Avoiding Plagiarism

What is a Citation?

A critical part of the creation process is to give credit to the authors, researchers, artists, creators, etc. who influenced you.  This is done through the listing of identification information, in the form of a citation that allows a reader of your work to find the original text in which you obtained your facts. 

You must cite your sources when...

•     You use direct quotes
•     You paraphrase or summarize an author's words or ideas
•     You use an author's statistics, charts, graphs, media, or drawings

In an academic paper you must cite the articles, books, reviews, etc. you utilized to support your thesis -- where you use the information within your paper (in-text or footnote) and at the end in a bibliography, reference, or works cited page. 

By citing your sources and giving credit to the author you will avoid plagiarizing.

Additional information is available on the CSU Library's Citation Help Guide.

Elements of a Citation

It is important to note these elements for each source you wish to refer to in your own paper as you complete your research:

• The information you are planning to reference within your paper
• The in-text citation format you need to use
• The citation information needed for your bibliography, list of references or works cited page

By writing this information down as you go, the actual writing of your paper should proceed smoothly and you should never have to worry about forgetting where you found the information.  

Additional information on how to research can be found on the CSU Library's Research Help page.

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