Biology

Why Cite?

Citation and the lack thereof, plagiarism is the academic version of copyright. Plagiarism occurs when you borrow another's words (or ideas) and do not acknowledge that you have done so. In this culture, we consider our words and ideas intellectual property; like a car or any other possession, we believe our words belong to us and cannot be used without our permission. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources - both within the body of your paper and in a bibliography of sources you used at the end of your paper.

You must cite:

• Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge
• Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other publications
• Publications that must be cited include:  books, book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc.
• Another person's exact words should be quoted and cited to show proper credit 

When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

The Council of Science Editors (CSE) style is widely used in scientific disciplines, particularly in the natural and physical sciences. The CSE manual describes the Name-Year system that uses:

• Parenthetical citations consisting of the author's last name and year of publication
• A reference list at the end of the paper with complete source information