How to evaluate websites, What is plagiarism and how to avoid it. Vancouver style of referencing

1. Evaluating Websites, Plagiarism & Vancouver Referencing
PRESENTED BY JEN EIDELMAN
2014
E-mail: jen.eidelman@uct.ac.za
Telephone: 021 650 2773
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
Unported License.

2. How to
• Evaluate Websites
• Avoid Plagiarism
• Reference using Vancouver style of referencing

3. “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”
Evaluate Websites
Steiner P. On the internet nobody knows you’re a
dog. New Yorker. 1993 July 05;69(20):61.

4. Always evaluate the information you read.
Ask questions and look at a site critically
Be particularly careful when consulting Wikipedia and
similar internet sites as the authority and reliability of
the content cannot be guaranteed.

5. How does one evaluate a website? How does one make sure
that the website one is getting information from is reliable,
authoritative, accurate, objective or current?
When evaluating websites, remember to work SMART:
Source - is the source well known, reliable, up to date?
Motivation - why does this site exist? Are they selling a product? Supporting a particular lobby?
Authority - is the author's name on the page? Is the author well known in the field?
Review - has the information been reviewed/checked by others working in the field?
Two sources - is the information supported by other reliable sources?
The DATABASES that UCT Libraries subscribe to generally index articles that have been peer
reviewed by experts in the field before being accepted for publication.
For more information on evaluating websites SEE:
http://libguides.lib.uct.ac.za/biological-science-websites

6. Plagiarism – What is it & How to avoid it
Definition of Plagiarism from
‘Oxford Reference Online’:
“The practice of taking someone else's
work or ideas and passing them off as
one's own. Recorded from the early 17th
century, the word comes from Latin
plagiarius ‘kidnapping’.”
Oxford Reference Online. Plagiarism [Internet] 2014; [cited 2014 Apr 18]. Available from:
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100329803
http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Cartoon%20Plagiarism_
183661
Toons. Cartoon plagiarism. [Internet]. 2012 Nov 06; [cited
2014 Apr 26]. Image available from:

7. When you are writing an essay or assignment,
always ask yourself the question:
Is this my own idea, observation, insight
design, conclusion ?
or
Did someone else come up with this idea,
design or observation?
UC Merced Library. [Internet]. 2014 Feb 2014; [cited 2014 Apr 26]. Graphic available from:
http://guides.highpoint.edu/content.php?pid=399642&sid=3272839

8. How to avoid plagiarism – Do’s and Don’ts
Do:
• Always ACKNOWLEDGE the source that you consulted when you prepare your work
• Always document any information that you did not create. These can be illustrations, graphics, tables, words, pictures,
audio, video
• CITE and REFERENCE your sources
Do Not:
• Copy other people’s words or creations, this includes someone else’s essay.
• Use synonyms to simply change the words in a sentence that someone else has written. This is also plagiarism.
• Use information from different websites and mash-up information from the internet. This is plagiarism and will be
picked up in Turnitin.
• See UCT’s policy on plagiarism at: http://www.uct.ac.za/downloads/uct.ac.za/about/policies/plagiarism_students.pdf

9. Find more information in Vula by joining the UCT Writing Centre site

11. Vancouver style of referencing:
Overview
Vancouver is a numbered referencing style commonly used in
medicine and science
Main points to remember:
• When you cite someone’s work in your essay, use a number to
refer the reference
• Your reference list at the end of your document, will provide full
details of the reference and correspond in sequence to the
numbers in the text.
The Vancouver style used in this presentation is based on Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors,
editors & publishers.

12. In-text citation:
• In the Vancouver style of referencing numbers are used in the text to refer to the reference list.
• A consecutive number is assigned to each new reference as it is cited in the body of the text.
• If the same reference is cited elsewhere again, the same number is used for that reference.
• Numbers in-text can be in superscript 1 or can be displayed in brackets (1)
• Numbers must appear after a full stop or comma, but before colons and semi-colons.
• When citing more than one reference join consecutive references with a hyphen (1-5)
• When citing multiple references that are non-inclusive, separate the references with commas.
(2,5, 8, 10)
Vancouver style of referencing
Citing in the body of your essay

13. Reference list:
• Include all the references that you have cited.
• List the references numerically as they appear in the body of the text.
• Only capitalize the first word of the title (and any other words that would normally be capitalized e.g. a
name of a city or country.)
• If there is no author or editor, start the reference with the first word of the title.
• Journal titles are abbreviated (to decipher/find correct abbreviations see: PubMed Journals Database
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals
• For more detailed information SEE: Vancouver - citing and referencing – Monash University
http://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing/vancouver
Vancouver style of referencing
Reference List

