English Assignment

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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

o But you need to change it to past tense, so revise to: “He [was] president”

 Integrate into the sentences which come before and after.

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,

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.

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:  Radical alteration of vocabulary and sentence structure

 Parenthetical reference (within the paper)

 Bibliographic entry on the References page

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

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 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:

 Parenthetical reference (within the paper)

 Bibliographic entry on the References page

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 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).

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Information in this handout taken from the following sources:

 The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,

reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our

terms and conditions of fair use. Please report any technical problems you encounter.

 Bellevue College Writing Lab

 Podis, Leonard A. and Joanne M. Podis. Writing: Invention, Form, and Style.

 Dr. Kathleen McCollough

 Angie Cook