Citations are an underrated but important part of your assignment. Citations usually consist of two elements:
- In-text citations: Citations that are placed inside your paper to keep track of where the information came from.
- References: The last page of your paper that lists all of your citations in alphabetical order.
Using citations are important as they tell your audience where you got your information. It helps to establish credibility, which is extremely important when you are doing research. There are consequences with not using citations to credit the work of others.
When you are not honest, you are cheating. Cheating is when you use people or tools to complete or do something for you without permission. There are different types of cheating, such as plagiarism. When you do not credit someone for their ideas or work, it is considered plagiarism.
Cheating includes:
- Giving, receiving, or using unauthorized help on individual and group academic work (papers, presentations, quizzes, and tests)
- Pretending to be another student
- Sharing content without permission
- Creating false data or information to support academic work
- Changing academic documents, including records
- Using AI generators (e.g., ChatGPT), language translators, or computer algebra systems (e.g., Photomath) to complete coursework without credit or permission
Butler defines plagiarism as:
- Representing or turning in someone else's work without appropriate citation
- Not acknowledging the paragraph, quoting, or complete use of someone else's work
- Citing work that is not used
- Taking credit for a (group) project without contributing
- Letting another person or organization write or contribute to any part of an assignment, including hiring someone or a company to do your assignments
- Using AI (e.g., ChatGPT) without proper attribution or authorization
- Using the same written assignment for more than one class without permission from prior instructors
- Failing to cite yourself as a source when using work submitted at Butler or other schools, including high school
Note: The information above is provided directly from California State University Library - Northridge.