14. Vancouver style - In-text citation

15. Journal articles (print)
Reference List
Example - One author:
1. Van Vuuren L. Frog count: study confirms rich biodiversity of amphibians in Kruger. Water Wheel. 2012
May;11(3):24-27.
Example - Two authors:
2. Wolff S, Dillan A. The stressful influence of microbes. Nature. 2014 Apr;508(7496):328-329.
* Example - Three or more authors:
3. Dornelas M, Gotelli NJ, McGill B, et al. Assemblage time series reveal biodiversity change but not systematic loss.
Science. 2104 Apr;344(6181):296-299.
* Please note that there is an optional limit to this rule which can be discussed with your lecturer.
How to reference Journal articles (print)
There is a standard format in which references need to appear in the Reference
List.
Take careful note of full stops, commas, semi-colons, hyphens and spaces.

16. Journal articles (internet)
Reference List
One author:
1. Van Vuuren L. Frog count: study confirms rich biodiversity of amphibians in Kruger. Water Wheel [Internet]. 2012
May [cited 2014 Apr 14];11(3):24-27. Available from:
http://search.sabinet.co.za/WebZ/Authorize?sessionid=0&bad=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sabinet.co.za%2Findex.php%3
Fpage%3Dbad-sa-epubs&portal=ejournal&next=/WebZ/images/ejour/waterb/waterb_v11_n3_a9.pdf
Two authors:
2. Wolff S, Dillan A. The stressful influence of microbes. Nature [Internet]. 2014 Apr [cited 2014 Apr 18];508(7496):328-
329. Available from: doi:10.1038/nature13220
* Three or more authors:
3. Dornelas M, Gotelli NJ, McGill B, et al. Assemblage time series reveal biodiversity change but not systematic loss.
Science [Internet]. 2104 Apr [cited 2014 Apr 25];344(6181):296-299. Available from:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6181/296.full.pdf
* Please note that there is an optional limit to this rule which can be discussed with your lecturer.
How to reference Journal articles (internet)

17. Books
Reference List
Book
4. Zimmer C. A planet of viruses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2011. p 109.
Format:
Author AA. Title of book. # edition [if not first]. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of
publication. Pagination.
Edited book
5. Wink M, editor. An introduction to molecular biotechnology: fundamentals, methods, and
applications. 2nd ed. Weinheim: Wiley-Blackwell; 2011. p 601.
Format:
Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of book. # edition[if not first]. Place of Publication:
Publisher; Year. Pagination.
How to reference Books in Vancouver Style

18. Books
Reference List
Chapter in a book
6. White D. The physiology and biochemistry of prokaryotes. New York: Oxford University
Press: 1995. Chapter 11, Inorganic metabolism; p 224-45.
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of book. # edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of
publication. Chapter number, Chapter title; p. [page numbers of chapter].
Chapter in edited book
7. Wadsworth P. Microinjection of mitotic cells. In: Rieder CL, editor. Mitosis and meiosis. San
Diego: Academic Press; 1999. p 219-31.
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of chapter. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of book. #
edition. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year of publication. p. [page numbers of chapter].
How to reference Chapters in Books Vancouver
Style

19. How to reference a web page – Vancouver Style
Example
Calata A. University of Cape Town. HIV surveys findings a mixed bag [Internet]. 2014 Apr
24; [cited 2014 Apr 25]. Available from: http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=8666
Format
Author/organization's name. Title of the page [Internet]. Place of publication: Publisher's
name; Date or year of publication [updated yr month day; cited yr month day]. Available
from: URL
The Vancouver style used in this presentation is based on Citing medicine: the NLM style
guide for authors, editors & publishers

20. Van Vuuren L. Frog count: study confirms rich biodiversity of amphibians in Kruger. Water Wheel.
2012;11(3):24-27
Title of article
Date of publication
Author of article
Title of journal
Volume & issue number
Page numbers
How to identify a journal
article

21. How to identify a book
Zimmer C. A planet of viruses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2011. p 109.
Author of Book
Title of Book
Date of publication
Place of publication & publisher

22. How to identify a Chapter
in a book
Wadsworth P. Microinjection of mitotic cells. In: Rieder CL, editor. Mitosis and meiosis. San Diego:
Academic Press; 1999. p 219-31.
Author of Chapter
Title of Chapter
Editor of Book
Title of book
Place of publication & publisher
Date of publication Page numbers of Chapter
IN