So far you learnt how to gather information on the subject you are interested in and you are preparing to write down your report on this particular subject. When writing, keep in mind that the reader could benefit from going through the steps you followed. This would make it easier for her/him to see your point of view. Moreover, the reader may be interested in one of the sources you mentioned, and by giving full reference to that resource you contribute to the spread of academic knowledge.
Of citations and bibliographies
Let us begin by a definition of what citation and bibliography is.
A citation means quotation, which is a fragment of writing in a book, journal or magazine. While coming up with points to support your argument, there are times when you prefer to use directly the words that some other author you may think that it is the best way to express the idea. In that case you put the fragment in quotation marks and don't change anything about it. The second option you have is to extract the essence out of that beautiful formulated point and then express it in your own words. This is called indirect quotation or paraphrasing.
A citation also refers to a reliable description of a resource you used to create your own academic work. It is composed of several parts which include the author of the resource, year of publication, title of the book or article, publishing company. Its function is to give credit to the intellectual work that someone else did in the field in which you are currently working.
A bibliography is the list of the material that has been used to produce an academic work. In your case, the bibliography is going to consist of all the books and articles from whose information you benefited in order to come up with your own academic product, in other words it is the list of citations you used.
Of the benefit of giving citations and compiling bibliographies
There are several benefits in giving proper reference to the sources that you have used in your work.
- Remember the chapter on points of view and evaluation of information. There you learnt how to scrutinize information in order to make sure that it is dependable. Now it is time to think how those criteria are reflected in your own work, and this is where providing the reader with proper quotations of the material you used comes into play. Put in a nutshell: Good referencing gives credibility to your work.
- Collecting information about a subject is like weaving a web. What you do is trace arguments from one material to another, looking for what is relevant to your own work. And the reason you were able to do this is that the authors whose works you have been consulting have acknowledged their sources of information. Now it is your turn to help other readers interested in the same subject. So bear in mind: Good referencing helps the reader get accurate information.
- Plagiarism means to use the work or ideas of someone else and present it as your own work. The question of plagiarism is rather complicated, because it can happen unintentionally, as in the case when sources are not correctly cited; or it can happen intentionally by appropriation of someone else's work. The spread of the availability of relevant and reliable online information seems to have promoted plagiarism further. In the academic world it is the equivalent of theft and it is severely punished. Moreover it takes a lot from your work, rather adding anything to it. It inhibits your creativity and your own academic development. The way out of plagiarism is very simple: Good referencing helps you avoid plagiarism.
- Term papers and reports contribute to the enrichment of your knowledge in a particular subject but also prepare to make your own contribution to the academic world. By giving references you show that you are familiar with who is who and who says what on the subject; you are acknowledging those who wrote before you. It resembles a new membership in a club, and as with any new membership you begin by greeting the elder members. Hence: Good referencing helps you become part of the academia.