1
Plagiarism and Correct Borrowing
So what, exactly, is plagiarism?
There are some actions that can almost unquestionably be labeled plagiarism. Some of these
include
buying a paper or article from the internet
having someone else write your paper for you
copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or proper citation
When and How to Cite
MLA and APA styles require you to use parenthetical citation and signal phrases to cite when
you quote, paraphrase, or summarize another author’s work.
For MLA style quotations, paraphrases, and summaries: place the author’s last name and the
page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. For example (Karim 1).
For APA style quotations, paraphrases, and summaries: place the author’s last name and the
date of publication (and in some instances, the page number) in parentheses at the end of the
sentence. For example (Karim 2014, 2020).
Definitions: Quoting
Quoting is writing down an author’s words exactly. Even if the words you want to quote are
misspelled or a sentence has grammatical mistakes, you must copy it so that it looks the same as the
original text. You may, however, make minor adjustments to the above:
You do not have to quote an entire sentence; you may simply quote a phrase.
You may change the first letter in the quotation from capital to lowercase or from lowercase
to capital to fit in with your own writing.
You may change the final punctuation at the end of a quotation.
Example of APA quotation: “Nobody called him Abe--at least not to his face--because he
loathed the nickname. It did not befit a respected professional who'd struggled hard to
overcome the limitations of his frontier background. Frankly Lincoln enjoyed his status as a
lawyer and politician, and he liked money, too, and used it to measure his worth” (Oates 1979,
65).
A direct quotation requires:
Word-for-word (correct spelling and punctuation) repeating of the original
Quotation marks
Plagiarism means writing facts, quotations, or opinions that are not your own and not giving credit to
the person(s) or organization where you got this information. This is stealing. Rule of thumb: if the
information or idea you present did not come out of your head, then cite it.
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Parenthetical reference (within the paper)
Bibliographic entry on the References page
How to Quote Properly:
Put double quotation marks “ “ around all of the words you copy from the text.
If you quote words already in quotation marks, change the original, double quotation marks to
single quotation marks.
For example, the original states: “I felt annoyed,” she stated.
Revise to: “’I felt annoyed,’ she stated”
If you change part of a quotation to make it fit better into the surrounding sentence, enclose
the changed words in square brackets [ ].
o For example, the original quotation states: He is president ...
1. Project Description Definition of ProjectThe supervision of w
1 Plagiarism and Correct Borrowing So what, exactl
1. 1
Plagiarism and Correct Borrowing
So what, exactly, is plagiarism?
There are some actions that can almost unquestionably be
labeled plagiarism. Some of these
include
When and How to Cite
MLA and APA styles require you to use parenthetical citation
and signal phrases to cite when
you quote, paraphrase, or summarize another author’s work.
the author’s last name and the
page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. For
example (Karim 1).
es, and summaries: place
2. the author’s last name and the
date of publication (and in some instances, the page number) in
parentheses at the end of the
sentence. For example (Karim 2014, 2020).
Definitions: Quoting
Quoting is writing down an author’s words exactly. Even if the
words you want to quote are
misspelled or a sentence has grammatical mistakes, you must
copy it so that it looks the same as the
original text. You may, however, make minor adjustments to the
above:
quote an entire sentence; you may simply
to lowercase or from lowercase
a
Example of APA quotation: “Nobody called him Abe--at least
not to his face--because he
loathed the nickname. It did not befit a respected professional
3. who'd struggled hard to
overcome the limitations of his frontier background. Frankly
Lincoln enjoyed his status as a
lawyer and politician, and he liked money, too, and used it to
measure his worth” (Oates 1979,
65).
A direct quotation requires:
-for-word (correct spelling and punctuation) repeating
Plagiarism means writing facts, quotations, or opinions that are
not your own and not giving credit to
the person(s) or organization where you got this information.
This is stealing. Rule of thumb: if the
information or idea you present did not come out of your head,
then cite it.
2
4. How to Quote Properly:
original, double quotation marks to
rt of a quotation to make it fit better into the
surrounding sentence, enclose
o For example, the original quotation states: He is president
o But you need to change it to past tense, so revise to: “He
[was] president”
Confusing: how does the
quoted sentence relate to the
ideas before and after it?
By the time the battle ended there were thousands of refugees.
“I
couldn’t see the ground through all the feet around mine”
(Numa 2012,
5. 274).
Within hours, water problems began.
Clear: the signal phrase “One
witness later said that he”
connects the quote of one
witness to the thousands of
refugees.
By the time the battle ended there were thousands of refugees.
One
witness later recalled how he “couldn’t see the ground through
all the
feet around [his own]” (Numa 2012, 274). Within hours, water
problems
began.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing involves taking the author’s writing and rewriting
the same idea in your own words and
phrasing. Simply replacing the author’s words with synonyms or
changing the order of the words is not
paraphrasing.
6. Example of paraphrase: By the middle of the century, Lincoln
enjoyed life as a well-respected
lawyer and politician, having acquired a position of status and
wealth that was well removed
from his modest childhood. As a consequence, he disliked being
called Abe because of its
association with his rural heritage (Oates 1979, 65).
A paraphrase requires:
How to Paraphrase Properly:
Original Quotation “If the existence of a signing ape was
unsettling for linguists, it was also
startling news for animal behaviorists” (Davis 2004, 26).
Plagiarism: The writer uses the
same words, only changing the
verb tense, so the new
sentence is too similar to the
7. original.
The existence of a signing ape unsettled linguists and startled
animal
behaviorists (Davis 2004, 26).
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Proper Paraphrases: This
sentences use a new sentence
structure with new words, while
keeping the original ideas of
the writer.
When they learned of an ape’s ability to use sign language, both
linguists and
animal behaviorists were taken by surprise (Davis 2004, 26).
Summarizing
Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own
words, including only the main point(s).
Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the
original source. Summaries are
significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview
8. of the source material.
Example of summary: The stereotypical image of President
Lincoln as a man who worked hard,
struggled, and came from a modest background is an incomplete
portrait because Mr.
Lincoln was successful both professionally and financially
(Oates 1979, 65).
A summary requires:
Examples of Correct Borrowing
Original
The character and mentality of the keepers may be of more
importance in understanding prisons
than the character and mentality of the kept.
Correct Quotation
“The character and mentality of the keepers,” states Mitford
(1973), “may be of more
importance in understanding prisons than the character and
9. mentality of the kept” (9).
Correct Paraphrase
Jessica Mitford (1973) maintains that we may be able to learn
more about prisons from the
psychology of prison officials than from the mentality of the
prisoners (9).
Correct Summary
One writer suggests studying guards as well as prisoners
(Mitford 1973, 9).
Correct Paraphrase with Embedded Quotation
Society may be able to learn more about prisoners from the
psychology of “the keepers” than from
that of “the kept” (Mitford 1973, 9).
Correct Summary with Embedded Quotation
It is imperative to study “the keepers” as well as “the kept”
(Mitford 1973, 9).
10. 4
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