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I am writing my Master thesis right now. Two arguments in the proofs are based on REU papers written by students. As those are not officially published but made available on the universities' websites I am not sure if I am allowed to cite them.

Right now I use the webpage-tag with a "Last Visited" in BibTex. Is this a proper way to cite the work of somebody else even if it has not been published other than like this and this?

I was not sure whether this is not better asked at AcademiaSE. Please notify me and I will delete the question here.

Sven Pistre
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    You can cite whatever you want. If your friend Jane told you something relevant, you can write "Jane Smith, private communication" in the bibliography. – Matt Samuel Mar 12 '16 at 21:43
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    "Allowed" by whom? – Matthew Towers Mar 12 '16 at 21:43
  • @MattSamuel: Thanks, that sounds reasonable. – Sven Pistre Mar 12 '16 at 21:52
  • @m_t_: True, I just wasn't sure whether this was common practice. But I do want to give credit to the right person when I'm not using something I did by myself – Sven Pistre Mar 12 '16 at 21:53
  • Nebe and Kirschmer are there, unless there is more than one Aachen. Yes, you ought to give references for these. Various purposes for references, one is to give proper credit, one is to allow an interested party to read more about that issue. Plesken also. Wonderful short article by him, about 1982, showed me how to interpret Fricke and Klein (1897).... Having looked at one of your links, one purpose may be to direct a reader to further detail written at a fairly elementary level. – Will Jagy Mar 12 '16 at 22:13
  • I'd say if you are using or incorporating work of another person, published or not, you have an obligation to make that clear in the best feasible citation. – BruceET Mar 13 '16 at 23:47

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