Failure to give credit in an academic context is referred to as plagiarism and is understood as claiming responsibility for someone else's ideas and work. This is not looked upon very kindly.
However, beyond plagiarism, there are many reasons why citing properly is important. A few of these are that giving credit:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the american psychological association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
American Psychological Association. (2012). APA style guide to electronic references (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
APA: Getting Started. Quick Reference from the UBC Library.
Core components:
Format options:
Examples
Yang, Scott, Mao, Tang, and Farmer (2014) concluded that there is minimal clinical significance to aerobic versus resistance exercise in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
A recent systematic review concluded that there is minimal clinical significance to aerobic versus resistance exercise in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (Yang, Scott, Mao, Tang, & Farmer, 2014).
Cheat Sheet:
# of Authors | Example |
1 |
(Yang, 2014) |
2 | (Yang & Scott, 2014) |
3-5 | First citation: (Yang, Scott & Mao, 2014) Subsequent citations: (Yang et al., 2014) |
6 or more |
(Yang et al., 2014) |
Core components:
Format
Note: What is and what is not italicized. There is not always an issue number.
Examples
Issue number
No issues number
Citation management tools link together your database searches and your word processor. They help you to:
There are several citation managers available. The following three options are free of charge: RefWorks; Mendeley; Zotero.
RefWorks, as an exclusively online tool, is ideal for users who use multiple computers or rely on a web interface. Mendeley offers strong support for pdf management including storing, sharing, and annotating. Zotero handles a wide variety of references outside of books and journal articles.