Q: Is citing a case from a doctoral paper ethical?

Scholars often use previously published literature to acquire background knowledge on a subject and to further build up the knowledge in that field. It is a very basic practice to refer other people’s work before writing your own paper. In fact, academics do cite other researchers’ works in their original papers. There is nothing unethical about citing other scholarly works as long as you give credit to the original authors and don’t intend to plagiarize, i.e. show their work as yours.

While you cite a paper, make sure you mention the source in your references. Also, please quote or paraphrase the content that you pick from another author’s papers.

Here are some excellent resources that will help you include a researcher’s work without plagiarizing:

• INFOGRAPHIC: Ward off plagiarism: How to paraphrase writing
• How to avoid plagiarism when using direct quotation, indirect quotation, and paraphrasing?
• VIDEO: 5 Easy tips to avoid accidental plagiarism

You might also find these useful:

• What is an author's responsibility while citing sources?
• How should I cite a source that I came across in a review paper?