Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism
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Using
an Author's Exact Words: |
- Use quotation
marks around all words copied from a source.
- Choose to quote an
author's exact words when the phrasing is unique or strengthens your
argument.
- Provide a citation
for the source of the exact words you used immediately after the
quotation (Trivedi and Williams).
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Paraphrasing an Author's Words: |
- Paraphrase an
author's words by stating his or her ideas in your own words with your
own phrasing.
- Compare your
paraphrased writing with the author's exact words to make sure you have
not copied phrases or sentences from the author.
- Provide a citation
for the paraphrased ideas immediately after the paraphrased text
(Trivedi and Williams).
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Borrowing Information: |
- Cite the source
when borrowing a figure, graph, map, data, or table from another
author's work.
- The original
source must be cited even if the borrowed information is used for
different purposes than those intended in the original source.
- If you organize
your ideas in the same fashion in which an author organized his or her
ideas, cite the source of the organizational scheme (Trivedi and
Williams).
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Stating Common Knowledge: |
- Information
that is commonly known by the public or the intended readers of
a paper do not need citations for sources (Trivedi and Willaims).
Examples of commonly known information are:
- President John
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
- Food contains
calories and fat.
- Ulysses S. Grant
was a general in the Union Army during the Civil War.
- Unsure if an idea
is common knowledge for the intended readers of your paper? Use caution,
cite a source.
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Reusing Collaborative Papers: |
- If two students
wrote a paper as a collaborative group or team project, one of the
authors cannot submit the paper for another assignment as if it is his
or her own paper.
- Any information
borrowed from a paper you wrote collaboratively should include citations
for the information borrowed from the original paper.
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Plagiarizing Accidentally: |
- It's common
knowledge that ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law.
- "Since teachers
and administrators may not distinguish between deliberate and accidental
plagiarism the heart of avoiding plagiarism is to make sure you give
credit where credit is due" (Purdue University Online Writing Lab).
- Check a paper
against the wording within the sources to avoid unintended plagiarism.
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Documenting the Spoken Word: |
- Information drawn
from personal communications, speeches, broadcasts, conversations,
interviews and other spoken words must be documented with a citation
and/or parenthetical citation (Writing Tutorial Services).
- Style manuals
provide information about citing sources for the spoken word. Consult
Style Manuals
on Reserve to locate style manuals in Owens Library. Citation
examples for personal communications and interviews can also be found
on Citing
Sources.
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Respecting Others: |
- "Respect the intellectual
sweat of others. This means giving credit for work that is not your
own and ensuring you cite others' works both within, and at the end,
of your paper or project" (The Center for Intellectual Property).
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Works Cited
The Center
for Intellecutal Property . Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory (VAIL)
Student Guide: Student
Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism through Critical Thinking
and Research Skills.
2004. Hamilton College
Writing Center. 9 Oct. 2004
<http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/vail/students/studenttips/studenttips.pdf>.
Purdue University
Online Writing Lab. Avoiding Plagiarism. 2004. OWL at Purdue
University and Purdue University.
9 Oct. 2004
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html>.
Trivedi, Lisa
and Sharon Williams. Using Sources. 2004. Hamilton College
Writing Center. 9 Oct. 2004
<http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/resource/wc/usingsources.html>.
Writing Tutorial
Services. 27 Apr. 2004. Plagiarism: What It Is and How to
Recognize and Avoid It.
Indiana University. 9 Oct. 2004
<http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml>.
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