Plagiarism is defined as:
Sometimes it seems as if we have to read tons of material in order to write a good research paper. Then why do we do it? The answer is: by examining the various aspects of a topic, it helps us to understand it better. After doing all the research for the paper, you start to form ideas of your own, see patterns, and be able to think about the topic in your own words. Here's the key: if you included in your paper even the tiniest bit of those books you read, articles you copied, and Websites you searched, then you would have to give credit to them in your paper. Here are three ways to credit other sources. QuotingQuoting is repeating, word for word, what someone else has written or spoken. Quoting allows you to use another person's work verbatim without breaking copyright laws. It is especially useful when you find something that expresses precisely the point you want to make. Any material that you copy word for word must be placed in quotation marks and identified as a reference by using a parenthetical, a footnote, or an endnote. (There's information in Unit 5 on how to do this.) Failure to do so is plagiarism.The following is an example of a quotation from The Life of Elizabeth I, by Alison Weir1: She states, "Her father, Henry VIII, had been of royal Plantagenet stock, with some Welsh blood from his father Henry VII, while Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, had been an English commoner..." (Weir 11). ParaphrasingParaphrasing is restating something, using your own words to convey the same meaning. To do this without plagiarizing, you need to refer to the original work using a footnote, an endnote, or a parenthetical. Any original work that you paraphrase must be cited. When you paraphrase something, you do not need to use quotation marks. However, you must point out the parts you paraphrased by inserting a footnote, an endnote, or a parenthetical.Here is a paraphrase of the passage from Alison Weir's book quoted above: Elizabeth I was truly the progeny of kings and commoners, since she was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (Weir 11). Using Citations to Create a BibliographyDEFINITION:Citation: Recognition given to the author (or authors) of an item -- such as a book or an article -- used in a research paper. A citation lists the information needed to locate the item. For a book, this is the title, author, publisher, date of publication, and place of publication. For an article, it is the title, author, name of the periodical, date, and page number. DEFINITION: Bibliography: A list of citations used in the writing of a research paper, an article, or a book. SummaryHow do I avoid plagiarism?Here are some guidelines:
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