Citation and Plagiarism
Wed, Nov 08
Why Do Citation and Plagiarism Matter?
- Establishing and maintaining the reader's trust
- Nurturing an ongoing conversation
- Positioning yourself in a discussion
What’s Plagiarism?
- Presenting someone else’s ideas as one’s own
- Presenting someone else’s words as one’s own
- Making up evidence / sources
- Failing to properly cite sources
How Do You Avoid Plagiarism?
- Summarize and cite.
- Paraphrase and cite.
- Quote directly and cite.
More Tips to Avoid Plagiarism
- Use quotations marks around any borrowed language.
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Introduce your sources within the text of your paper. For instance:
- As Emerson wrote in his essay Nature, “Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.”
- When paraphrasing, give credit to the source you are paraphrasing.
- While researching, make sure to take careful notes and write down all the information needed for citing your work as you find material you want to use. If you cannot find the source that you got your data from, do not use it.
- Do not cut and paste, especially from websites.
Goals
- Understand why citation matters
- Understand what plagiarism is and why its bad
- Understand how to avoid plagiarism
- Know when and how to cite