Summary, paraphrase, direct quote, plagiarism… What’s the difference?

Why do we need to know this stuff?? In the near future, you will be completing a research paper and will need to use these terms. In the not-so-distant future, you will be seniors and write research papers in your classes. In the somewhat-distant future you will be in college or tech school and asked to write all kinds of research papers! In the grown-up world, you will find that research is a part of everyday life and you will want to be equipped for it.

Summarizing Condensing longer material, keeping the essential or main ideas and omitting unnecessary parts. A summary is written in your own words. A paragraph of information turns in to one sentence in your own words.

An example of summarizing We have all read or seen catalogues, those glossy-covered magazines that arrive in the mail and offer detailed descriptions of products we just can not live without. A catalogue, however, is also a name for a list, frequently a systematized list, of items. It is helpful to keep both of these meanings in mind while reading Walt Whitman's short poem, “I Hear America Singing,” for the poem describes items, in this case working people, in an effort to sell the reader on a particular vision of America. Included in the Inscriptions section of Leaves of Grass, “I Hear America Singing” announces the book's themes and the poet's approach to them. As such it serves as a kind of introduction to the form and content of Whitman's masterpiece. Readers do themselves a disservice if they read only the shorter poems and believe they can grasp the scope and power of Leaves Of Grass. Whitman uses “catalogues” in the poem “I Hear America Singing” to list working people and to convince the reader of his view of America; the poem also serves as an introduction to the book Leaves of Grass.

Paraphrasing Presenting someone else’s ideas in your own words, phrases, and sentence structure. One sentence from the source becomes one sentence in your own words. Plagiarism = 3 or more of the same words in the same order, or using the same sentence structure as the source.

An example of paraphrasing Listing occupations and activities of the mid-nineteenth-century American citizen, “I Hear America Singing” celebrates the American dream. In cinema-like fashion Whitman presents verbal snapshots of working people singing their varied carols as they should be. Whitman celebrates everyday Americans by having them sing carols of their jobs and activities.

Direct Quotation The use of borrowed ideas, works, phrases and sometimes sentences as they appear in the original source. Reasons to direct quote: Accuracy: when the precise language of the original is important Authority: when the exact words of a writer or speaker carry more weight than a summary (as in the person is important) Conciseness: when a quotation states an idea in fewer words than a summary would require Vividness: when the language of the source is more colorful or more descriptive than a summary would be

An example of a direct quotation “It is only by doing our own part (happily) as individuals that we can join in the life of the country, in building a republic where everyone is valued for his and her intrinsic worth as well as for the work they do, whether that be building bridges, loading boats, or laying bricks, Whitman suggests.”

Plagiarism The use of another person’s words and/or ideas without properly documenting or giving credit to the source

An example of plagiarism “Singing” for Whitman is not the literal activity in which the workers are engaged; rather it suggests the emotional response Whitman himself believes they have towards their work, and the response he wants us as readers to have as well. Singing for Whitman is not the literal activity in which the workers are engaged; rather it suggests the emotional response Whitman himself believes they have towards their work, and the response he wants us as readers to have as well. “Singing” isn’t the literal activity of the workers; instead it suggest the emotional response Whitman thinks they have towards their work, and it’s the response he wants readers to have as well.

The Source! All of the excerpts in this powerpoint were taken from the following source: Semansky, Chris. “An Overview of ‘I Hear America Singing.’” Poetry for Students. Gale, 1998. Literature Resource Center (online database accessed from Anoka County Library). 2007. The Gale Group. 5 Apr. 2007. <http://galenet.galegroup.com>.