Michelle DeCoux Hampton, PhD, RN
Writer’s Camp Counselor
Skillful and accurate citation is essential knowledge for a scholar.
Of the hundreds of emails flooding my inbox each week, the alerts from Google Scholar and ResearchGate are among my favorites. There’s a sense of excitement that comes from learning that not only did another scholar read my work but also cited it to build upon the knowledge for their study. It’s why we do what we do, right?
On a few occasions, however, when I eagerly downloaded a new article to see how my findings were framed, I was surprised by what I found. In one of the first anomalies, I noticed the study reported the opposite of my findings! Another cited information that I summarized in the background evidence section (secondary source data); and in a more recent instance, the content was accurate, but the authors omitted my name in both the in-text and reference list citations. There are many aspects involved in upholding the standards of academic integrity when citing sources. Below, I detail the basics of “why,” “what,” and “how” to cite sources in a scholarly paper, share a few examples, and provide a few tips to integrate citation integrity into your workflow.
Why Does Citation Matter?
In addition to preserving your academic reputation, conventions developed for citation serve the purpose of: 1) establishing your credibility as an expert through your knowledge of the literature in your area of interest; 2) supporting the significance of your work by grounding it in previous evidence; and 3) attributing ideas discussed to experts in the field whose intellectual contributions shaped the state of the science.1 In my experience, the practice of attribution can cause the most confusion with writers—often because citing the primary source can conflict with recommendations to cite studies published within the last 5 to 10 years.
For example, I conducted a study on writing development for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students and based the design upon the concept of scaffolding —applied by nurse scholars in 2012 publication but scaffolding as a concept has been a staple within the psychology and education literature for decades. The excerpt below identifies how I attributed each source’s unique contributions in my manuscript (note that the references in the quoted content were in American Psychological Association format).
Per Wood et al.’s (1976) seminal work, scaffolding involves an expert who guides learners through multiple stages of larger task…Gazza and Hunker (2012) proposed the scaffolding framework to develop writing skills in nursing education… (as cited in Hampton et al., 2022).2,3
To address questions about the age of a reference, using terms such as “pivotal” or “landmark study” can indicate to your reader that there is an intentional use of this source that supersedes rules of thumb about recency. You’ll also note that I used the secondary source format for referencing the excerpt in the reference list, since the ideas described were not generated from my study. It is important to identify the primary source of evidence—in this case both Wood et al. and Gazza and Hunker.2,3 The only time I typically cite information from a secondary source is when I am unable to obtain the original source (i.e., via electronic access, interlibrary loan, or purchasing a book). So, when I find a relevant study through reading, I look up the source, retrieve it, and cite that as the primary or original source. BUT there’s a caveat to this as well…
What Can Be Cited From an Article?
On occasion, upon retrieving a reference, I found that the author cited a secondary source without indicating it as such (i.e., including “Cited by:” in the citation). For this reason, it’s important to perform due diligence in retrieving and carefully reading sources because errors do appear in print. Moreover, as you review evidence, one of the best ways to prevent erroneously citing a secondary source is to paraphrase information primarily from the results section.
The results section is (most often) the only section of a paper that has no citations, which means that the content is original to that study. The same can apply for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. You can cite them as primary sources if you cite what is unique or synthesized from the collective findings of the included studies.
In the study I shared above, the quantitative and qualitative results of the writing development intervention are detailed across 2.5 pages of text and tables. However, if I were to write a follow-up paper on the same topic, I might summarize the findings in just 1-2 sentences.
Verbatim excerpt from results section:
Mean SWA [scientific writing assessment] scores were compared for Semesters 1, 2, 3, and 5 (Table 5). In Semester 5, ratings for 11/13 skills were 4.55 [out of 5] or above with critical appraisal (4.30 ± 1.02) and use of primary sources (3.78 ± 0.69) among the weakest skills. Use of primary sources peaked in Semester 2 (4.48 ± 1.04) but regressed thereafter.4
Possible paraphrase (including some information from my review of the tables):
In a mixed methods study of DNP students (N =10), scientific writing skill performance increased from semesters 1 through 5 for 12 of 13 skills assessed, but the use of primary sources skill regressed by the end of the program.4 This indicates that auditing performance and reinforcing this skill might be required to develop skill mastery.
While the results also contained information about faculty and student perceptions of the intervention, I focused on the use of the primary sources skill as it is most relevant to what I am writing at this moment. Identifying what information is best suited for citation is one skill. Paraphrasing that information is yet another distinct skill.
How to Paraphrase Skillfully
A paraphrase is defined as “your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.”5 Steps recommended to paraphrase effectively include: 1) read and reread the source material to ensure you comprehend it fully; 2) make an attempt to paraphrase without referring to the source material; 3) compare your paraphrase to the source material and evaluate for accuracy; 4) place quotation marks around any verbatim match with the source material6 (or better yet, since it is recommended to use direct quotes sparingly in most cases, paraphrase further). Also note that some citation styles (such as APA) require page numbers with a direct quote.
