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6. Writing Your Paper & Bibliography

Writing Help
There are several standard writing guides at the library. See UNB Libraries’ list of recommended writing and research handbooks. Visit a Writing Centre website to find online writing guides—UNB: go.unb.ca/wss >> Writing Answers or STU: moodle.stu.ca >> Courses >> Writing Centre.
UNB Fredericton
UNB students on the Fredericton campus can visit the Writing Centre (basement of CC Jones Student Services Centre). Book an appointment online, by email (wss@unb.ca), or by phone (452-6346). During regular terms, the UNBF Writing Centre offers Drop-In Hours in the Learning Commons of the Harriet Irving Library.
St. Thomas University
St. Thomas students can visit the STU Writing Centre (Edmund Casey Hall, Room 102). Book an appointment online or email writingcentre@stu.ca.
UNB Saint John
UNB students on the Saint John campus can visit the UNBSJ Writing Centre (first floor of the Hans W. Klohn Commons). Book an appointment online.
Avoiding Plagiarism
In academic writing, if you copy or paraphrase another person’s words, or adopt his or her ideas or data, without giving credit by citing the source, you are plagiarizing—whether you had intended to cheat or not—and universities do not take plagiarism lightly. The possible consequences range from an awkward confrontation with your instructor to expulsion from university. Therefore, the best approach is avoidance. For more information on how to avoid plagiarism, consult UNB Libraries’ Guide to Citation and Plagiarism and Plagiarism: A How-NOT-to Guide.
Preparing a Bibliography
When writing a paper, you normally have to list the publications you used in a bibliography or list of works cited. A good bibliography will usually have a variety of types of publications, and will follow an accepted style. Your professor may request that you use a particular style manual which will explain, with examples, how to format a reference. Standard manuals are used in different disciplines:
Social Sciences: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (called “APA”)
Humanities: The MLA Style Manual, or The Chicago Manual of Style (also used in the “Turabian” manual)
Sciences: Scientific Style and Format (called “CBE” or “CSE”)
All manuals are available at UNB Libraries. You can find further help with citation styles from the Writing Centres listed above.
Many library databases have a Cite option, which allows you to automatically create either a single formatted citation in any standard style or a formatted bibliography of selected citations. Double-check the automatic results to ensure accuracy. Also consider using Zotero, which can automatically format citations in any standard style. As you conduct your online research, you can export citations to your own Zotero database, then later use Zotero to automatically format your bibliography.
All the standard styles have specific methods for citing electronic publications. An e-journal article, for example, should not be listed as if it were found in print form. Some styles require that citations to electronic publications declare where and when you retrieved the publication.
Keep in mind that the whole point of a bibliography is to provide another person with enough information to find the publications. Your professor will not be pleased if s/he cannot find items in your bibliography!