Quoting, Attribution, and Plagiarism

PR 305: Dr. Kelly Winfrey

Quotes and Attribution

• Statements and Information• Statements are attributed to the person making

them• Information about the events not witnessed by

the reporter is attributed to the source of the information

• More sources are better• Provides greater depth- more insight• Provides more context- more perspectives• More reliable- less chance of inaccuracy or bias

Sources

• Sources can:• Illuminate and explain• Lie, confuse, distort

• How many sources?• Depends on the project• A short news brief or press release may only

require one• More complex topics require more sources and

diverse sources

Sources

• Select sources based on relevance to what you’re writing

• Check sources for accuracy to ensure all facts and statements are true

• Balance sources for fairness to represent all sides of an issue

Sources

• Who can be a source?• Government or business officials• Facts in an almanac• Records in a courthouse• Public records• Statistics in a report or on a website• Officials at sites• University news• Ordinary people• And more…

Sources

• Imagine you are part of the marketing team at Target Corporate. Your team has been tasked with creating a report recommending the best products to sell and methods of marketing for Christmas decorations.

• What sources might you use?

Quotations

• Quotations make stories and reports more believable and appealing

• Be on the lookout for colorful quotes

• Be selective

• Don’t use every quote you get because people may lie, get things wrong, ramble, and exaggerate.

Direct Quotes

• Captures the exact word for word of what someone said or wrote

• Always begins and ends with quotation marks

• A phrase identifying the speaker/writer, called attribution, precedes or follows the quote.

Direct Quote

• “I love teaching PR 305 because I get the opportunity to teach students real-world skills they can use in their future careers,” said Dr. Kelly Winfrey of the Greenlee School.

• In an interview with Katie Couric Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina said, “The gulf between how people feel about their lives and what’s going on in Washington is huge. The disconnect between regular people and the political class is wide and growing.”

Direct Quotes

• Possible problems:• Beware of foul language• Readers must be gauged for their tolerance- you

will be blamed for the foul language more than the source

• Don’t distort quotes’ meanings by deleting words or altering phrasing.

Partial Quote

• Partial quote is one that does not use every word in the quote. It might select key phrases or sentences.

• Be careful because they can hurt your credibility and be confusing

• Use only if a direct quote is too long

• Avoid because they “get in the way of” the reader, often imparting a meaning to words “not intended” by the writer.

Paraphrase

• Paraphrase is when you summarize what a source told you or you read without using the exact words or adding quotation marks.

• A good way to condense or clarify someone else’s statement.

• You still need to attribute the information to the source.

Paraphrase

Greenlee School grad student says bumper stickers still make mark in current campaign

…But bumper stickers don't always paint an accurate picture of support. Brown said research suggests that more expensive vehicles are less likely to be covered in bumper stickers, and that more bumper stickers for Democratic candidates appear on vehicles than those supporting Republican candidates.

Paraphrase

• Possible problems:• Avoid mimicking source dialect- this can be

insulting• Make sure the meaning is the same as what the

source intended• Attribute information to the source

Dialogue Quote

• Dialogue quotes are used to capture the conversation between two individuals. Your reprint the actual dialogue.

• Use only when the actual dialogue is relevant.

• Might be used in a debate or focus group

• Usually reads like:• Wilson: We can’t make any assumptions about

who will win the Republican primary.• Smith: I disagree. We can assume that Trump will

not be able to win the nomination.

Other Quote Problems

• Don’t bore readers or listeners with obvious or dull quotes.

• Don’t rehash what a quote is saying. • George Bush claims Iraq has weapons of mass

destruction. “I believe Iraq was WMD’s,” said Bush.

• Avoid using a quote as a lead. You need to frame it in your own words.

Attribution

• Attribute opinion, accusatory statements, allegations, statistics, and facts (that aren’t common knowledge).

• You don’t need to attribute a source for “common knowledge.”• Iowa State is a land grand university located in

Ames, Iowa.

• Avoid using “said” in all attributions. • Argued, alleged, claimed, stated, etc.

Lifting Quotations

• If the quote was not said directly to you, do not pass them off as your primary source.

• If you are using a quote cited in another source you would attribute both.• In a recent interview with Katie Couric, Carly

Fiorina argued. “….”

Attributing

• Use past tense when you attribute• She said rather than she says.• Sustain past tense throughout entire story when making

attribution

• Placing attribution• Place at the beginning, end, or at a natural break in the

sentence.• “The mayor said, “If I see him tomorrow I will press

charges.”• “I will press charges tomorrow if I see him,” the mayor

said.• “If I see him tomorrow,” the mayor said, “I will press

charges”

Attributing

• Placing attribution cont.• Before quote, but name and title before said.

• Mayor Jones said, “I support new development, and that means I support the idea of another Ames mall.”

• If the title has more than 2 or 3 words, put it after said.• “I will run a clean campaign and win,” said John

Doe, juvenile court judge.

Explanatory Material

• Sometimes you need to add explanatory words to make a quote understandable.

• These can go inside the direct quote enclosed in parentheses.

• Should only be 1 or 2 words

• “Everyone has the right to (freedom of expression). I intend to continue speaking out against the mayor,” Doe said.

Punctuation

• Use double quotation marks for beginning and end of direct quotes. “

• Put periods and commas inside of quotation marks.

• When quoting someone’s question, put the question mark inside of the quote mark.

• Capitalize the first word of a direct quote

Plagiarism Defined

• ISU defines plagiarism as: “the act of representing directly or indirectly another person’s work as your own. It can involve presenting someone’s speech, wholly or partially, as yours; quoting without acknowledging the true source of the quoted material; copying and handing in another person’s work with your name on it; and similar infractions. Even indirect quotations, paraphrasing, etc., can be considered plagiarism unless sources are properly cited.”  

Plagiarism

• Passing of someone else’s words as your own

• Failing to attribute direct quotations

• Failing to attribute paraphrased information

• Give credit when using:• another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;• any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of

information—that are not common knowledge;• quotations of another person’s actual spoken or

written words• paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written

words.

Plagiarism Activity

• Everyone will get a short news story about plagiarism.

• We will then divide into groups to discuss.

Plagiarism Activity

As a group identify:

1. Main points of the article

2. Ways that plagiarism is defined

3. Consequences of plagiarism

4. Something new you learned about plagiarism