Cite correctly
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Cite correctly – avoid plagiarism

Cite correctly is very important to avoid plagiarism in your content. If the statements do not originate from your own thoughts or research, you must identify them correctly with a source reference. When writing an academic paper, you will certainly feel that you want to incorporate your own findings and thoughts as much as possible in order to present your own work. However, this pressure should not give you room for sloppy work or cause you to omit even one mention. Plagiarism can now be quickly uncovered using simple tools and programs and almost always leads to the revocation of the paper.

Different ways of citing

Your university will usually tell you how you have to cite. When it comes to «correctly citing in academic work», it is important to stick consistently to the guidelines and not to switch between different citation styles within the work. There are 4 common methods in total, which we will explain to you below with examples.

It is important to note here that, depending on the university, there may be individual extra and slightly different regulations. You should definitely look at these beforehand. For most universities, however, the mentioned stringency regarding the citation style across the entire term paper, bachelor’s thesis, dissertation, master’s thesis or other final paper is more important than using a very specific citation style.

Cite according to APA

The APA citation style is now a frequently used citation style. The American Psychological Association (APA) released the 7th version of the APA Publication Manual in October 2019. The following examples apply, which mainly show the author and the year:

In brackets at the end of the sentence: (Maier, 2019), example: …A study found that over the course of… (Maier, 2019). In the sentence: Maier (2019), example: … Maier (2019) showed in his research that… In the bibliography: Maier, B. (2019). Migrations today (3rd ed.). Thieme Verlag.

Cite according to Harvard

The second alternative is the Harvard citation style, which is also known as the American citation rule and is used very frequently. The difference to the APA is that there are no organizational requirements. The following examples apply, with the source being supplemented by the page number:

Paraphrase: (cf. Maier 2019: 69) Direct quotation: (Maier 2019: 69) In the body text: Maier (2019: 69) In the bibliography: Maier, Bernhardt (2019): Völkerwanderungen heute, 3rd edition, Munich: Thieme Verlag.

Citing according to MLA

The MLA citation is also a form that takes place within the text. It is based on the regulations of the Modern Language Association (MLA) from the USA. However, the year is not mentioned, only the page number. Accordingly, the following examples are to be used, which represent a short reference:

In the body text for direct and indirect quotations: (Maier and Müller 141) If the author is mentioned in the body text, then only the page number, example: …Maier and Müller showed in their research… (29). In the bibliography (detailed: title, first name and last name): Maier, Bernhardt and Müller, Franz. Völkerwanderungen in Asien im 21. Jahrhundert. Thieme Verlag, 2021.

Cite according to the German citation style

The difference to the American citation style Harvard and APA is that with the German citation style the literature in the text is marked with a footnote. This is intended to improve the flow of reading. Below is an example of the style and clear reference below the classic bullet point:

Detailed: See Maier, Bernhardt: Völkerwanderungen heute, 3rd edition, Munich: Thieme Verlag, 2019, p. 27. Brief: See Maier, 2019, p. 27. Maier, 2019, p. 27. In the bibliography: Maier, Bernhardt: Völkerwanderungen heute, 3rd edition, Munich: Thieme Verlag, 2019.

Reference in the text

In addition to references to literature, your work also contains references within the text and to further information. Then you want to point out again what you have already mentioned in the text or what follows later. Such references are called backward references or forward references. Examples of this are the following:

Backward reference: «As already described in Chapter 2, …» Forward reference: «This is explained in more detail in Chapter 7.»

Citing in the bibliography

The reference in the bibliography is more detailed than in the body text. This is clear from the examples given above according to the respective citation styles. In addition to the explanations, the following example serves to refer to «Correctly citing legal articles in Switzerland»:

Judgment (of the Court of Justice of the European Communities or the ECJ) of 7 June 2015 C-64/96 and C-65/96 Holmer and Jacquet, ECR 1998 I-3181, paragraphs 27 et seq.

Different types of citation

Different types of citation take on a certain function for the overall text. The text becomes more interesting and easier to read if the types of quotation are constantly alternated.

Literal/direct quotation

If you use a quotation directly, it is actually just copied word for word in its original form. It should then be used in quotation marks. An example of correct quoting according to MLA would be:

Western cultures need a lot of social commitment and patience for immigrants. Maier and Müller also recognized this in the form: “The 2015 study found that integration into a new culture takes an average of 3 years for all of the people studied” (Maier and Müller 141).

Indirect quotation/paraphrase

This is an indirect statement of what you want to quote from other authors. It is best to use the subjunctive, the method of paraphrasing and also identify the original source. Here is an example:

Maier and Müller also saw it as necessary that Western societies need strong social commitment and patience (cf. Maier and Müller 2019: 69).

Secondary quote

You were unable to research a secondary citation yourself, but took it from another source. This can happen if the original work can no longer be found or if obtaining it would require a great deal of effort. Then it is important to comply with the following regulations:

  1. a source reference for both sources in the body text,
  2. a source reference for both sources in the bibliography.

The examples of a secondary quote would be accordingly:

  • On 1.: “There is a correlation between company success and employee satisfaction” (Neugebauer, 2020, quoted in Holsten, 2021, p. 17).
  • On 2.: Holsten, B. (2021). Employee satisfaction and company success. Bremen: Thieme Verlag. Neugebauer, A. (2020). Company success in the 21st century (2nd ed.). Bremen: Thieme Verlag.

Quote within a quote

In some cases, you may want to quote a passage from a source that already contains a quote. You must then identify both quotes by putting both the longer quote and the quote within the quote in quotation marks. An example in this case would be:

«The 2015 study found that integration into a new culture takes an average of 3 years for all of the people studied, just as Neubauer correctly pointed out in 2010: «In our survey of the test subjects, we found that at least 2 or more years are required for sufficient integration.» (Neubauer, 2010)» (Maier, 2021, p. 17).

All source types at a glance

Below we give you a brief overview of which source types are available and can be used. We differentiate between print and online sources as well as other sources.

 

Print sources Online sources Other
Books and specialist books Online specialist books Illustrations and images
Specialist journals Online journals Interviews (print or online)
Articles in magazines Duden Interviews (print or online)
Anthology YouTube Graphics and statistics
Essay in anthology Statista Laws
Monograph Websites/Internet sources Gray literature
Example of correctly citing Internet sources: FAZ-Online (2013): Migration Eastern Europe: Merkel rebukes the opposition, February 28, online at http://www.faz.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,66769,00.html [accessed on February 28, 2013].

Frequently used abbreviations when quoting

So that the quotation does not become too long and the text does not suffer when reading it, it has long been common practice to use square brackets in the text ( […] ) for omissions. In the source references themselves, you often find abbreviations for certain words and terms. These are listed alphabetically below:

  • Edition = Edition
  • Volume = Volume
  • ibid. = same source as in the previous reference
  • f. = on the following page
  • ff. = on the following pages
  • Hrsg. or Hg. = Editor
  • N.N. = if the author is unknown
  • n.d. = without year (if no year is given)
  • p. = page
  • et al. = and others (in the sense of authors)
  • cf. = comparisons
  • trans. = translation
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