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Academic English & Research vocabulary · Citing and Referencing

Cite

Meaning in academic english & research, with examples

/saɪt/verbCore term

In academic english & research, cite means: To mention a source, such as a book or article, in your writing to show where an idea, fact or quotation comes from.

In Turkish: atıf yapmak, kaynak göstermek, anmak

How it is used

Used constantly in academic writing and supervision. You cite a source, an author or a study as evidence, and a paper is cited when other researchers refer to it. Passive forms are common: 'the most widely cited study in the field'.

Example sentences

  1. Remember to cite every source you paraphrase, not just the ones you quote.

  2. This paper has been cited more than 2,000 times.

Common collocations

  • cite a source
  • widely cited
  • cite as evidence
  • correctly cite
  • highly cited
  • citationA reference to a source in a piece of writing; also each time another publication refers to a work, counted as a measure of its influence.
  • in-text citationA short reference inside the main text, such as (Yılmaz, 2021) or a number [3], that points the reader to the full entry in the reference list.
  • reference listThe list at the end of a paper or thesis giving full details of every source cited in the text, arranged in the order a citation style requires.
  • paraphraseTo express an author's idea in your own words and sentence structure while keeping the original meaning; the source still needs a citation.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Citing and Referencing

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