Integrating supporting evidence and information into your work is an important part of academic communication. This adds credibility by demonstrating your understanding of the existing literature and relevant research. It also reinforces the validity of your claims and allows readers to trace the origins of the information presented. Importantly, it gives credit to the intellectual contributions of others and shows respect for their work.
In brief, there are several things to keep in mind when citing:
Citing is the practice of giving credit when you include the ideas, research or data communicated by others in your work. Citations typically include details such as the author’s name and publication year and should be written following the rules of a specific referencing style.
In-text citations are the part of referencing where you give credit within your work, acknowledging theories, data or information as you present them. Every source cited in your work needs a corresponding entry in your reference list. The reference list is placed at the end of your work and provides more information about your cited sources, enabling the reader to connect to them. For more information on the formatting of citations and references, view our referencing guides.
There are several ways to structure your citations:
Information prominent citations focus on the ideas or theories you are communicating. In these citations, the author’s surname and year of publication (and sometimes page number) are in brackets following the evidence you present.
Example
AI literacy is frequently defined as a “set of competencies that enables individuals to critically evaluate AI technologies, communicate and collaborate effectively with AI, and use AI as a tool online, at home and in the workplace” (Long & Magerko, 2022, p. 2).
Author-prominent citations emphasise the author, which can be useful, for example, if you want to highlight them as an expert in the field or provide a longer summary of their work. In this form, the author’s name is included within the sentence, with the year (and sometimes page number) appearing in brackets directly after.
Example
On the resilience of people in the face of technological change, Sam Altman (2023), CEO of OpenAI, said on social media, “the turing [sic] test went whooshing by and everyone mostly went about their lives”.
Sometimes, you may want to cite an author you have read about in someone else’s work. It can be difficult to determine whether you need to give credit to the original author (also known as the primary author) or the author of the source you are reading.
Generally, the original author should be cited when quoted, or their findings are discussed in detail in the source you are referring to, particularly if you want to reproduce those findings in your assignment.
It is unnecessary to cite the original author when their work is only used briefly to support the secondary author’s argument.
Example
The prevalence of AI technology is still unknown to many people; in a recent poll, “37% of respondents said they had used an AI tool. [However] of those who said they had not used AI tools, 63% actually had” (HubSpot, 2016, as cited in Bashir, 2022, p. 26).
There are different rules for how citations should be presented, depending on the referencing style required by your unit. For instructions on creating an in-text citation in APA, Chicago, AGLC, IEEE or Vancouver, see the Curtin Library’s referencing guides.
Plagiarism happens when you use the work of others but present it as your own. Very few people deliberately choose to plagiarise. Instead, it occurs when referencing is overlooked or when there is very little difference between a source’s words, phrasing and structure and your assignment.
The best way to avoid accidental plagiarism is to take care during the note-taking phase of the writing process. Take notes in your own words rather than copying phrases directly, and note down the details of the information source alongside the relevant notes. That way, when you include the ideas in your assignment, you will know which source to cite.
Paraphrasing is writing someone else’s ideas into your own words. It involves rephrasing information from a source while maintaining the original meaning. It is not simply about replacing a few words with synonyms but understanding the core concepts and restructuring the information in a way that reflects your understanding. By paraphrasing, you demonstrate your ability to seamlessly incorporate ideas and evidence into your own words, showcasing your understanding of the subject matter and your unique voice.
Original
“The world must ensure that new technologies, especially those based on AI, are used for the good of our societies and their sustainable development. It should regulate AI developments and applications so that they conform to the fundamental rights that frame our democratic horizon” (Azoulay, 2018).
Paraphrased
New AI developments should be regulated so that their use adheres to fundamental human rights and any impact on communities globally is beneficial and sustainable (Azoulay, 2018).
Unlike paraphrasing, which rephrases information in your own words, summarising distils the essence of a passage into a shorter version. In academic writing, it involves capturing the key points and main ideas of a text while omitting unnecessary details. A well-crafted summary demonstrates your understanding of the material and allows you to convey complex information to your audience efficiently.
Findings from McKinsey & Company’s (2023) global survey on the current state of AI reveal that gen-AI exposure and use is widespread in businesses across all industries and levels, with significant expectations for the technology to cause disruptive change.
Unlike paraphrasing and summarising, which use only one source’s idea at a time, a synthesis combines similar findings amongst two or more sources, allowing you to demonstrate links between different authors. Synthesis requires you to analyse, interpret and combine information to generate new insights or perspectives. This process fosters a deeper understanding of the subject matter and allows you to present a nuanced and comprehensive view.
Algorithmic bias due to unrepresentative training data has been researched widely in healthcare, with findings demonstrating that lack of data diversity has caused consistent underdiagnoses, lack of contextual consideration, and improper or incorrect treatment recommendations (Byrne, 2021; Seyyed-Kalantari, 2021; Weissglass, 2022). However, clinical tests that account for racial and ethnic differences have proven successful (Noseworthy et al. 2020), highlighting the importance of consistent human oversight and use of diverse data sets.
Quoting involves directly incorporating the exact words of an author into your work. Quotes are used to support your arguments, provide evidence or showcase an expert’s opinion. Use quotations when the author expresses something in a way that significantly strengthens your point or idea, uses a particularly striking or memorable phrase, or their authority in the field lends itself to using their exact words.
Always use quotation marks to denote the exact words from the source and include the author’s name, publication year and page number to provide proper citation.
Are you a Curtin student who would like to work through a module and gain a certificate for learning more about citing in your writing? Access the Writing with Integrity module.