Citing

You normally need to cite a source when you:

• quote someone else’s exact words
• paraphrase or summarise information or ideas from a source
• refer to someone else’s argument, theory, findings or research
• use data, statistics or other information taken from a source
• reproduce or adapt images, figures, tables, diagrams, code or other material
• refer directly to a particular publication, study or other source

You do not normally need to cite information that is genuinely common knowledge within your subject area.

See Referencing for more about common knowledge and the overall referencing process.

Your citation should make it clear to the reader which information has come from which source.

Putting information into your own words does not make it your own idea. When you paraphrase or summarise material from a source, you still need to cite it.

The citation should be positioned so that the reader can clearly identify the source of the information or idea. The exact information included in the citation depends on your referencing style.

For help with the writing skill itself, see:

• Paraphrasing
• Integrating information from sources

A direct quotation uses the exact words from a source.

Make it clear which words are quoted and provide a citation containing the page number or other location information required by your referencing style.

How you set out a quotation, including quotation marks, longer block quotations and page or paragraph numbers, depends on the referencing style you are using.

Deciding whether a quotation is the best way to use a source is a writing choice. See Quoting information from sources for guidance on using quotations effectively in your academic writing.

Harvard and APA are author-date referencing styles. They allow you to acknowledge a source in two common ways.

In a narrative citation, the author forms part of the sentence:

Author (year) argues that...

In a parenthetical citation, the source information appears in brackets:

...as previous research has shown (Author, year).

Both approaches acknowledge the source. Choosing which approach to use can also affect what you emphasise in your writing.

See Integrating information from sources for guidance on choosing whether to foreground the author or the information.

OSCOLA works differently. It uses numbered footnotes rather than author-date in-text citations. Law students should follow the OSCOLA guidance and the Law Division’s OSCOLA guide.

The principles of acknowledging sources are similar, but the exact format of citations differs between referencing styles.

At Abertay:

• most programmes use Cite Them Right Harvard
• Psychology programmes use APA
• Law programmes use OSCOLA

Always check your module or assessment guidance if you are unsure which style you should use.

For detailed examples covering many different source types, use Cite Them Right Online.