Citing Sources and

Avoiding Plagiarism

Oct/2015 AUA, Center for Student Success Anna Aghlamazyan Writing Consultant

Quick outline

1. What is Plagiarism?

2. Types of Plagiarism

3. Summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting

4. How to avoid plagiarism?

Oct/2015 AUA, Center for Student Success

PLAGIARISM: from Latin plagiarius

meaning kidnapper, seducer

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We cite others

to move knowledge forward

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Types of plagiarism

• Purchasing an essay

• Misattributing a source

• Not attributing a source, even yourself

• Patching together different sources without citing

• Simply cutting and pasting information

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Why do students PLAGIARIZE?

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Why do students

plagiarize?

Lack of awareness

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Procrastination

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Ambition

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Community pressure…

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Summarizing What is summarizing?

Squeezing out the most important information and communicating it in your own words.

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How to summarize effectively?

• Stay true to the original content but take notes in your own words

• Remember the importance of active reading!

• Use signal phrases

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Original passage

“The rapid growth and accessibility of social networking websites has fundamentally changed the way people manage information about their personal and professional lives” (Garner and O’Sullivan, p. 113).

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Which is plagiarized?

Example 1. .

Example 2.

How people manage information online has been drastically altered due to the proliferation of social networking websites. (Garner & O’Sullivan, p. 113)

The rapid spawning and availability of social networking websites has completely changed the way people manage information about their personal and professional lives. (Garner and O’Sullivan, p. 113)

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Example 2!

Example 1 .

Example 2

How people manage information online has been drastically altered due to the proliferation of social networking websites. (Garner & O’Sullivan, p. 113)

The rapid spawning and availability of social networking websites has completely changed the way people manage information about their personal and professional lives.

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What is paraphrasing?

Explaining or restating an idea in your own words

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Paraphrasing

Original passage

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing

Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.

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Which is plagiarized? Example 1. Example 2.

In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester, 1976).

Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

Oct/2015 AUA, Center for Student Success

Example 2! Example 1. Example 2.

In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester, 1976).

Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

Oct/2015 AUA, Center for Student Success

Direct Quoting

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What is direct quotation?

Using the exact words, phrases, and

sentences of an author.

Example of a direct quotation

According to Roger Sipher, a solution to the perceived crisis of American education is to “abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education to attend" (Sipher, 1977, para. 3).

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Identifying common knowledge There is NO need to cite general information that

most people know

Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States.

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Maintain Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is the moral code or ethical policy of academia. This includes values such as avoidance of cheating or plagiarism; maintenance of academic standards; honesty and rigor in research and academic publishing.

Alison Kirk

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AUA takes the following measures in case of plagiarism:

• oral warning • written warning • reduction in score • retake of the academic evaluation • failure in the course

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Student Code of Ethics Effective as of: 08.01.2015

American University of Armenia Policy Number: ACAD20150014

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Keep track of

page numbers

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Create bookmarks and keep URLs

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Start in advance of deadline Write drafts, get feedback, and revise

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Sep, 2015 AUA, Center for Student Success

Prepared by Anna Aghlamazyan

Writing Consultant

References

Sep, 2015 AUA, Center for Student Success

Harvey, G. (2008). Writing with Sources. A Guide for Harvard Students.

Second Edition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Retrieved

from

http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic930980.files/WritingWithSo

urces.pdf

A Quick Guide To Plagiarism. (2009, August 25). Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTPv9PtOoo

Moxley, J.M. Summarizing. (N.d.). Retrieved from

http://collegewriting.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article

&id=366:summarizing&catid=64&Itemid=237

References

Sep, 2015 AUA, Center for Student Success

Northeast Ohio Medical University. (N.d.). Avoiding Plagiarism:

Summarizing/Paraphrasing. Retrieved from

http://libraryguides.neomed.edu/c.php?g=324191&p=2170157

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2014). Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own

Words. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/1/

"Common Knowledge" in Academic Writing. (N.d.). Retrieved from

https://www15.uta.fi/FAST/PK6/REF/commknow.html

American University of Armenia. (2015). Student Code of Ethics. Retrieved

from http://policies.aua.am/policy/10