of course you always check a citation or a quote from another publication before including it in your own text