Your references need to be included with your paper, even though you may have turned them in for a grade earlier. A completed scientific paper always includes references so that the reader can determine from where the facts came.

The science conference paper needs to cite the reference for each fact within the text. For example, a paper that uses a Scientific American article might include the sentence:

Rutzler and Feller are the authors of the paper and 1996 is the year that it was published (look on the bottom of the page). Note that this sentence is in the students' own words not in Rutzler and Feller's words. For any book or article the in-text citation includes the authors and the year in parenthesis after the fact. The period for the sentence goes after the parenthesis. See above. You need only cite a book once per paragraph, but you need to cite it in each paragraph that a fact from it is used. You can cite the URL for a web site. (Cut and paste the URL so that it is accurate and you don't have all the horrendous letters to type and get right). Ask a peer instructor if you don't know how to cut and paste.

If you do not cite a reference for a fact, the reader can only assume that you made up the fact and that your work is poorly researched.

If you use the exact words of a web site, article, or book, even just five words in a row, you must use quotation marks or you have committed plagiarism. The UVI catalog says that plagiarism shall be punished by having the student fail the course, disciplinary probation for the remainder of the student’s undergraduate career and all professors will be warned that the student has been guilty of academic dishonesty. A second offense results in expulsion.

Here is an example of correct use of quotes: "some coral islands in the central Pacific lack an accompanying fringe of mangroves, apparently because the floating propagules that serve as seeds for these trees cannot reach such remote isles" (Rutzler and Feller 1996).

Three or four quotations in a research paper are entirely appropriate, but you should use quotations only when the authors have said something particularly well. Do not turn in a paper that is mainly quotes! Put the source material away in a drawer, and write the facts in your own words. If you aren't sure of the meaning of a word in the source material, look it up in the dictionary or ask an instructor. Students get into trouble with plagiarism because they think that only the authors of published material can write well. However, UVI students can write often more clearly and simply than the scientists. Believe in yourself. You can do an excellent job writing in your own words. We will happily read drafts and comment on them to give you help.