--Always put words taken from another source in
quotation marks,
even as you take notes. Mixing up the order of the words,
substituting a few of the author’s words with words of your
own, or
changing the tense or voice of verbs does not allow you to use
the author’s
words as your own.
--If you paraphrase an author’s ideas, you still
must give him/her
attribution.
After your paraphrase, insert an in-text citation or footnote
with the author’s name and the page on which the source
material can be
found. Someone who
wants to find the original should be able to look at
your Works Cited sheet, go to the volume listed by that author,
turn to that
page, and find the source for your paraphrase.
--When you are conducting research for a paper,
indicate in your
notes where the material you are recording comes from.
Always put
quotation marks around an author’s words when you write them
down in
your notes, so you know what needs to be in quotation marks when
you write
the paper. If you have an original idea that you want to record
in your notes,
have a way to remind yourself that this is your idea, so that
you do not have
to quote or attribute it.
--Never cut-and-paste material from the internet
or other sources
into your notes without clearly marking that material as coming
from
another source.
Record the citation information you will need if you
decide
to use the material in your final paper.
Many web pages have citation information
if you scroll down to the bottom of the last page.
--When working with another student, indicate in a
note at the end of
the paper that you have discussed the material with each other,
or the
teacher might think that one of you plagiarized from the other.
--Simply listing all sources in your Works Cited
does not prevent you
from plagiarizing. You
must provide in-text citations or footnotes in the body
of the paper immediately after the material you are using.
If you only list your
sources in your Works Cited and leave out the in-text citations
or footnotes,
this is plagiarism.
--Common
knowledge need not be cited. Common
knowledge is what an average person might reasonably be expected
to know.
Common
knowledge: George
Washington was the first president of the United States.
Not
common knowledge:
George Washington was born in
Westmoreland County, Va. on Feb. 11, 1731 (Encyclopedia
Americana).
If you are in doubt about what your teacher would
consider common knowledge, ask! There is no excuse for handing
in a paper with improper citations, and there is no excuse for
not asking any questions you may have.
Once you have turned the paper in without needed
citations, it is too late to invoke ignorance. |