Plagiarism sometimes occurs unintentionally, as students may be uncertain about how to write academic texts. Academic writing involves presenting your own research findings while acknowledging and incorporating existing research. In this section, you will receive guidance on how to summarise and reference various sources in your writing effectively.

Summarise in your own words

The most common way to cite sources is to paraphrase, which means that you summarise a paragraph or a longer part of a text in your own words. To write a good summary, you need to read the text carefully until you have fully understood the content. If you are unsure of the content, it is difficult to process the text and you might end up too close to the original wording. Sometimes you need to read up on a topic by reading a few other sources to fully understand the information.

Quotations

In exceptional cases, you may have reason to quote, i.e. reproduce a sentence or wording verbatim. For example, this may be appropriate if you want to write a precise definition, or if the original meaning is lost if you paraphrase. However, the most common practice is to summarise and paraphrase the information. You should therefore use quotations sparsely. A text with too many quotations risks signalling that you haven't understood and synthesised the information properly.

Regardless of whether you are paraphrasing or quoting, you must always include citations in the text and list all references at the end of your work.

Some advice along the way

You are expected to learn to synthesise and paraphrase information from sources. This can be challenging if you are not used to it. When you have learned to summarise information, you show your teachers that you have mastered both your subject field and the art of academic writing. Some advice to get you started:

Take notes of the important points in the text while you read. Avoid writing complete sentences; instead, try to find keywords.
Put the text down and start from your notes to write your text.
Compare your text with the source to see if you missed something essential, misunderstood, or worded yourself too similarly to the original text.

Cite your sources

The references show that you have familiarised yourself with the subject and deepened your knowledge.
Well-used references elevate your text.
It should be clear to your reader what your thoughts are and what someone else's are.
Your reader will probably want to follow up on some of your references. Follow the format of how a reference should be written so that it is easy to find and understand in the reference list.
You also cite to give the authors whose texts you used credit for their work. The references are thus a way of saying thank you for the help.
If you reference correctly, there is less risk that your work will be caught in a plagiarism check.

Watch the film Why references? (5:04) where Fredrik Vanek, librarian at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University, talks about why and how you should use references. This video lecture is part of the material in a MOOC (open online course) on academic writing offered by Lund University. You can find the entire course on YouTube.

Different reference styles

There are several different styles of reference writing. Which style you should use in your essay or thesis is determined by your school, department or supervisor. The four most common styles at JU are:

Can I use other people's images or tables in my assignments?

As a student, there may be times when you want to incorporate other authors' material, such as images, tables, and figures, into your assignments. In such cases, you often need to ask the copyright holder for permission first.

Go through the University Library's page Frequently asked questions about copyright for students. For instance, you can find information on seeking permission to use a figure from another source in your text or if you are allowed to share material from Canvas.

Further reading

Writing Guide. A website aiming to support students in their academic writing. The website is developed in collaboration between Blekinge Institute of Technology, Kristianstad University, Linnaeus University and Umeå University.
Turn to the Academic Language Center at the University Library if you want tips on developing your academic writing skills. They also offer individual text tutoring.

Test your knowledge

What do you know about using different sources in your text?

Proceed to the self-assessment test