Social Work Research Guide

Plagiarism & Academic Integrity

See the OC Calendar's Academic Integrity policy on plagiarism.   "Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's work or ideas without proper or complete acknowledgment" (Okanagan College [OC], 2013, Calendar).

Examples of plagiarism:

• Copying phrases, sentences, pictures, statistics, graphs, videos , or other information without citing the source
• Failing to use quotation marks to indicate copied information
• Summarizing or paraphrasing ideas or information without citing the original source
• Listing a source on the References page but failing to refer to the publication within the body of the assignment.

"Students are responsible for learning and applying the proper scholarly practices for acknowledging the work and ideas of others". (OC, 2013, Calendar): This student responsibility applies in all formats (print, online, and others).

Use the Avoid Plagiarism Tutorial to test yourself and find out more about plagiarism.

Why do we cite?

1. Give credit where credit is due. Every time you use someone else's ideas or words, you need to give them credit. Whether you are paraphrasing or quoting, no matter where you find the information (journal article, book, Wikipedia, website, etc.), you must cite your sources. It is plagiarism if you use someone else's ideas or words without crediting them. Visit the Library's Avoiding Plagiarism guide to be sure you understand plagiarism.
2. Help your reader find your sources. By citing, you are providing your reader with the necessary information to locate your sources.
3. Lend credibility to your arguments. Citing sources demonstrates that your arguments are solid, and backed up by other research.

References are like building a puzzle...

1. Identify the type of source that you have "in hand".

2. Find your puzzle pieces (Author(s), date, title of source, title of container source (book or journal or magazine the information source appears), publication information (publisher), access information (volume and issue numbers, page numbers, URL, DOI).

3. Find the example in an APA guide that matches your resource type (book, eBook, magazine article, website, etc.).

4. Build your citation puzzle with the pieces and examples you identified.

APA Citation Style

Students in health and social development programs use APA style (American Psychological Association). 
This style is described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association [APA] (7th ed., 2020).

• Visit OC Library's APA style guide resource page.  Use the OC Library APA style guide (PDF)

TIP:

• Keep track of your sources as you work. Backtracking to relocate a source can be time-consuming and frustrating.