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Citing Your Research

lesson overview
How, when, and why you should credit your sources of information.

Why do you need to document the material you used in your research?

An important step in the research process is crediting the sources you have used in your research. A fundamental principle in all research is that of academic integrity: if you quote or re-state in your own words ideas, facts, opinions, or quotations from another source, you must give credit to the original source. To do otherwise is considered plagiarism.

Not only is it dishonest to use someone else's work without properly giving credit, those ideas, research results, opinions, and the actual wording the original author uses are the intellectual property of the author. "Stealing" that property, without proper attribution, is a violation of copyright law.

In addition to maintaining integrity and obeying copyright law, providing a complete list of the works you have cited provides others with the information needed to locate those sources.


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