How NOT to plagiarize your research project

• There are three methods for taking notes:
• Quoting
• Summarizing
• Paraphrasing
• No matter which method you use, you MUST give the author credit for his/her work; this will help you avoid plagiarism.
• You do this by using a Works Cited page and using internal citations, or parenthetical documentation, throughout your research paper or project.

• This is the easiest kind of note to take.
• You literally quote verbatim what someone else said.
• You want to use this ONLY when the way the author said it CANNOT be improved or you want emphasis placed on the fact.
• You must put quotation marks around the piece of information that you are using.
• Ex. “Andersen says that he has found a connection between violent video games and violent behavior” (Sohn 5).

• Summarizing is taking a large amount of information and putting it in a few sentences IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
• Even if you are summarizing, you still have to give the author credit…it was not your original idea.
• Use this to communicate a lot of information in a little space.
• Ex. Scientists are beginning to see the negative effects that video games can have on the brain. Violence in video games can inspire violence in a person’s life. In addition, the more violence that a person is exposed to will desensitize the individual to violence in real life (Sohn 3-6).

• A paraphrase is the main idea of a passage put into your own words in just a few sentences.
• This means you have to understand what you have read and then reword it so that you get the information without quoting the material.
• Use this to avoid quoting and when you can get several facts into one or two sentences.
• Ex. Violence in video games can be harmful to young people. It can affect the way they think, feel, and understand the world around them (Sohn 3-
6).

• Plagiarism is using someone else’s words, ideas, or work as your own.
• This can be as simple as copying and pasting a website into a word document and turning it in, or as little as not giving the author of a piece of information credit.
• THIS CAN GET YOU KICKED OUT OF COLLEGE!!
• Failure to properly cite your information is plagiarism.

• Use MLA (Modern Language Association) format. You will use this in high school too.
• This is a list of all of the sources that you have used in your paper or project.
• This lets the reader know where he/she can go to check your sources.
• It comes at the end of your paper or project.
• It should be in alphabetical order.
• It uses hanging indentation.
• To do this, click “paragraph”, “indentation”, “hanging”. I will help you do this when it is time to create your works cited slide.

• You will need the following information to properly cite information on your Works Cited page:
• Author
• Article or book title
• Publisher
• Copyright date
• Page numbers used
• If you cannot find a piece of information, ask for help.

• Works Cited entry:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of
Publication. Medium of Publication.
• Internal Citation
Fact that you used in your PowerPoint (Lastname page number).

• Works Cited entry
“Article Title.” Encyclopedia Name. Edition number. Year of publication. Medium of publication
• Internal Citation
Fact that you used in your PowerPoint (“Article Title” page number).

• Works Cited entry if there is an author listed
Lastname, Firstname. “Page Title.” Website Name. Publisher. Date of publication. Web.
Access date.
• Internal Citation
Fact that you used in your PowerPoint (lastname)
OR
• Works Cited entry if there is no author listed
“Page Title.” Website Name. Publisher. Date of publication. Web. Access date.
• Internal Citation
Fact that you used in your PowerPoint (“Article Title”)

• Justin Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981 (“Justin Timberlake
Biography”). – Online source
• In Memphis, Tennessee (Roach 17) – book
• To parents Randall Timberlake and Lynn Harless (“Justin Timberlake”) -
Encyclopedia

“Justin Timberlake.” Pop Culture Encyclopedia. 1 st ed. 2014. Print.
"Justin Timberlake Biography." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015.
Web. 08 Mar. 2015.
Roach, Martin. Justin Timberlake: The Unofficial Book. New York: Virgin
Books, 2003. Print.

• If you have any questions about anything, don’t just guess…ASK!!