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Library Orientation for Nursing

This information was developed for nurses conducting research via the Emory Libraries

Why Cite?

Why Cite?

  • Give proper credit to the author(s) of the information you use.
  • Avoid plagiarism.
  • Allow readers to find your sources.
  • Avoid serious academic consequences.

When to Cite?

  • When referring to a source, or (re)stating someone else's opinions, thoughts, ideas, research, data/statistics, diagrams, tables, or creation that you did not create.

Options for Citing:

  1. Quote the content directly, then cite the work/author in the text and bibliography. 
  2. Summarize the content, then cite the work/author in the text and bibliography.
  3. Paraphrase the content, then cite the work/author in the text and bibliography.

Avoiding Academic Misconduct

Plagiarism is Academic Misconduct.  Upon enrollment at the School of Nursing, students are required to sign the Student Academic Honor Code Pledge form.  From the Student Handbook:

"Plagiarism/Self Plagiarism. This is an act of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. This can include published or unpublished work without proper acknowledgement. Self-plagiarism is the use of one’s own previous work in another context without citing that it was used previously."

Students who appear to have violated the code of conduct must appear before the Honor Council, which is responsible for determining the validity of any allegation of academic or professional misconduct.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Researching ethically is also researching efficiently.

  • Start your research early; give yourself time to research carefully.
  • Note the sources you use when you use them so you don't have to go back later and try to find them. 
  • Distinguish between main argument and minor points/examples
  • Use your own words (paraphrase)
  • Use a Citation Manager, such as EndNote or Zotero, to manage your citations and cite while you write.

See these examples of how to paraphrase at the University of Cambridge's guide on plagiarism.

APA Style

The Emory School of Nursing uses APA (American Psychological Association) style.  The APA citation style is primarily used by disciplines in the business, social sciences, health, and education fields.

What is a Citation Manager?

Bibliographic management software, or citation managers, can save time by:

  • Keeping track of reference sources
  • Downloading citations from article databases or book catalogs
  • Automatically formatting bibliographies in MS Word, OpenOffice (aka LibreOffice) or Google Docs.
  • Creating bibliographies in different publication styles

EndNote is available at no cost to Emory students, faculty and staff.

Go to the Software Express page and log in with your NetID and password.  Click the "I Agree" button at the bottom of the page to be taken to the download page.

Zotero is a free open source application that works with a browser plug-in.

Download both the desktop application (Windows or Mac) and the browser plug-in (Chrome, Firefox or Safari) from the Zotero website. 

Create a free account to sync your citations to the internet (use your personal email address to register - your account doesn't have to be Emory-affiliated.)

Additional Resources