Guidelines for written papers at VID

In VID’s Guidelines for writing academic papers you will find information about formal requirements, how to cite sources, and how to organize your references in a bibliography. A reference style is a standardized way of referencing your sources in the text and in your bibliography. The various scientific disciplines use different referencing styles.

APA

The APA reference style is the one generally used by all students at VID.

• Guidelines for writing academic papers at the bachelor, master and continuing higher education level - APA 7
• Examples from the Citation Compass APA 7th

Chicago 17 A

The Chicago 17 A (footnotes) reference style is used by some students in theology and Bible sciences.

• Examples for Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition (Purdue University)

Front page templates for exams and paper

See the page Front page templates for exams and paper, for templates used when submitting assignments.

Tips on Writing

• Writing, a guide to writing an academic thesis at the bachelor or master’s level (Search & Write).
• The Podcast About Academic Writing, The University of Stavanger, Østfold University College, Nord University).
• Write academically? (NTNU).
• Structuring your thesis (NTNU).
• The writing process(NTNU).
• Structure for large papers at VID Oslo (Currently only in Norwegian).
• Clarification of terms used in exams and assignments(Currently only in Norwegian).
• Front page templates for exams and papers
• Common guidelines for the Bachelor’s thesis at VID Specialized University (Currently only in Norwegian).

Microsoft Word

The library doesn't offer user support for Microsoft Word, or other text management software, but there are useful tutorials available on Microsoft's own support pages. You can for example learn how to adjust page numbering in your assignment/thesis document.

• Word Help & Learning (Microsoft)

Useful tools for reference management

• The Citation Compass gives you examples of how to refer to various sources in your text and bibliography.
• Norwegian APA-manual provides an overview of the APA reference style in Norwegian.
• EndNote and Zotero are software that help you save and organize your sources.

Microsoft Word also has a function which helps you with reference management, but it's adviced you not use it. It doesn't support APA 7 and is relatively hard to put to use.

Academic integrity and plagiarism

Academic integrity in writing a paper means being clear about which reflections are your own and which are drawn from the works of others. Plagiarism involves presenting the results, ideas or words of others as if they were your own. By being conscientious about referencing correctly, you can avoid suspicion of plagiarism. It is important to know about research ethics, citation rules, conditions concerning copyright, research methods and academic writing.

In the last few years there have unfortunately been several instances of fraud, cheating and plagiarism in education and research. It is therefore very important that both students and faculty sharpen their ethical awareness. Read more about VID’s aims for academic integrity (In Norwegian only).

"Researchers must adhere to good reference practices, which fulfil requirements for verifiability and form the basis for further research" (The Norwegian National Research Ethics Committees 2014).