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§6.4 Managing References

Overview

Plagiarism is a serious offense with actual consequences. Recently a professor and a student were banned from publishing in IEEE journals for 5 years due to plagiarism. " Plagiarism occurs when one copies, quotes, paraphrases, or summarizes from any source without adequate documentation. " [1] In this particular case, the student had copied data and figures from a previously published paper and presented it to his professor as his own work. His professor believed him, added his name to the paper and submitted it to an IEEE Journal. It was only after the paper was published did other readers notice and alert the IEEE to the plagiarism that had occurred. It is interesting to note that even though the professors plagiarism was unintentional, he received the same penalty as the student who had intentionally plagiarized.[2]

In order to avoid unintentional plagiarism (assuming that you are not planning to steal other people's ideas), it is important to take proactive and positive steps. This requires that you not only document as you write but also as you read. In fact, from the time you start your graduate studies, you should start to build a database of references with your comments. In this database you should include enough information to allow you to readily identify a paper and the ideas that you got from the paper.[2]

The reference manager software (free download) described here will help you to build a citation database as you read.

Using the Reference Manager -- Step by Step

1. Create a text file to hold your database

The first step is to create a text file to which you will continuously add references along with your comments. The following are the first lines of a database related to my research. 
-dwn-ref-ct :  References related to TOF measurement of Charge Transport Polymers Compiled by J White
~Inigo & Fann group
InigA01a.pdf;2001;Inigo A.R., Tan C.H., Fann W.S., Huang Y.S., Perng K.Y. & Chen S.A. (2001), Non-dispersive Hole Transport in a Soluble Poly(p-phenylene vinylene), Advanced Materials, 13, 504-508; first observation of non-dispersive transport in MEH-PPV
TanCH01a.pdf;2001;Tan CH, Inigo AR, Hsu JH, Fann W, Wei PK, Mesoscale structures in luminescent conjugated polymer thin films studied by near-field scanning optical microscopy, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 62 (2001) 1643-1654; describes early stages of NSOM research, no longer useful
I suggest that you name the file index.csv. (left mouse click to view, right mouse click to download the whole sample file)

I put the filename first, the publication year second, the complete citation information third, and then add my comments about the publication in a fourth column. Doing this lets me quickly sort the references by date in a spreadsheet program like LibreOffice Calc or Microsoft Excel.

2. Convert the Text database (CSV) to HTML

The second step is to convert the text file to an HTML file. To do this:
  1. Download the program xtrefman.exe (click to download) and save it in the same directory as your database. (e.g.   index.csv).
  2. Click on the program to run it. (Windows machines only)
  3. At the prompt, type in the name of the text file that holds your database (e.g.   index.csv).
  4. At the prompt, choose an output file name (e.g.   index.htm).
An html file indexing your papers should have been produced.

To help you organize your database, four characters have a special meaning. The first separates fields and the remaining three have the special meaning only when used as the first character on a line:

SymbolNameFunction
; semicolonField (column) breaks
- dashBold line (ignore field breaks)
~ tildaItalic comment line (ignore field breaks)
! exclamationNo hyperlink to a file containing this paper.

3. Use the HTML file to access your PDF files

An example of the first part of the html file produced from the example text file is shown below:
dwn-ref-ct; References related to TOF measurement of Charge Transport/Mobility in Conjugated Polymers Compiled by Jonathon WhiteParent
Inigo & Fann group
InigA01.pdf2001Inigo A.R., Tan C.H., Fann W.S., Huang Y.S., Perng K.Y. & Chen S.A. (2001), Non-dispersive Hole Transport in a Soluble Poly(p-phenylene vinylene), Advanced Materials, 13, 504-5081st observed non-dispersive transport in MEH-PPV
TanCH01.pdf2001Tan CH, Inigo AR, Hsu JH, Fann W, Wei PK, Mesoscale structures in luminescent conjugated polymer thin films studied by near-field scanning optical microscopy, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 62 (2001) 1643-1654 describes early NSOM research, no longer useful

References

[1] Duke University Libraries, " Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism ". Downloaded from http://library.duke.edu/research/plagiarism/ on April 14, 2006
[2] J D White, Research Communication: EFL for Scientists and Engineers (Taiwan, 2009).

Practice

  1. Find three to five papers/books/articles related to either (1) your research, (2) your life story. (Use https://scholar.google.com)
  2. Start a database of papers. i.e. make a txt file with the names of the papers and a few comments
  3. Use the program to create an html file.
  4. Give hardcopies of both the txt and html file to your facilitator to check