Write references
Citing sources to support and explain your arguments is one of the cornerstones of academic texts. Writing references so that all the important information about the source is included in the reference list, and the text still flows well, requires skill.
Write references correctly
In order to raise the academic level of your work, it is important that you refer to the sources you use in your text. By keeping track of which sources you used in your work, you reduce the risk of plagiarism. You also show that you have read up on the subject and you help the reader to find the sources and to keep apart your conclusions and the claims of others. And last but not least, you acknowledge the authors behind the works you used and join a tradition of academic honesty at Chalmers.
If you need more help regarding the writing process itself, you can contact Chalmers Writing Center or check out the Chalmers Writing Guide.
Video: Write references correctly (03:32)
Plagiarism
When you write academic texts, the idea is that you should take part in other people's work and that these should form the basis of your own texts. You must refer to others but all the text you write must be your own, otherwise you may be accused of plagiarism.
What counts as plagiarism?
To use the work of others without attribution.
To present the content of someone else's work as one's own.
To reuse own work or group work from a previous course without permission.
To reuse text structures and sentence structures in your text, even if you replace individual words with synonyms.
To take a text in another language and translate it directly.
There are a number of different systems for detecting plagiarism. Chalmers uses Inspera Originality (formerly Ouriginal/Urkund).
Video: Avoid plagiarism (03:10)
Reference Systems
There are many different reference systems. References within the text will look different, depending on the system used. It is very important to be consistent with the reference system used in a text.
The commonest at Chalmers are APA (author + year) and IEEE (numerical).
Reference according to Vancouver (Karolinska University)
Reference Management Programmes
You can either write references manually in the text or use a reference management programme. A reference management programme helps you collect and organise sources for a project. They can also be used as plug-ins for word processing programmes to insert references in the text and format the reference list in accordance with the different reference systems.
Your Chalmers affiliation gives you access to Mendeley and EndNote.
Mendeley is recommended for students writing essays.
EndNote is recommended for doctoral students and researchers doing larger literature projects.
Zotero is another programme which is open and free for everyone to use.
Guide to Reference Management Programmes
Writing references with Overleaf
Overleaf is commonly used at Chalmers instead of Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Overleaf uses LaTeX-code to create and format documents. The biblatex package should be used for reference management in Overleaf.
Guide to managing your references in Overleaf
Do you need help with reference management?
You are welcome to book a librarian if you need help with reference management or reference management programmes.