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Academia Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [citations]

Questions about when to cite a certain work, which work to cite, etc. For questions on formatting a given citation, use [citation-style].

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Is it unethical to cite a paper or book that you have never looked at?

Suppose I see that Book X is cited by several papers with reference to some particular Fact Y. I wish to cite Fact Y. As far as I know, Book X is the only reference for Fact Y. I have never looked at Book X. Nonetheless, I cite it like this: 'Fact…
user10885
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6 answers

Do you need to read a whole article before citing it?

During writing my academic paper, I need to cite a definition in a scientific paper. The other part of the paper, is irrelevant to my work. I have been advised that if you will cite a paper, you need to read that paper entirely. But in this case,…
dresden
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How to substantiate the claim that something is not known?

I am writing a master's thesis (in Number Theory) and there are multiple places where I need to claim that something is not yet known. Since I am not an expert (and even if I were) I would like to reference some more authoritative source than myself…
A.P.
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Should I omit a citation if the authors ask me to?

"Program MARK: A gentle introduction" by Evan Cooch and Gary White is a guide to using a particular piece of statistical software. It is available in print form as well as in a free, online version. The foreword to the book contains the following…
user2390246
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How to add citation for a whole paragraph?

If I write a report and a whole paragraph is based on one source but not cited verbally it seems unnecessary to include the reference after every sentence: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut…
Stockfisch
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How to respond to intentional lack of citation?

I work in a field that heavily uses arxiv.org and posts papers before submitting them to journals, so it's common for people to send a citation request when they see a preprint that they think has overlooked their work. I do this pretty rarely,…
Anonymous
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Why is it acceptable to cite unpublished works?

If an article, theorem, etc. is unpublished, presumably the work is only available to people who track down the author and get a draft copy. Today we have arXiv and can find many preprints on the Internet, but people have been citing unpublished…
zaen
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Citation of a website: How to determine the year?

If there is a web article (or even a website) without a date of publication, is there a chance to determine a year of publication for a complete reference of it? Or should it omitted in the reference?
Heinrich
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What's the correct way to cite a paper cited by another paper?

The example is when you might be reading a certain paper, and the authors refer to another paper. You can't get that other paper as it's unpublished, or it's in a language that you can't read, or maybe something else. My guess is: Featherstone et…
a different ben
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Someone asks me to cite their paper. Should I cite?

I submitted the preprint to arXiv and the manuscript to a Physical Review journal, and someone asked me to cite their article after seeing it from arXiv. Their paper is a review. After reading that paper, I find that it has only a weak connection…
lewton
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Should I cite an article that I can't find?

I am facing a problem, the article seems a very important reference that everyone talking about the subjects is citing it. However, looking at these articles, they can't give a reference or link to the cited article. Even I use the volume number,…
an offer can't refuse
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Will minor mistakes in my bachelor's thesis harm my future career as a researcher?

I'm in a total disaster right now because it feels like I have no chance of being a researcher anymore. Months ago, I submitted my Bachelor's thesis. Days later, I realized that I printed a wrong version of it (the version before the final) so I…
user57430
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4 answers

When is it appropriate to describe research as "recent"?

I want to write: "A recent study ...", The particular study I want to cite was published two years ago. I don't think that this is very recent in terms of journal appearances. But it is the most recent I could find compared to similar studies,…
thrau
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How far back should one go in citing classic works?

I once jokingly included in a thesis: The equations of motion [1] for a rigid body can be reformulated as… [1] I. Newton, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, 1687. While citing Newton's work for his equations of motion might be over the…
F'x
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Citing a Hollywood movie in a scientific paper

I realise this is a bit of a silly question, but I'm writing up a conference paper on a model that's named after a Hollywood movie. What is the appropriate way to cite the movie in the paper? Should it have its own entry in the references (and if…
N. Virgo
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