How do I use sources ethically in my writing?

(And why you should care!)

Definition:

Plagiarism is the act of presenting the words, ideas, images, sounds, or the creative expression of others as your own.

In other words, you take without giving credit!

If… you have included the

words and ideas of others in your work that you neglected to cite,

you have had help you wouldn’t want your teacher to know about,

Two types of plagiarism: Intentional

Copying a friend’s work Buying or borrowing

papers Cutting and pasting

blocks of text from electronic sources without documenting

Media “borrowing”without documentation

Web publishing without permissions of creators

Unintentional Careless paraphrasing Poor documentation Failure to use your

own “voice” or wording

Excuses

It’s okay if I don’t get caught!

I was too busy to write that paper!

(Job, big game, too much homework!)

My teachers expect

too much!

Everyone does it!

Rationale for academic integrity(as if it were necessary!)

It is only right to give credit to authors whose ideas you use

Citing gives authority to the information you present

Citing makes it possible for your readers to locate your source

• Cheating is unethical behavior

• You will get a zero and a call home, if not an office referral (if it is intentional).

Do you have to cite everything? Not if…

The facts are widely known, or The information or judgments are

considered “common knowledge”

Hooray for common

knowledge!

Examples of common knowledge

John Adams was our second president

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941If you see a fact in three or more sources,

and you are fairly certain your readers already know this information, it is likely to be “common knowledge.” But when in doubt, cite!

Use these three strategies: Quoting Paraphrasing Summarizing

To blend source materials in with your own, making sure your own voice is

heard.

QuotingQuotations are the exact words of an author, copied

directly from a source, word for word. Quotations must be put in “quotation marks” and cited!

Use quotations when: You want to add the power of an author’s words to

support your argument You want to disagree with an author’s argument You want to highlight particularly eloquent or powerful

phrases or passages You are comparing and contrasting specific points of

view You want to note the important research that precedes

your ownCarol Rohrbach and

Joyce Valenza

What’s the big deal?

If I change a

few words, I’m

okay, right?

Wrong! Paraphrasing original ideas without documentingyour source, is plagiarism too!

So, if you

borrow,

give credit!

ParaphrasingParaphrasing means rephrasing the words of an author,

putting his/her thoughts in your own words. When you paraphrase, you rework the source’s ideas, words, phrases, and sentence structures with your own. Like quotations, paraphrased material must be followed with in-text documentation and cited on your Works-Cited page.

Paraphrase when: You plan to use information on your note cards and wish to

avoid plagiarizing You want to avoid overusing quotations You want to use your own voice to present information

Carol Rohrbach and Joyce Valenza

Identifying Plagiarism Original Passage At the start of the

Great Depression, many Americans wanted to believe that the hard times would be only temporary.

Plagiarism or Not? At the beginning of the Great Depression, a lot of Americans wanted to think that the hard times would be only temporary.

PLAGIARISM!!! That is what is called “patchwork”

plagiarism; the writer simply patched in new words or phrases instead of putting the whole text into his/her own words.

Ex: Compare… At the start of the Great Depression… At the beginning of the Great

Depression…What changed?? Not much!

Identifying Plagiarism Original Passage A letter of thanks is

a courteous acknowledgment of a gift or of something that was done for you.

Plagiarism or Not? A thank you note is a polite acknowledgment of a present or something nice someone did for you.

What do you think?

STILL PLAGIARISM!!! You can’t just change words around;

you have to change the sentence itself: Original Passage A letter of thanks is a

courteous acknowledgment of a gift or of something that was done for you.

Plagiarism or Not? A thank you note is a polite acknowledgment of a present or something nice someone did for you.

Notice that the words changed; the structure didn’t!

Identifying Plagiarism Original Passage Devices in the

iPod range are primarily digital audio players, designed around a central click wheel — although the iPod shuffle has buttons also.

Plagiarism or Not? An iPod is an MP3 player that lets you choose and play songs to listen to using a click wheel (or on older versions, buttons).

NOT PLAGIARISM Notice that the whole sentence is

rewritten in the author’s own words (unless specific terms were needed…like iPod!). Original Passage Devices in the iPod range

are primarily digital audio players, designed around a central click wheel — although the iPod shuffle has buttons also.

Plagiarism or Not? An iPod is an MP3 player that lets you choose and play songs to listen to using a click wheel (or on older versions, buttons).

Summarizing Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s)

of one or several writers into your own words, including only the main point(s). Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material. Again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to their original sources.

Summarize when:

You want to establish background or offer an overview of a topic You want to describe knowledge (from several sources) about a

topic You want to determine the main ideas of a single source

Carol Rohrbach and Joyce Valenza

As you take notes on your information:

Put any unique phrases or portions of text you need to copy word for word in quotation marks or mark with a big Q; make sure the speaker’s /writer’s name is identified.

Put all other information in your own words: try combining bulleted details from a source into sentences or paragraphs.

Include page numbers and source references after these so you can include citations as you write.

Try it yourself! Each person should have the notes they pasted in bullet

form from their internet sources. In the second column, try the following:

1) Read the source information carefully 2) Think about what it means 3) Write what you understand your own words—this may mean

combining several facts into an original sentence or two. 4) Reread your sentence; make sure it includes the important

main ideas from the information you have read AND that it uses

different words/sentence structures. ***Note the source of the information to include in-text for

citation in your paper! Skipping these steps and trying to paraphrase directly from a

source in your draft increases the likelihood you will (unintentionally) plagiarize!

Use in-text documentation when:

You use an original idea from one of your sources, whether you quote or paraphrase it

You summarize original ideas from one of your sources

You use factual information that is not common knowledge (Cite to be safe.)

How do I cite using MLA style? Parenthetical citations are usually placed at the end

of a sentence, before the period (Jenkins 203), but they may be placed in the middle of sentence right after the information.

Cite the author's last name and the page number In the absence of an author, cite the title (“MLA

Formatting and Style Guide”). If you are using more than one book by the same

author, list the last name, comma, the title, and the page. (Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper 201).

If you identify the author and title in the text, just list the page number.

Ex: According to Monroe, “Blah hab gabba goo,” (203).

But, what about the Web? When citing a Web source in-text, you are

not likely to have page numbers. Just include the first part of the entry.

(Smith)or

(“Plagiarism and the Web”)

BUT NOT EVERhttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Typical example: “Slightly more than 73% of Happy High

School students reported plagiarizing papers sometime in their high school careers” (Smith 203).

And remember….when you use EasyBib or Son of Citation Machine to help with your Works Cited page, be sure to check the final format (EasyBib has examples of what final citations should look like!)