Last updated 5/6/2020
Visual: Screen opens to a background image with a person typing on a laptop and a notebook and pencil, along with the Walden University Writing Center logo. The title Walden University Writing Center and tagline “Your writing, grammar, and APA experts” appears on the screen. The screen changes to show the series title “Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills” and the video title “Plagiarism Examples: Insufficient Citation Frequency.”
Audio: Guitar music
Visual: The screen changes to show a slide with the following title and content: Insufficient Citation Frequency
Audio: Citation frequency is a skill that writers need to learn to help them avoid plagiarism. Insufficient citation frequency—when citations are missing—can result in passive plagiarism. This is also called undercitation.
In academic writing, writers cite both when they quote and when they paraphrase from a source. This means that you cite each source of information you use in your writing, avoiding both undercitation and overcitation.
Visual: The following is added to the screen: Undercitation
Audio: Undercitation refers to failing to adequately communicate to your reader where ideas come from through a lack of citation. Undercitation can lead to passive plagiarism.
Visual: The following is added to the screen: Overcitation
Audio: Overcitation refers to repeating the same citation in every sentence when the source and topic have not changed. While overcitation isn’t necessarily an issue that can lead to plagiarism, it does speak to the idea that you want to achieve a citation balance in your writing. Your aim is to ensure that the reader clearly knows where your ideas are coming from, which will result in adequate crediting of your sources.
Another factor influencing Indigenous peoples’ access to and use of healthcare Australia is a high-income country with large disparities in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The causes of this inequity include colonization, land dispossession and associated trauma, socioeconomic inequality and racism (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015). Indigenous people access PHC through community-controlled and government-managed services established to meet their needs and through private general practices. These PHC services are in diverse geographical settings and vary in size, resources and the range of services provided.
Audio: Let’s look at an example of insufficient citation frequency and explore what impact this error can have on a reader. In this paragraph, we have one citation after the quotation in the second sentence. The other sentences don’t have citations, although some of the sentences do seem to include source information.
Visual: As the speaker voices the following questions, they are displayed on the screen.
Audio: A reader may ask the following:
All of these are questions that appropriate citation frequency can answer: By citing the different sources in the appropriate sentences in the paragraph, the reader will always know when information is from a source and which source that information came from.
Visual: The screen changes to show a slide with the following title and content: Insufficient Citation Frequency: Revision
Another factor influencing Indigenous peoples’ access to and use of healthcare Australia is a high-income country with large disparities in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The causes of this inequity include colonization, land dispossession and associated trauma, socioeconomic inequality and racism (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015). Indigenous people access PHC through community-controlled and government-managed services established to meet their needs and through private general practices (Bailie et al., 2015). These PHC services are in diverse geographical settings and vary in size, resources and the range of services provided.
Audio: Here is a revision of our paragraph. In this revision, we’ve kept the citation in the paragraph’s second sentence, but we’ve also cited the third paraphrased sentence. This citation frequency appropriately tells the reader which information is from which source.
Visual: The screen changes to show a slide with the following title and content: Citation Strategies
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Audio: APA citation conventions may be new to you, so the following strategies can help you avoid passive plagiarism:
First, take your time as you write. If you’re rushing through the writing process, it’s easy to miss citations or forget to add them. By giving yourself enough time, you’ll be encouraging appropriate citation frequency.
Second, include citations in your notes as you go. Doing so will help you remember when to include citations in your paragraphs as you’re writing.
Third, include placeholders to add citations later if you don’t have the citation itself. You may not be ready to include a full citation as you write, and so you may be tempted to leave out the citation and come back later to add it in. If you don’t add a placeholder, however, you may forget where you need to add citations. Including a placeholder before moving on will help you remember where to come back to at a later time.
Finally, edit and proofread your writing carefully. Look back through your writing to find places you may have missed a citation or need to replace a placeholder with a full citation. Taking the time to edit your writing will help you identify and fix errors before completing your assignment.
Of course, reach out to us in the Writing Center for our support. Send us an e-mail or visit us at our Live Chat hours to talk through your plagiarism questions; we’re here to support you throughout your Walden program.
Visual: The screen changes to an ending slide with slide a background image with a person typing on a laptop and a notebook and pencil, along with the Walden University Writing Center logo. The email address writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu appears on the screen.
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