In academic writing, the authors often rely on previous knowledge and data which is represented in the text itself by:

• Quotations – The use of the original texts written or spoken by others.
• Paraphrases – The restatement of texts by using other words.
• Summary – A short representation of the original by using other words and sentences.

This use of other people’s works is allowed, provided that credit is given to the original creator.
If the citation is not an identical quote (marked with ” “), the paraphrasing or summary must preserve the original intent of the creator. Read more on plagiarism.

Important Principles:

• One should not cite a source that hasn’t been used. For example, if the author used a book review in his work, he should cite the review itself, not the book he didn’t read.
• Always specify your sources of information. The use of ideas or texts from books, articles, websites, movies, radio or tv shows, softwares, poems, letters, commersials, etc. must be followed by citation.
• The details of the sources always apear (at least) twice within an academic paper: In-text, right next to the appropriate sentence or paragraph and at the end of the text – as part of the list of sources. The list (also known as ‘bibliography’) should include all the references that mentioned in-text and nothing more. The bibliography is designated to help readers in finding the references when needed, to give credit to the authors of the references and to avoid plagiarism.