Avoiding Plagarism
Writing at the university level frequently requires students to intergrate work written by other authors. Your class assignments will ask you to read, understand, refer to, and restate the words of others as a means of learning about and participating in formal scholarly conversation. It is very important that you learn to use references ethically and according to conventions of scholarly work. Your attention to the following guidelines will help protect your writing against possible accusations of plagiarism. You are responsible for reading and understanding the following material. Proficiency comes from your practice with these guidelines.
Two Rules For Incorporating Sources in Your Writing
- Always present an author's actual words within quotation marks and accompanied by a full and accurate citation.
- Always paraphrase throughly by reshaping the original with your own vocabulary, syntax, and sentence rhythm. Paraphrases must be accompanied by a full and accurate citation.
These rules are discussed in detail below. The source text, by David Hale and Lyric Hughes Hales, and the full citation follow. The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., is used for all examples.
Sample Source Text
"There is no question...that China's emergence as a great economic power will rank as one of the major issues onfronting world leaders in the next few decades ad that its profess demands carfeul analysis. To start, it is worth examining China's winning strategies-economic liberalization, a focus on high technology, and its resolve to become a regional leaders-as well as its challenges-the widening gap between its urban and rural populations, growing unemployment, and the increased challenges posed by its aging population. Next it is important to consider the effects that its stuning sucess has had both at home and abroad. China's progess has unnerved many of its neighbors and trading partners: Asian countries wory about losing their competitive market edge, especially in high-technology markets; in the United States, concern has been mounting over the country's considerable - and growing - trade deficit with China."
David Hale and Lyric Hughes Gale, "China Takes Off," Foreign Affairs 82 (2003): 36-37.
RULE #1: Always cite an author's actual words within quotation marks and include a full and accurate citation.
Copying entire or partial texts without adding both quotation marks and a full citation is plagiarism.
Example A: China's emergene as a great economic power ranks as one of the major issues confronting world leaders in the next few decades. To begin with, it is worth examining China's winning strategies - economic liberlization, a focus on high technology, and its determination to become a regional leader - as well as its challenges - the gap between its urban and rural populations, increasing unemployment, and the challenges posed by its aging population. Next, it is important to consider the effects that its success has had both in China and abroad. China's progress has unnerved both is Asian trading partners as well as the United States. (No citation, either as a footnote or in the bibliography.)
Example A is plagiarized because it uses exact phrases from the original source (with a few wording changes) without quotation marks and without providing a citation of the original source.
Example B: China’s emergence as a great economic power ranks as one of the major issues confronting world leaders in the next few decades. To begin with, it is worth examining China’s winning strategies—economic liberalization, a focus on high technology, and its determination to become a regional leader—as well as its challenges—the gap between its urban and rural populations, increasing unemployment, and the challenges posed by its aging population. Next, it is important to consider the effects that its success has had both in China and abroad. China’s progress has unnerved both its Asian trading partners as well as the United States. (No footnote, but the original source is listed in the bibliography).
Example B is plagiarized because it uses exact phrases from the original source (with a few wording changes) without quotation marks. Even if the original source is cited in the bibliography, example B is still plagiarized.
RULE #2: Always paraphrase by thoroughly reshaping the original with your own vocabulary, syntax, and sentence rhythm. Paraphrases require full and accurate citations.
To paraphrase means to restate a text in your own words; this requires that you rewrite the original text in a significantly new way. Inadequate paraphrases may include sentence patterns close to those of the source and/or synonyms of words found in the original.
Example C: China’s emergence as a leading economic power ranks as a major issue for world leaders in the coming years. It is worthwhile examining China’s successful strategies—economic liberalization, high technology, and its quest to become a leader in the region—as well as its challenges—the urban/rural gap, rising unemployment, and an aging population. Next, we need to consider how China’s growth has affected the rest of the world. Asian countries worry about losing their high-technology markets to China, and the United States is concerned about its growing trade deficit with China. (The original source is not footnoted but is listed in the bibliography).
Example C is plagiarized. Although it paraphrases the original source and cites it in the bibliography, it does not cite the source in a footnote.
Example D: “China’s emergence as a great economic power” ranks “as one of the major issues confronting world leaders in the next few decades.” To begin with, “it is worth examining China’s winning strategies—economic liberalization, a focus on high technology, and its determination to become a regional leader—as well as its challenges—the widening gap between its urban and rural populations, increasing unemployment, and the increased challenges posed by its aging population. Next, it is important to consider the effects that its success has had both in” China and abroad. “China’s progress has unnerved” both its Asian trading partners as well as the United States.1 (The original source is footnoted and cited in the bibliography).
Example D is not plagiarized but it is graceless. The writer has chosen a number of phrases from the original and strung them together with a handful of his or her own words.
Example E: China’s economic success in recent years poses various challenges to world leaders. According to David Hale and Lyric Hughes Hale, analysts should focus both on China’s successes in adopting free market strategies and utilizing sophisticated technologies, as well as its challenges of coping with unemployment, an aging population, and the urban-rural divide.2 One must also recognize that China’s success raises issues with its Asian neighbors as well as the United States, where “concern has been mounting over the country’s considerable—and growing—trade deficit with China.” (The original source is footnoted and cited in the bibliography).
Example E is better. Here the writer has paraphrasesd the original and has used one interesting and original phrase from the source text. However, the structure and phrasing are the writer’s own.
As you practice paraphrasing and citing sources, you will probably find that the number of words you place in quotations will decrease as your own language begins to take precedence in your writing. This is a sign that both your thinking process and your writing are becoming more sophisticated.
Your Professors as Resources
Your professors are the best resources for information about specific writing assignments. Be sure to thoroughly discuss with them their expectations about the assignments you receive. Some questions you might ask:
- May I write in first person?
- Do I need to use a specific font or margin?
- Do I need to use outside sources in my writing?
- How many sources do I need to include?
- How recent must my sources be?
- May I use internet sources?
- Is there a limit to the number of internet sources I may include?
- How should I evaluate internet sources?
- Are there types of internet sources I should avoid?
- What is a writing style guide?
- What referencing style should I use American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language
Association (MLA), Chicago, etc? - May I use secondary sources?
- If I use secondary sources, how should I cite them?
- Do you require copies of my sources when I submit my paper?
- May I submit my paper via email?