Anthropology

In western culture, our words and ideas are considered intellectual property and cannot be used by others without permission. You commit plagiarism when you use another person's words or ideas without crediting them, which is a serious academic offense that could get you dismissed from school. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources and cite them properly. Click on the links below to learn more about citations.

What is a Citation? 

Why Cite? 

What to Cite? 

• You must provide a citation for any facts, ideas, or data which you took from another source.
• You also have to provide a citation for any images, graphs, maps, sound files, etc. unless you created them yourself
• The only time you do not need to cite is when the fact or idea is “common knowledge,” eg: William Shakespeare is the author of Hamlet.

 

How to Cite? 

Click the links below or the expanded menu to learn more about plagiarism or a specific citation style.

Need help creating and managing references? Online citation management tools allow you to access, manage, and cite your sources in a single place.

Citation Management Tools:

• ​Zotero -  A free, open source tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research sources.
• ​Mendeley - A free reference manager to help you organize and share your research.
• Microsoft Word - In MS Word, go to the References tab, then click on Insert Citation, then click to Add a New Source.
• ​EndNote Basic - Free web-based service used to store references and create bibliographies. 
• Library databases - Many library databases will have a “Cite” tool or citation generator. Use this to generate a citation for the source. Review the citation according to a citation style guide to ensure accuracy.
• Unsure which tool to try? MIT and UVIC libraries have charts that compare the different features of some of these tools.

Be sure to review any citations for accuracy. Spelling and syntax errors are common with computer-generated references. The Library will help you construct citations and review reference style guides. Staff may not be able to assist with citation management software.

Keep your personal privacy in mind when using these online tools. These products store data on non-Canadian servers. Use of these reference services is voluntary. Your personal information may be stored in the US or another country. Your account information will be subject to the laws of the country where the information is stored.