Biological Sciences - Graduate Library Resources: Read a Citation

When you quote or paraphrase the idea of another person in your research paper or speech, you must provide a proper citation for the source.

Proper citations:

• give credit to the author
• enable others to locate the resource you cited
• improve the credibility of your work, especially if you cited authoritative sources

If you use other people's words or ideas without properly giving them credit, you are committing plagiarism, which is a serious NSU honor code violation as well as a federal crime.

In your research, you will need to understand how to interpret the citations you find in indexes and bibliographies, as well as how to cite sources in your own bibliographies.

Interpreting Citations

A citation is a reference to a source of information. It should include enough identifying information, including such information as the author, title, and source, so that a reader can locate a copy of the item. Citations may reference any type of information including: 

Book Citation

 

HINT: When trying to determine whether the library owns a book, check NovaCat by searching for the author or title. 

Magazine Article Citation

HINT: When trying to determine whether the library owns a magazine, check NovaCat by searching for the title of the magazine rather than using the title of the article. 

Journal Article Citation

HINT: When trying to determine whether the library owns a journal, check NovaCat by searching for the title of the journal rather than using the title of the article. 

ERIC ED Document Citation

HINT: For information on locating ERIC Documents (EDs), see Sources for Full Text ERIC Documents in the ERIC tutorial.