Don’t End Up in Deep Waters: Cite Your Sources

As a student, you are part of a scholarly community where you can engage in lively academic conversations and open your mind to new ideas. This community respects and values ideas so greatly that it expects credit to be given to the creators of ideas. That’s where citation comes into the picture. The video below describes citation in more detail.

Screenreader users may access a PDF version of the citations displayed in the video below.

Every time you use another person’s idea(s), you must provide a citation. Failing to do so is considered plagiarism. Essentially, plagiarism is stealing. It is the stealing of other people’s ideas without proper attribution. Even though plagiarism is not always intentional, it can harm the scholarly community.

Find out how much you know about plagiarism in various scenarios by navigating through the slides below. Students can also review the scenarios by downloading a PDF with the same information.

One of the best methods for avoiding plagiarism and maintaining your academic integrity is to become comfortable with citation. Each discipline, as well as each instructor, requires a different style. For additional information on citation speak to your professor or a writing center tutor on your campus. Distance students may also contact a VAWLT tutor for additional support.