During your academic career at MIT, you will write original papers and give oral presentations that require research. It is important to understand that notions concerning reusing other people’s creative output vary from discipline to discipline and culture to culture. For example, in the United States our copyright law does not protect ideas or facts, but does protect the particular, original expression of an idea in words or images when they are expressed in a tangible form. In some cultures, the concept of “owning” words that are arranged in a particular sequence may seem strange. Students from these cultures may have been encouraged to repeat the words of others and incorporate them into their own writing without quoting or otherwise indicating that they came from another source. Other cultures accept the practice of copying phrases or sentences into a paper without using quotation marks as long as the writer shows where they came from. These practices are not acceptable in North American culture.

Creative expression of ideas through words, images, and other media is the lifeblood of our academic culture. For this reason, we expect that our original expressions should not be used by others without attribution and acknowledgment. If you copy, borrow, or appropriate another's work and present it as your own in a paper or oral presentation - deliberately or by accident - this act is considered plagiarism.

What does it mean to "cite" a source?

• You show, in the body of your paper, where the words or information came from, using an appropriate format,

and 

• You provide complete information about the source (author, title, date, etc.) using an appropriate format, in a bibliography or footnote.

You acknowledge, on your slide, where the graph, chart or other information came from.

Why should I cite my sources?

• To show your readers that you have done your research.
• To give credit to others for work they have done.
• To point your readers to sources that may be useful to them.
• To allow your readers to check your sources, if there are questions.

Citing sources points the way for other scholars. You may cite a source that is of particular interest to a reader who wants to read more on your subject. Your citation will help that reader locate the information quickly.

What should I cite?

• Print sources: books, journal articles, magazine articles, newspapers - any material published on paper.
• Electronic sources: web pages, articles from online newspapers and journals, articles retrieved from databases like LexisNexis and ProQuest, government documents, newsgroup postings, graphics, E-mail messages, and web logs (i.e., any material published or made available on the Internet).
  You can access services like these through the MIT Libraries at: http://libraries.mit.edu/vera/. For assistance in using them, contact the Libraries' Ask-Us! service at: http://libraries.mit.edu/ask-us/.
• Recorded material: television or radio programs, films, filmed discussions, panels, seminars, interviews, or public speeches.
• Spoken material: personal conversations, interviews, information obtained in lectures, poster sessions, or scholarly presentations of any kind.
• Images: charts, graphs, tables, data, illustrations, architectural plans, and photographs.