Paul Meek Library:

Documenting Sources

Introduction

Accurately documenting sources constitutes a crucial part of the writing and research process.

Documentation is used to give credit for information and ideas originally written elsewhere
Documentation enables others to locate original sources
Failure to give credit for drawing on the work of others constitutes plagiarism.

Plagiarism is a violation of Academic Integrity, Parts 10-12 ""

10. Indulges in plagiarism by presenting as one's own, for academic evaluation, the ideas, representations, or works of another person or persons without customary and proper acknowledgement of sources.

11. Submits the work of another person in a manner which represents the work to be one's own.

12. Knowingly permits one's work to be submitted by another person without the instructor's authorization.

The full text is available here: University Policies and Procedures for Students

Richard Saunders, on the library staff, has developed a handout that discusses some of the issues related to fair use of material for educational purposes and plagiarism. Click here to view a copy of his handout.

All documentation (bibliographies, endnotes, citations, references, lists of works cited, sources cited etc.) should be done according to the style appropriate for the audience that will be reading or reviewing the writing. The Paul Meek Library owns many different documentation style manuals and several are available on the Internet. Some style manuals are "generic" and others are used by subject disciplines. Your instructor will designate which manual is appropriate for your class. Style manuals differ in how materials are cited. Information required for the citation will vary depending on whether the citation is for a journal article, book, conference paper, government document, film, video, or other source.

The major documentation styles: