Welcome! Today we will learn how to give credit to authors and use sources ethically in your research.
When you write a research paper, you must use source materials ethically. This means you never pretend someone else's words or ideas are your own.
Academic citations show your readers exactly where you found your information. Including the author's name and title gives proper credit and builds trust.
To cite a source, collect key details: the author, title, publication date, and page number. Modeling this step helps you avoid plagiarism every time.
✏️ Worked example
Read this factsheet statement: 'Dolphins use echolocation to navigate dark water.' How do you use this source ethically in your paragraph?
Identify the original author or source title (Example: National Marine Center, 2021).
Decide whether to quote the exact words in quotation marks or rewrite the idea in your own words (paraphrase).
Write your sentence: Dolphins bounce sound waves off objects to find their way in murky ocean waters.
Add an in-text citation at the end of your sentence to give credit: (National Marine Center, 2021).
Verify that your sentence does not copy the original wording without quotes.
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