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INTEGSCI 260: Entering Research (Summer 2025)

Citations

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Citation styles are guidelines on formatting your works cited. Citations aren't about getting the formatting perfect. They're about giving people credit for their work, and making it easy for your readers to know where those ideas came from. Don't try to memorize the formatting guidelines-- there are enough examples to fill a book (literally!)

Most of the time, a citation generator like zbib.org can help you quickly create citations. But, when you're citing less common things, like figures and software, you may have to write the citation yourself. Here's how to do that!

In these examples, I'll use a common style, APA 7th Edition. However, there are many different citation styles. Check your assignment's rubric, your class' syllabus, or ask your instructor what citation style they want you to use for each assignment.

 

The Writer's Handbook by UW's Writing Center has more info on different citation styles and how to use them.

Cite a Figure

Figures are also called graphs, charts, and diagrams.

For this poster project, you may want to use figures that other people in your lab created. Because of copyright restrictions, you should avoid doing this outside of classroom settings like this.

Copyright tip: Make sure you have permission to use a figure that someone else made.

 

If you're using a figure or other image that someone else made, you should cite it. At the end of the caption, write "From" and then the full citation to where the figure came from. This citation will be a little different depending on the type of source the figure was in.

 

Cite a figure from a scientific paper

At the end of your figure's caption, cite the scientific paper by writing:

From Author, A. & Author, B. (YEAR). Title of the article: Subtitle of the article. Title of the Journal, volume number(issue number), page range. DOI

Example:

 

An example figure.

Figure 1: Relationships between climate change (a), looks like a fish (b), and weird beak. X-values were scaled between 0 and 1 for visualization purposes. From Baldassarre, D. T. (2020). What’s the Deal with Birds?. Scientific Journal of Research and Reviews 2(3), 1-4. DOI:10.33552/SJRR.2020.02.000540

 

Cite a figure from an unpublished scientific paper

In most situations, you should find, read, and cite the final, published version of a scientific paper. But, a final version doesn't always exist, and you can't wait to turn in your assignments until it does. Be sure to check with your instructor to make sure that these types of sources are okay before you use them in an assignment.

Here are some ways to cite papers that haven't been published yet:

Preprints are unpublished draft versions of papers that have been posted online and may not have been peer reviewed. Preprints can be helpful for scientists who want to share their results of experiments quickly, but the final version might be different. To cite a figure from a preprint, write:

From Author, A. & Author, B. (YEAR). Title of the article: Subtitle of the article. Website name. URL

 

If a paper has not been posted online, but it has been submitted to a journal or is being peer reviewed, write:

From Author, A. & Author, B. (YEAR). Title of the paper. [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department Name, University Name.

 

Otherwise, if a paper is still a work in progress and has not been posted online, write:

From Author, A. & Author, B. (YEAR). Title of the paper. [Unpublished manuscript]. Department Name, University Name.

 

Cite a figure from a thesis or dissertation

A thesis or dissertation is a type of research paper that graduate students write before they graduate. To cite a dissertation written by a PhD student at UW, write:

From Author, A. (YEAR). Title of the dissertation. [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison]. Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global.

 

Cite a figure from a poster

To cite a figure that was used for a different poster, write:

From Author, A. & Author, B. (YEAR, Month, start date-end date). Title of the poster. [Poster Presentation]. Conference name, Conference location City, State, Country. URL

 

Tip: It's discouraged to reuse the same poster at different conferences. If you want to talk about the same research topic at multiple conferences, think about what new findings you can highlight. They'll probably warrant a new figure, too.

Cite software or websites

Most of the time, you don't need to cite software. You only need to cite software if it's uncommon, or if you're "quoting/paraphrasing" from it (both text and images can be quoted, in this sense.)

Example: You created a diagram in BioRender using their icons. BioRender created the icons, so you should give them credit. At the end of the figure's caption, write: Created with BioRender.com.

Example: You created a graph in Microsoft Excel. Excel is common, and you created the image, so you don't need to cite.

 

Citing AI

Be careful when you use AI. Different professors will have different rules, and many consider using AI to be plagiarism. AI also makes mistakes. If you're not completely sure that something the AI wrote is true, you should double-check the facts.

You can log into Microsoft Copilot with your NetID to use Copilot with data protection. 

Warning: You can only enter public data into any AI tool you use, including Copilot. If you're not sure if it's okay, ask first!

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