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Biology Lab Reports: Citations

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism, according to the Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary, is the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to the person.

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

  • turning in someone else's work as your own
  • copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
  • failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
  • giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
  • changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
  • copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work whether you give credit or not

"What is Plagiarism?"  Plagiarism.org. iParadigms LLC, 2014. Web. 2 May 2014.

Why do you need citations?

When you write your lab report, you will need to create a list of the References that you cite in your report. Here's why:

1. Shows the reader where you found your information

2. Gives credit to the original author/researcher of a work you have consulted

3. Allows others to find more information about your topic

4.Helps prevent plagiarism

Science classes at Woodward, use APA Style formatting.

Remember this APA rule:

Cite only what you use; Use only what you cite!

Sample APA Reference List

APA Style Video

APA In-Text Citations

"In-text" citations are used in APA formatting to indicate the author and date of source in the text of your writing. 

Basic In-Text Citation Style

APA Style in-text citations include the author and date, either both inside parentheses or with the author names in running text and the date in parentheses. Here are two examples: 

  • After the intervention, children increased in the number of books read per week (Smith & Wexwood, 2010). 
  • Smith and Wexwood (2010) reported that after the intervention, children increased in the number of books read per week. 

OWL APA Formatting Guidelines