Citation guidelines

Proper citation is a central component of good scientific practice. When writing your dissertation, it is important to demonstrate your ability to work in a scientific manner. This is reflected in the originality and independence of your work, for example in the design, analysis and evaluation of your research project. It is therefore also crucial for the assessment of your achievement to correctly present the achievements of others and thus differentiate them from your own work. You must therefore clearly mark any ideas that you use and that are not your own!

Quotations fulfill several purposes:

• They make it clear where one's own work begins and the work of others ends (boundaries),.
• They refer to recognized procedures or standards and can thus substantiate or strengthen your own results.
• Therefore a citation must be relevant to your own statements and be embedded or explained accordingly in the context.
• It should not be used for embellishment (pure illustration) or to save work.
• In general, only as many citation as necessary should be used.
• Citations are usually given in the original language.
• If you use a translation of a text or make a translation yourself (e.g. for non-standard languages), the latter should be marked with "[Author's translation]" and in both cases should not be used without the original text, for example as a footnote.

In general, two different types of quotation are possible - direct and indirect quotation.
Direct quotations mean that part of an original text is reproduced verbatim. They are mainly used in the humanities, as the exact wording of a source is often dealt with here. In other subject areas, direct quotations should only be used sparingly and only if a fact has been phrased particularly well and can no longer be improved by rephrasing it.

The following rules must be observed when quoting directly:

• Quotations must be copied word for word, including errors, for example. The quoted errors can be marked with [sic].
• The quotation as a whole must be placed in quotation marks. You can also indent a longer quotation and reproduce it in italics or in a smaller/other font (in this case without quotation marks).
• Ellipses are possible, but must not change the meaning of the text and must be marked with "[...]".
• Rearrangements or additions are possible in order to insert a quotation into your text in a grammatically correct manner; rearranged or added words are placed in square brackets; the meaning of the original text must logically be retained.
• Emphasis (e.g. italics or bold print) or comments within quotations are also possible; these must be marked with "[author's emphasis]" or "[author's note]".
• The source reference must always be indicated.

Indirect citation is the more common form of citation in academic texts. The statement of an original text is reproduced in the author's own words (paraphrased). They occur much more frequently in scientific papers in the STM (Science, Technology, Medicine) field than direct quotations and, unlike the latter, are not placed in quotation marks.

The source must also be referenced, an addition of "see..." or "cf..." is possible. However, a literal quotation from a source does not become an indirect quotation simply by replacing or adding individual words; the entire meaning of the sentence or passage must be reproduced in your own words. In the case of an indirect quotation, a so-called multiple reference is also possible, e.g. to show the general acceptance of a theory (see also Mustermann, 2000, also Musterfrau, 2001).

Secondary sources are used when a quote is taken from a publication which in turn quotes another publication. In principle, original sources should be cited directly whenever possible. If this is not possible (e.g. because the original is no longer available), a secondary source may be cited in exceptional cases. In this case, both sources must be cited accordingly, e.g: Mustermann, 2000, quoted from Musterfrau, 2001.

Figures and tables that have already been published are protected by copyright and must be marked as such, just like texts.
It is often necessary to obtain permission from the author or publisher to use a figure or table in your work! Permission to use previously published figures and tables may even be required if you yourself are one of the authors of the publication (Dr. Karin Moll, 2020).
Clarify in advance with the publisher the extent to which you are permitted to use figures and tables. Figures and tables may only be changed without the consent of the author to the extent necessary for an appealing graphic presentation in your own work (e.g. change of size, color to black and white) (Dr. Karin Moll, 2020).

If you create your own new figure or table based on an existing graphic or table, the source of the underlying original graphic or table must be cited with a reference to your own modifications (example: modified after Musterfrau 2015 or based on Musterfrau et al. 2016). Even if you modify the original graphic or table, you need the consent of the author or publisher for the modification and use.

Only if you independently create a completely new figure or table based on a published figure or table and cite it as the source, you do not need to obtain permission from the author or publisher. Please note that this must be a completely and independently recreated figure or table based solely on a published template. Simply changing the caption or replotting the same data, a minimal shift in the image section or a change in color is not sufficient (Dr. Karin Moll, 2020).

Please indicate whether and from whom you have obtained permission to use an image (e.g. with permission from Dr. Jane Doe, Doe et al. 2020 or with permission from Dr. Jane Doe, modified after Doe et al. 2020).

Particularly in the context of a cumulative dissertation or a dissertation whose results have already been partially published, it is important to clearly mark all citations and references to your own publications in order to avoid falling into the realm of (self-)plagiarism.

As a general rule, everything that has already been published must also be cited, even if you are the author of a text. The introduction and the summary of cumulative dissertations should always make it clear which overarching question links the individual publications and which aspects are addressed in these publications and not consist of passages from these publications.

All content from publications and preliminary work in which you were involved or which you have created independently in preliminary projects and which you would like to use in your dissertation must always be cited, otherwise you may plagiarize yourself. It does not matter whether it is a publication in a specialist journal or unpublished term papers.

In addition, your own contribution in publications and preliminary research with several authors must be clearly presented. Neither the texts from preliminary research nor from publications may simply be copied unchanged into dissertations, but must be rephrased and marked accordingly as indirect quotations (see "Indirect quotations" above) (Dr. Karin Moll, 2020). This applies in particular to the results and the discussion, as these are the central sections for demonstrating the ability to carry out independent scientific work in a dissertation. In the introduction, in which the current state of research is presented, as well as in the material and methods, there may be a greater overlap in content with publications and preliminary research. However, even here, you should not copy entire sections verbatim.

If parts of the results of your dissertation have already been published in a journal or book, please clarify the rights of use of the illustrations with the publisher in advance (see "Citing illustrations and graphics").