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Guide to Using Sources

Guide to Using Sources

How to Avoid Plagiarism and Cite Properly

Overview | Paraphrasing | Quoting | In-text Citations | Works Cited

Avoiding Plagiarism Overview

Learning how to avoid plagiarism and to cite sources properly is an essential part of your education. Because plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty and carries with it heavy penalties (in both this course and the broader academic world), I want you to learn this material thoroughly. I encourage you to revisit this page frequently throughout the course, until you feel completely comfortable with the rules of how to give credit to your sources.

You will see point values tied to your use of citations in each of your writing assignments for this course. A rubric is included with each of the assignments, so you can see how many points are associated with correct citation. More significant problems with plagiarism and failure to cite are addressed individually.

In this course, my goal is that you will learn how to:

· Paraphrase information you have gathered from a source, by writing the information in your own words.

· Place quotation marks around directly quoted text.

· Give credit to sources for both paraphrased and quoted material, by including an in-text citation.

· Include the correct information in in-text citations, including author's name and page number. (It is okay to include only the author's name when citing web sources.)

· Always include a work's cited section at the end of a paper, which includes all sources cited in the text of the paper.

· Format works cited sections correctly, according to standard MLA guidelines. (For this course, always include the full URL in web citations.)

Most students do not want to cheat, nor do they actively plan to cheat. In my experience, most of the plagiarism in this class comes from students not paraphrasing properly. I've seen a few instances of intentional plagiarism, which I think mostly comes from panic. This guide is about avoiding plagiarism altogether.

First, read a few pages on plagiarism. These pages are located at the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab). This a very good site for all things about writing.

Overview and Contradictions (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/

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Is It Plagiarism Yet? (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/

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Safe Practices (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/03/

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This page gives further information about plagiarism:

Plagiarism.org (http://www.plagiarism.org/

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Citing Properly

The bottom line of writing is that if you didn't think of it yourself, you need to cite it. We will now cover ways of incorporating a source's information into your writing and then discuss how to give credit where credit is due.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing means putting information into your own words without using quotation marks. Note that paraphrasing means you are not using the source's words at all.

This website gives very clear examples of how to do this correctly:

Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/1/

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Quoting

If you use any words, phrases, or sentences directly from a source, you must put those words or phrases into quotation marks. Read more and find examples here:

How to Use Quotation Marks (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/

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Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/

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In-text Citations

The way I like to think of it, the purpose of an in-text citation is two-fold: 1) to alert your reader that you are paraphrasing or quoting someone else's words and giving credit to your sources, and 2) to guide your reader to the exact place where they can find that quote in your source. That way, if they wanted, your reader could go to the works cited page at the end of your paper, find the full information about the source, and find the exact page where you found the quote or material you've paraphrased.

Whenever you paraphrase or quote directly from a source, you need to include an in-text citation. In general, an in-text citation should include the author's name and the page number where you found the material.

This page describes exactly how to format an in-text citation and how to adjust your citations, depending upon which type of source you're citing:

MLA In-text Citations: The Basics (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/2/

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This page is also helpful:

Citing Sources (http://libguides.usu.edu/content.php?pid=41137&sid=302758

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Works Cited

In-text citations are designed to "link" to a works cited page—they guide your reader to the full source information listed at the end of the paper. I should be able to pick up your paper, use the in-text citations to see which parts of your paper came from other sources, and then follow those in-text bits to the works cited page and there find exactly what the book you've referenced was called, who wrote it, what year it was published, and whatever other information I would need to get my hands on a copy of it. I could then find a copy of the book myself in a library or online. Once I had the book in hand, I could then turn to the page you've noted in your in-text citation, knowing I would find the material you used in your paper.

There are very different ways of citing sources: MLA, APA, and Chicago are the three main methods. Because this is an arts course, we use MLA formatting throughout the class. Given that, the need to distinguish between your own and others' ideas is standard across disciplines and classes.

This page shows you what a works cited page should look like and gives you examples for each type of source:

MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/

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And here are specific guidelines for different types of sources:

Books

Author Last, First. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year the book was published.

More details: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/

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Websites

Author Last, First. "Article Name." Title of Website. Date of publication. Web. Date of access. More details: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

(Links to an external site.)

Films

Director Last, First, dir. Title of Film. Name of Production Studio, Year of production. Film. More details: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/09/

(Links to an external site.)

Articles

Author Last, First. "Article Name." Title of Publication/Magazine/Journal. Year. Medium.

More details: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/07/

(Links to an external site.)

Reviews accessed online

Author Last, First. "Article Name." Rev. of Performance Title, dir. Director Name. Newspaper Title. Date of Publication. Web. Date of Access.

Reviews accessed in print Author Last, First. "Article Name." Rev. of Performance Title, dir. Director Name. Newspaper Title. Date of Publication. Day Month Year: Page.

More details: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/07/

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See here for help citing a source with multiple authors: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/

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This page is also helpful:

Citing Sources (http://libguides.usu.edu/content.php?pid=41137&sid=302758

(Links to an external site.)

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