Tutorama: Week Twelve: Citation, Quotation, and Avoiding Plagiarism

By this point in the semester, you are already familiar with the mechanics of quoting-where to put the quotation marks and how to use in-text citation form, but an independent research project usually raises new and complicated questions about citation:

How to Put Together a List of Sources Cited:
Review the links in the Research Depot about MLA Citation form.

How to Cite Electronic Sources:
Most of the links for MLA Citation offer explanations for how to cite Internet resources.

How to Keep Clear Borders between Your Paper and Your Sources:
You should read with care the section about plagiarism on the 101 page.

The plagiarism policy page includes an explanation of the University's policy on academic integrity, and also a discussion of the subtleties of plagiarism, including a short test to see if you can recognize situations in which a student is plagiarizing.

How to Paraphrase without Plagiarizing:
We strongly recommend you visit a few links in the University of Wisconsin's Writer's Handbook. This site offers good, clear advice about creating a successful summary or paraphrase, and also offers extremely useful examples of sample paraphrases that are successful and unsuccessful. The unsuccessful paraphrases demonstrate the most common forms of plagiarism:

• "Word-for-word" plagiarism, where the student borrows vocabulary and sentence structure, as well as ideas from the source.

• "Mosaic" plagiarism, where key terms and ideas are lifted from a source, even if the sentence structure is shifted around.

• The site also contains an example of legitimate paraphrase, where ideas and quotations are appropriately cited, and the argument is structured by the students' own argument, not the source.

If you have a question, ask.

Where to Get Help:
Working on a research paper, especially if it is your first long college paper, can seem overwhelming, but there are plenty of resources available, in addition to the online resources listed above, to help you write a paper you can be proud of.

• Talk with your instructor about where you are having trouble and be sure you leave your conference with a list—written down—of specific strategies for improving your paper.

• If you are still looking for sources, but having difficulty finding the type of text you need, make an appointment to talk with a reference librarian. They have vast knowledge about how to find information and, if you've made an appointment, they will have the time to help you locate what you need.

• If you need help defining the border between your text and your sources, or if you need help with your paper but know there's a limit to the extent of help you should be getting, you can talk with your Writing Center tutor about using sources correctly. These tutors are trained to give enough, but not too much, advice, and can help you with questions about how to use sources appropriately.