Basic Principles of Citation

Academic research involves outlining, defending, and publishing one's own research interests, questions, and results for other researchers to review. This process also requires careful examination of other researchers' work.

An important prerequisite for this step is excerpting, that is, using passages from others' work.

Excerpts are generally provided in the form of quotations. There are two kinds of quotations: direct and indirect quotations.

• In a direct quotation, a passage of a source text is copied word-for-word and placed in quotation marks. Changes to the wording are permissible only if placed in brackets [ ] to mark the added section and as long as the meaning of the quotation is not altered by the addition.
• In an indirect quotation, you summarize the ideas of the source text in your own words, so quotation marks are unnecessary.

In both types of quotations, it is critical to document the source fully and precisely by noting the title, author, page numbers, and any other pertinent information.

When you add an excerpt, there is a dedicated field for the core statement. This makes it easier for you to quickly recognize the content and significance of the excerpt later on. You can also organize your quotations by using keywords or by assigning your quotations to categories.Groupscan be used for internal project management.