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Social Work Guide

This guide includes scholarly articles, policy resources, and evidence-based practice tools to support social work education and community engagement.

Citations & Plagiarism Basics

For more in-depth information and resources on citation styles, please visit the Citation Style Guide.

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Citations

How to Cite Sources

What to Cite

You MUST cite:

  • Facts, figures, or other information that is not common knowledge
  • Ideas and theories attributed to others
  • Exact language used by another person in other publications
    • Publications that must be cited include (but not limited to) books, book chapters, journal articles, web pages, interviews, theses, etc.
    • Use quotation marks and give credit when you use someone else’s exact words

When in doubt--be safe and cite your source!

Citation Examples

Citations may look different, depending on what is being cited and which citation style was used to create them. It is important to choose an appropriate style guide for your needs, and your instructor will provide you with their expected citation style for their assignments.

 

Here is an example of an article cited in four different citation styles. 

Authors - R. Cuhel & C. Aguilar

Article Title - Ecosystem Transformations of the Laurentian Great Lake Michigan by Nonindigenous Biological Invaders

Source Title - Annual Review of Marine Science

Volume and issue - Vol 5 no. 1

Publication Date - 2013

Page numbers - 289-320

 

MLA Style : Cuhel, Russell L., and Carmen Aguilar. "Ecosystem Transformations of the Laurentian Great Lake Michigan by Nonindigenous Biological Invaders." Annual Review of Marine Science, vol. 5, no. 1, 2013, pp. 289–320.

APA Style: Cuhel, R. L., & Aguilar, C. (2013). Ecosystem transformations of the Laurentian Great Lake Michigan by nonindigenous biological invaders. Annual Review of Marine Science, 5(1), 289–320. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-120710-100952

Chicago Style: Cuhel, Russell L., and Carmen Aguilar. "Ecosystem Transformations of the Laurentian Great Lake Michigan by Nonindigenous Biological Invaders." Annual Review of Marine Science 5, no. 1 (2013): 289–320.

AMA Style: Cuhel RL, Aguilar C. Ecosystem transformations of the Laurentian Great Lake Michigan by nonindigenous biological invaders. Annu Rev Mar Sci. 2013;5(1):289–320. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-120710-100952 

 

APA Style

The American Psychological Association (APA) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences.

The APA Style Manual 7th ed is available in Course Reserves (circulation desk), Reference (short stacks), and Main Stacks:
BF76.7 .P83 2020

Frequently Used APA Citation Style Examples

MLA Style

The Modern Language Association (MLA) citation format is most commonly used to cite sources within the language arts, cultural studies, and humanities disciplines.

The MLA Handbook is available in Course Reserves (circulation desk), Reference (short stacks), and Main Stacks:
LB2369 .G53 2021

AMA Style

AMA is the expected citation style for CUW's School of Pharmacy.

View the AMA Style Guide

View the NLM Style Guide (Alternative format)

The AMA Manual of Style, 11th ed is available in  Reference (short stacks):
R119 .A533 2020

Chicago Style

Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) is most commonly used to cite sources in academic writing, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. Its intended purpose is primarily for published works rather than class papers.

Unlike many other citation styles, CMOS offers two different methods to document sources: the Author-Date system and the Notes-Bibliography (NB) system. The notes-bibliography style uses footnotes or endnotes, while the author-date style uses in-text citations and a reference list.

The Chicago Manual of Style 17th ed. is available in Reference (short stacks), and Main Stacks:
 PN147 .U69 2017

Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?

Put simply, plagiarism is the use of another's work--whether it's their words, ideas, or images--without attribution. Plagiarism is considered to be a form of theft, and is in direct violation of CUW's Academic Ethics policy.

Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional--remember, just because you didn't mean to doesn't mean it isn't plagiarism! 

 

When should I cite a source to avoid plagiarizing? 

 Always give credit where credit is due. If the words that you are including in your research belong to someone else, give credit.  

Here is a brief list of what needs to be credited or documented: 

  • Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, website, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium 
  • Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing 
  • When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase 
  • When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials 
  • When you reuse or repost any digital media, including images, audio, video, or other media 

There are certain things that do not need documentation or credit, including: 

  • Writing your own lived experiences, your own observations and insights, your own thoughts, and your own conclusions about a subject 
  • When you are writing up your own results obtained through lab or field experiments 
  • When you use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc. 
  • When you are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but not historical documents) 
  • When you are using generally accepted facts (e.g., pollution is bad for the environment) including facts that are accepted within particular discourse communities (e.g., in the field of composition studies, "writing is a process" is a generally accepted fact). 
Plagiarism FAQs—Purdue OWL®—Purdue University. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/plagiarism_faq.html

How do I Avoid Plagiarism?

Quoting

Quoting is to copy the exact words from a source, person, or document. This is fine as long as you place quotations around the passage you're quoting and properly cite the source. Be sure to:

  • Put quotation marks around everything that comes directly from the text.
  • Cite the source.
“While paraphrase and summary are effective ways to introduce your reader to someone’s ideas, quoting directly from a text allows you to introduce your reader to the way those ideas are expressed by showing such details as language, syntax, and cadence.” –Harvard Guide to Using Sources

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is restating a passage or source using your own words. It is different from summarizing, but paraphrasing retains the same amount of detail as the original text and explains a specific idea or argument. There are acceptable and unacceptable ways to paraphrase, so being familiar with how to properly paraphrase is important to avoid plagiarism. Be sure to:

  • Rewrite the passage completely--do not just rearrange or replace a few words.
  • Read over what you want to paraphrase carefully so that you understand what the passage is saying and make sure you have accurately interpreted the text.
  • Compare your paraphrase to the original text to be sure that you haven't accidentally used the same phrases or words.

Visit Indiana University's Writing and Tutoring Center webpage on plagiarism to view examples of proper and improper paraphrasing.

Summarizing

Summarizing involves putting the main ideas of someone else into your own words. It is similar to paraphrasing, but it condenses a larger text into a shorter overview and is intended to highlight the main idea or key argument. It is often significantly shorter than the text being summarized.

Citing

Whether you are quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing, you must cite your sources whenever you use any research, ideas, or words that are not your own. If something is not general or common knowledge, you must cite where you found your information. 

In addition to in-text citations, you must also include a bibliography at the end of your paper that lists all sources used.

What is Considered Common Knowledge?

Generally, common knowledge is information that you can find, undocumented or uncited, in at least five credible sources. Common knowledge typically falls under one of these categories:

Historical Facts
  • George Washington was the first president of the United States.
  • The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.
  • World War II ended in 1945.
These are widely known and found in many general sources.
Scientific Facts (Widely Accepted)
  • Water freezes at 0°C (32°F).
  • The Earth revolves around the Sun.
  • Humans have 206 bones in their bodies.
Basic scientific facts taught in school are often considered common knowledge.
Cultural References
  • Shakespeare wrote “Romeo and Juliet.”
  • The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
  • The internet became widely used in the 1990s.
These facts are familiar to most educated readers.
Geographical Information
  • The Amazon River is in South America.
  • Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
  • Paris is the capital of France.
These are widely known and found in many general sources.
Widely Known Statistics or Facts
  • There are 12 months in a year.
  • The average human body temperature is about 98.6°F (37°C).
These are generally known facts and found in many general sources.

Should I Cite This?

 

As a rule of thumb...

When in doubt, cite it!