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Political Science: Citation

According to American Political Science Association, Political Science defined as the study of governments, public policies and political behavior both in the United States and in the world.

Citations

  1. Using someone else’s ideas in your writing(s) without giving credit to the original creator of the ideas is plagiarism.  Whether you meant to do it or not, does not justified your action(s).
  2. Always take careful notes and make it clear when you are taking information from another source
  3. If you paraphrase, cite the source in parenthesis.
  4. In MLA and APA styles, in-text citations usually appear in parenthesis.  

Do you think plagiarism is a problem that is talked about in academia.  Check out these real world examples of celebrities being accused of plagiarizing.

Plagiarism at Lincoln University

According to the LU Catalog:

"Plagiarism is the use of reference sources without providing correct acknowledgements. When you use ideas or words created by another person and do not give proper credit, you are claiming the words or ideas are your own. In essence, you are stealing from the original writer." In essence, "You Quote It, You Note It."

Plagiarism may take many forms:

  • cheating,
  • copying information directly without providing quotation marks,
  • failing to cite sources, or
  • citing sources incorrectly.

It does not matter whether you intended to plagiarize or whether the plagiarism occurred unintentionally, there are consequences to the offense. Ignorance of the rules of correct citation is not an acceptable excuse.

Below are the consequences for plagiarizing:

  • Your might fail the assignment
  • Fail the course
  • A letter sent to your academic file
  • If more than one offense, the offender is sent to academic judicial review board.
  • Offender may face expulsion

Criteria

Questions to Ask


urrency
  • When was the source written and published?
  • Has the information been updated recently?
  • Is currency pertinent to your research?


elevance
  • Does the source cover your research topic comprehensively or only cover one aspect?
  • To what extent does the source answer your research question?
  • Is the source considered popular or scholarly?
  • Is the terminology and language used easy to understand?
  • Does the source meet the requirements of your research assignment?


uthority
 
  • Who is the author (person, company, or organization)?
  • Does the source provide any information that leads you to believe the author is credible or an expert on the topic?
  • Can you describe the author's background (experience, education, knowledge)?
  • Does the author provide citations? Do you think they are reputable?


ccuracy
  • Can facts or statistics be verified through another source?
  • Based on your knowledge, does the information seem accurate? Does it match the information found in other sources?
  • Are there spelling or grammatical errors?


urpose

 
  • What is the purpose or motive for the source (educational, commercial, entertainment, promotional, etc.)?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • Is the author pretending to be objective, but really trying to persuade, promote or sell something?
  • Does the source seem biased?