English Assignment 3 Part 2

Plagiarism and Correct Borrowing

( 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. )

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 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

· Parenthetical reference (within the paper)

· Bibliographic entry on the Works Cited 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 [ ].

· For example, the original quotation states: He is president

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

· Integrate into the sentences which come before and after.

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 Works Cited page

How to Paraphrase Properly:

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 Works Cited 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.

Citation:

Mitford, Jessica. Kind and Usual Punishment. New York: Random House, 1973. 9. Print.

Correct Quotation

“The character and mentality of the keepers,” states Mitford, “may be of more importance in understanding prisons than the character and mentality of the kept” (9).

Correct Paraphrase

Jessica Mitford 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 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 9).

Correct Summary with Embedded Quotation

It is imperative to study “the keepers” as well as “the kept” (Mitford 9).

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

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