Documentation: Avoiding Plagiarism How to incorporate Information from Sources without Plagiarizing

Disclaimer Please note this very important information. I am providing this Power Point to give very basic information on how to use source material without plagiarizing. I decided to do this in response to student suggestions from a previous semester. The information on this presentation is very basic. It cannot give you everything you need to know, but it will provide a good starting place. For more specific detailed explanations, read the assigned chapters in the book!

Giving Credit to the Author Whenever you use information in a paper that came from any source, you have to give credit to the author in order to avoid plagiarizing. You have to be sure to give the author credit when you use the author’s exact words. You also have to be sure to give the author credit when you use the author’s ideas but put it into your own words.

Giving Credit to the Author There are two major steps to giving the author credit: A parenthetical citation, also referred to as an internal citation, that immediately follows the information from the source and usually gives the author and page number for that specific information. An entry on a works cited page that gives the details about that specific source. You must be sure to do both steps

Types of Internal Citations There are three types of internal citations: A direct quote which uses the author’s exact words and must be surrounded by quotation marks. A summary which gives the main idea of the source in a much shorter format entirely in your words. A paraphrase which reproduces the idea of the author without using the author’s words. You will need to use all three, but you will want to rely most heavily on paraphrases.

Internal Citations for Direct Quotations For direct quotations, you must do the following steps: Reproduce the exact words of the author with no changes. Put quotation marks around the author’s words. Provide the MLA formatted citation at the end listing the last name of the author of the source and the page number of the source where the quote can be found. Example: “This is how you would format the citation for a direct quote from page 72 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (Twain 72). Note that the period for the sentence comes after the parentheses.

Internal Citations for Summaries For summaries, you must do the following steps: Reproduce the main idea of the source or of a part of the source. Make sure that you are not reproducing the words of the source. Provide the MLA formatted citation at the end listing the last name of the author of the source and the page number of the source where the information summarized can be found. Example: This is how you would format the citation for a summary from pages 72-74 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain 72-74). Note that the period for the sentence comes after the parentheses.

Internal Citations for Paraphrases For paraphrases, you must do the following steps: Reproduce the idea of a sentence or two from the source entirely in your own words. Do not simply put in a word or two of your own followed by some from the source, then some of your own, etc. Use significantly different words and sentence structure. Provide the MLA formatted citation at the end listing the last name of the author of the source and the page number of the source where the information paraphrased can be found. Example: This is how you would format the citation for a paraphrase from page 72 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain 72). Note that the period for the sentence comes after the parentheses.

Notes on Internal Citations As noted, internal citations must be used for any type of quote, paraphrase or summary. As demonstrated, internal citations normally contain the last name of the author and the page number inside parentheses just before the period for the sentence. There are exceptions to the format of the internal citation based on the type of source used. See pages 565-571 for more details.

Works Cited Page Entries You must create an entry on your works cited page for every source that you quote, summarize or paraphrase in your paper. The works cited entry will contain detailed information about the source. The format of each works cited entry is based on the specific information about the source. All entries should be listed alphabetically on the works cited page. See page 624 for an example.

Works Cited Page Entries For each source, locate an example that fits the specific information about the source on pages 575-598. Model the entry you are making after the example in the book. This is one of the most difficult steps in the process of writing from research, so if you have difficulty determining how to make a specific entry, contact your instructor through the question and answer forum, email or drop by during office hours.