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Modern Languages: Research Issues

Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Kiswahili

Why Cite Reference Sources

  • To avoid plagiarism
  • —To acknowledge debts to other writers
  • —To verify quotations
  • —To enable all those who read your work to locate your sources easily
  • To enable readers to follow-up and read more fully the cited author’s arguments
  • To demonstrate the body of knowledge upon which your research is based 

What constitutes Plagiarism

  • —Copy sentences from a web page, a blog, a book, or an article and insert them into your paper without citing them.
  • —Copy large chunks of text from one or more original sources and insert it into work.
  • —Use an image or video from any source and do not cite it properly.
  • Quote or paraphrase from another paper without crediting the original author.
  • —Cite data without crediting the original source.
  • —Propose another author’s idea as if it were your own.
  • —Fabricating references or using incorrect references.
  • Submitting someone else’s presentation, program, spreadsheet, or other file with only minor alterations.

Test your knowledge: take Indaiana University's plagiarism quiz

 

Reference Managers Supported by Research Commons

1. EndNote is software for storing and managing bibliographic references. You can create your own EndNote library and manually add references or import them from databases.  EndNote works with Microsoft Word and other word processing programs to create citations and bibliographies in a citation style of your choice.

2. Mendeley is a free online referencing system that you can use on the web and on your desktop. You can create your own fully-searchable reference library, cite as you write and read and annotate your PDFs. It also functions as an academic social network; you can create your own researcher profile.

Common Referencing styles

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  1. American Psychological Association (APA) Referencing Guide (pdf file).  Although originally drawn up for use in psychological journals, the APA style is now widely used in the social sciences, in education, in business, and numerous other disciplines.
  2. Modern Language Association of America (MLA) Referencing Guide (pdf file). It is mainly used in English and The humanities.

  3. Harvard Referencing Guide (pdf file). It came originally from "The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation" published by the Harvard Law Review Association. The Harvard style and its many variations are used in law, natural sciences, social and behavioural sciences, and medicine.

 

Useful links on Plagiarism

Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism-Don't do it

Referencing

Research and Documentation Online

Literature Review

Useful Titles

These titles and more on different aspects of research are available in the University of Ghana Library System. Look them up in the UGCat for precise location and call no.

Subject Librarian, School of Languages

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Moses Bediako
Contact:
P.O. Box LG 24, Legon
233268504490
Website Skype Contact: mbediako
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