What Is Plagiarism?
"Plagiarism occurs when a person represents someone else’s words, ideas, phrases, sentences or data as one’s own work." -- New Jersey City University Academic Integrity Policy
The following website is helpful in understanding more about plagiarism:
Credit Sources Used In Your Research
Academic Integrity requires you to give credit to others when you have used their ideas or words. New Jersey City University Academic Integrity Policy is helpful in understanding more about academic integrity.
It is important to list all sources from which information was obtained for your research papers to avoid plagiarism.
In order for other researchers to locate the original sources you used, you must include certain identifying information, such as:
These are all considered to be important elements of a citation.
Citations and References
A citation is a reference to a source from which a quotation or information was taken. It includes all the information needed to locate an original source. For example: a book citation includes author, title, place of publication, publisher and date of publication.
Bibliographies and In-text Citations
A reference page, commonly referred to as a bibliography, is a list of all sources consulted in the preparation of a research paper. A reference page is a required component of a research paper that helps avoid plagiarism.
The list of sources needs to follow a specific citation style or format. Your professor usually assigns a citation style for your assignments, or he/she may ask you to pick one.
Additionally, sources should also be indicated within the body of your writing (in-text citations) using the same citation style guide as the bibliography.
Commonly Used Citation Styles
Style manuals provide guidance on all aspects of the writing process, including both general advice as well as specific formatting details.
APA and MLA are the two standardized styles most commonly used for citing sources.
Citation Style Guides Are Available on the Library Home Page
APA Style Citation Guide - examples of commonly cited materials formatted in APA style.
MLA Style Citation Guide - examples of commonly cited materials formatted in APA style.
Recent print editions of the APA and MLA Style Guides are available at the Reference Desk (2nd Floor of the library) for in-house use.
Citation Management Software
Zotero is an application that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use, connects with your web browser to download sources, and best of all it's free.
Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies.
ZoteroBib is simpler and easier to use than the full featured version of Zotero.
Just copy and paste the url into the ZoteroBib site and it will format the citation in APA. MLA, or other styles. It works with library databases and catalogs as well as other websites.
Graduate students and faculty will need the fuller featured Zotero but this simplified version might work very well for most of our undergrads.
Other Style Manuals
There are other style manuals that may be suggested by instructors. Some examples are:
Please note: Visit, email (libraryref@njcu.edu), or telephone (201-200-3033) the Reference Desk on the 2nd floor in the Library if you need help with an assigned citation style that is not listed here.
Test Your Knowledge About Citations:
1. The following is a citation for a book in APA style. Which statement is FALSE?
a) The title of the book is: Almost free: a story about family and race in antebellum Virginia.
b) The book was published in 2010.
c) The book was published by University of Georgia Press.
d) The author is E. S. Wolf.
2. When you write a research paper, you are required to include a bibliography or reference list. Which of the following statements is FALSE?
a) Your professor may suggest a style.
b) APA and MLA styles are two standardized methods often used for citing sources.
c) Web sites do not have to be included in a bibliography.
d) Many library databases have "help links" for how to create a bibliography and styles of citation.
3. Which one of the following statements about plagiarism is FALSE?
In order to avoid plagiarism, you must:
a ) give credit when you use another person's ideas, opinions, or theories.
b ) give credit when you paraphrase another person's words, either oral or written.
c ) give credit when you use quotations from another person's spoken or written words.
d ) not adopt or reproduce ideas or words of another person.
4. Two commonly used citation formats for college research papers are:
a) MLA and APA
b) SAT and PSAT
c) NBA and NFL
d) FAQ and MAT
1. B
2. C
3. D
4. A