Additionally, familiarizing yourself with the various types of plagiarism is essential to preventing it (see Table 1). Note that the types of plagiarism listed in the table may have different names in different sources. For example, “complete” plagiarism may also be called “intellectural theft” or more bluntly, “stealing.”8 Plagiarism detection tools are helpful in identifying paraphrasing errors, but other types of plagiarism can be difficult to distinguish. Therefore, academic integrity requires that authors are knowledgeable and meticulous in adhering to established standards for citing sources.
| Table 1: Types of Plagiarism7 | |
| Plagiarism Type | Definition / Examples |
| Complete | Purchasing a paper and calling it your own. Submitting a paper you didn’t write as your own work. |
| Direct | Similar to complete plagiarism, but plagiarized content is a portion of the paper overall. |
| Paraphrasing | Failing to credit an author for their ideas by omitting the original source, or Citing the source but doing so without sufficiently changing the wording, structure, or offsetting the verbatim content using quotation marks. |
| Self-plagiarism | Reproduces content from a previously published work of your own (i.e., article, dissertation, etc.); inserts it in another without citing or paraphrasing that content. |
| Patchwork or mosaic plagiarism | Using phrases from various sources and interweaving throughout one’s work without proper citation. |
| Source-based plagiarism | Citing secondary sources as primary. Misrepresenting or inaccurate reporting of findings. |
| Accidental | Inadvertently neglecting to insert citations. Incorrect citation format. Failure to use quotation marks around verbatim quotes. |
Additional Tips
There are a few additional suggestions to ensure you cite your sources accurately.
- Have a systematic plan for how you organize information you obtain from your sources. Decide if you will paraphrase as you take notes (possibly in an evidence table) or as you transcribe that information from your notes into a draft of your paper.
- Best practice is to use reference manager software to organize your citations and notes.9 If you are not using such a program, it’s never to late to start and learn!
- For long paraphrases (that go on a full paragraph or more), cite multiple times throughout the passage, repeating as needed.10
Conclusion
Whether attribution errors occur because of unintentional oversight or a lack of knowledge, they adversely affect the accuracy and credibility of the scientific literature that we rely upon to guide our practice. If we fail to credit scholars for their intellectual contributions and contribute to the proliferation of misinformation, we stand to lose trust not only within our profession, but the public as well.
References
- Santini A. The importance of referencing. J Crit Care Med (Targu Mures). 2018;4(1):3-4. Published 2018 Feb 9. doi:10.1515/jccm-2018-0002
- Wood D, Bruner JS, Ross G. The role of tutoring in problem solving. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1976;17(2):89-100. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1976.tb00381.x. Cited by: Hampton MD, Rosenblum R, Hill-Williams CD, Creighton-Wong L, Randall WA. Scientific writing development: Improve DNP student skill and writing efficiency. Nurse Educ Today. 2022;112:105334. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105334
- Gazza EA, Hunker DF. Facilitating scholarly writer development: The writing scaffold. Nurs Forum. 2012;47(4):278-285. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6198.2012.00275.x. Cited by: Hampton MD, Rosenblum R, Hill-Williams CD, Creighton-Wong L, Randall WA. Scientific writing development: Improve DNP student skill and writing efficiency. Nurse Educ Today. 2022;112:105334. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105334
- Hampton MD, Rosenblum R, Hill-Williams CD, Creighton-Wong L, Randall WA. Scientific writing development: Improve DNP student skill and writing efficiency. Nurse Educ Today. 2022;112:105334. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105334
- Paraphrase: Write it in your own words. Purdue OWL. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/quoting_paraphrasing_and_summarizing/paraphrasing.html
- Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Purdue OWL. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/quoting_paraphrasing_and_summarizing/index.html
- Seven common types of plagiarism, with examples. Grammarly. Published June 2, 2022. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/plagiarism/types-of-plagiarism/
- Types of plagiarism infographic. Accessed July 23, 2025. https://www.ithenticate.com/resources/infographics/types-of-plagiarism-research
- Bouchrika I. Best reference management software for 2025. Research.com. April 18, 2025. Accessed July 23, 2025. https://research.com/software/best-reference-management-software
- APA Style: Paraphrases. American Psychological Association. Published July 2022. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/paraphrasing
Author: Michelle DeCoux Hampton
Reviewed and edited by: Leslie H. Nicoll
Copyright © 2025 by Writer’s Camp and Michelle DeCoux Hampton. CC-BY-ND 4.0
Citation: Hampton MD. The ABC’s of Attribution: Considerations For Why, What, and How to Cite Sources. The Writer’s Camp Journal, 2025; 1(2):6. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.16370936