The importance of citations

Citing and referencing are essential in academia. There are a few reasons why and, below, is a list of what proper citing can do for your work:

It shows the breadth of your research, or in other words: citing shows how much research is behind your assignment!
It allows falsehoods and misunderstandings to be traced back to their source:
- For example, if you reference a certain academic work in your assignment and it turns out their claims are later proven to be false – then you cannot be held accountable for this error.
References reveal the flow and evolution of information and they allow the reader to follow your thought process
Your reader can easily track your information
If you want to expand on a point, you can refer to the original source
If you have a good source of information – that might contain more useful sources of information that you can follow-up on
Sources give due credit to other writers and researchers

Please note, this lesson is a general guide to citations and referencing that can be applied to your academic writing. This lesson will not cover the specific styles of referencing or plagiarism for your department or field. Please find out more about the plagiarism policy in UCC through the UCC Boole library. The library also offers great resources on specific referencing styles here.

Cite-Seeing Video Lesson

What Are Citations For?

To cite means to give credit to the source of words or an idea when this material is not of your making. It appears as a “citation” or a “reference”. Ask yourself:

How do you know this information?
Did you come up with this?
Was it your idea or opinion?

Citations are directions for your reader to find the following:

Author of the source
Directions from the citation to the bibliography to discover more about the source or examining a piece of academic work for extra sources/additional information

Ask yourself: can your reader can find the source of your information easily?

Formatting Citations

How to format your sources depends on your specific department, as different disciplines use different citations styles.(Harvard, MLA, APA etc.). Each citation style differs slightly in format or even information, and it is vital that you check with your department that you are using the correct style. Departments often have either booklets, handouts or online material that detail how citations are formatted. If in doubt – you should ask the lecturer or tutor.

Citations are found both in the body of the text and the bibliography. Some citation examples from the body of the text are as follows:

In-text citations
Footnotes
End-notes

In-text citations, footnote numbers and end-note numbers all appear after the quotes or paraphrased material used in your essay. They point the reader to the relevant entry in your bibliography. You never use all three citation methods in a single assignment. It is worth taking note of the method and information used in the academic work that you are reading as part of your research. The bibliography (sometimes called "Works Cited" or "References") appears at the end of your essay and contains all the necessary publication details on all the works, which you used or cited for your research.

What Citations Contain

Name of the Source

Title of the book

Title of the article

Name of the TV show, etc.

Place in the Source

Page number

Chapter

URL, etc.

Author and/or Year of Publication

E.g.: Cork, 2020

When to Cite

Quotes
Reference to an idea/theory/statistic, etc.
When you paraphrase someone else’s work
Material that is informing or supporting your own ideas/argument

However, common knowledge does not need to be cited: for example, the date of someone’s birth or death!

You should cite everything that you did not write. If you are not sure – the best policy is to cite it anyway!

Misconceptions About Citations

"Too many citations make a submission look messy!"
"It is safer to 'forget' a difficult citation rather than citing it correctly!"
"My lecturer will be more impressed if I pass the information off as my own!"

Citations are a requirement in academic assignments and, if done correctly, will increase your mark!

UCC Plagiarism Policy

When citing and referencing, it is important to be aware of the UCC policy on plagiarism which can be found here: UCC plagiarism policy 2020.

Skills Centre Radio Show: Sources, References and Plagiarism

This episode focuses on sources, references and plagiarism with guests Anita Wilcox and Ann Byrne from the Boole Library. Anita discusses the importance of referencing and how to avoid plagiarism, while Ann talks about the many resources available in the Boole Library and the Green Campus campaign.

Helpful Links