Avoiding Plagiarism—Five Simple Rules
Rule 1: A fact that is not common knowledge must have a citation.
Facts that are common knowledge—something that most people in the society would know—can be included without a
citation. Ex. The United States declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.—no citation needed. Familiar proverbs and
sayings such as “Haste makes waste” also do not require citations.
Example
Scientists have found that the featherless chicken makes as much protein as the feathered chicken (“Featherless” 43).
Rule 2: When writing about an idea, make clear whose idea it is.
When writing about an idea, make clear whose idea it is.
Example
After reading several of Fitzgerald’s short stories, one can see that Fitzgerald frequently takes the position of the outsider.
The tone and structure of the poem suggested peace and repose. [Neither requires a citation as these are the student’s personal
observations]
Rule 3: When writing about someone else’s idea, always cite the source.
Examples
By the year 1856, San Francisco’s growth was practically certain (Lotchkin 60).
According to Richard Hofstader, the Progressive Era was a reactionary movement by middle-class Protestants (59).
Rule 4: When using someone else’s exact words, put those words in quotation marks and always cite the
source.
Example
After a confrontation with police chief Bull Connor, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he
stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (Brainy Quote).
Rule 5: When describing an author’s idea, write a description using original wording (your words), not a
rearrangement or slight alteration of the author’s actual words. Always cite the source.
Original Version
The craft of hurricane forecasting advanced rapidly in the sixties and
early seventies, thanks to fast computers and new atmospheric
modeling techniques. Now there is a lull in the progress, strangely
parallel to the lull in the storm cycle. The National Hurricane
Warning Center shoots for a 24-hour warning period, with 12
daylight hours for evacuation. At that remove, it can usually predict
landfall within 100 miles either way. Longer lead times mean much
larger landfall error, and that is counterproductive. He who misses
his predictions cries wolf.
(From "Our Barrier Islands," by William H. MacLeish, Smithsonian,
Sept. 1980, p. 54.)
Unacceptable Paraphrase
(Plagiarized sections are in bold type.)
Hurricane forecasting made rapid progress in the 60s and 70s
due to fast computers and new atmospheric techniques, but
there is now a lull in the progress. The Warning Center tries
for a 24-hour warning period, including 12 hours of daylight.
That close to the storm's arrival, the Warning Center can
usually predict landfall within 100 miles either way. If lead
times are longer, there will be a much larger error, which will
be counter-productive (MacLeish 54).
Original Version
Acceptable Paraphrase
The craft of hurricane forecasting advanced rapidly in the sixties
and early seventies, thanks to fast computers and new atmospheric
modeling techniques. Now there is a lull in the progress, strangely
parallel to the lull in the storm cycle. The National Hurricane
Warning Center shoots for a 24-hour warning period, with 12
daylight hours for evacuation. At that remove, it can usually predict
landfall within 100 miles either way. Longer lead times mean much
larger landfall error, and that is counterproductive. He who misses
his predictions cries wolf.
During the past thirty years, powerful computers and new
techniques which allow modeling of the atmosphere have
significantly increased the accuracy of hurricane forecasting,
though there have been no improvements in forecasting during
the past few years. However, now it is possible to predict
where a hurricane will hit land with an error of not more than
100 miles if a warning of 24 hours is allowed. If more than 24
hours is required, the error will be greater. Repeated
forecasting errors will cause the public to ignore the warnings
(From "Our Barrier Islands," by William H. MacLeish, Smithsonian,
Sept. 1980, p. 54.)
(MacLeish 54).
Source: http://www.mccc.edu/~crabtrem/palgiarize1.htm
Use of Authors' Names
Always mention the author's name—either in the text itself or in the parenthetical citation—unless no author is provided.
If the author's name is mentioned in the text
If the author's name is used in the text introducing the source material, then cite the page number(s) in parentheses:
Branscomb argues that "it's a good idea to lurk (i.e., read all the messages without contributing anything) for a few weeks, to ensure
that you don't break any of the rules of netiquette" (7) when joining a listserv.
If the author's name is not mentioned in the text
If the author's name is not used in the sentence introducing the source material, then include the author's last name in the
parenthetical citation before the page number(s). Note that no comma appears between the author's name and the page
number(s).
The modern world requires both the ability to concentrate on one thing and the ability to attend to more than one thing at a time:
"Ideally, each individual would cultivate a repertoire of styles of attention, appropriate to different situations, and would learn how
to embed activities and types of attention one within another" (Bateson 97).
Treatment of Electronic Sources
In-text citations for electronic sources are treated in most respects as print texts are. The only real difference occurs because
electronic texts do not have page numbers (unless the source is in PDF format or otherwise mimics a print version of the source).
Sometimes, numbered paragraphs appear on an electronic source. In such cases, use paragraph numbers instead of page numbers.
The paragraph number should appear in your citation following the abbreviation par. If an electronic source includes section
numbers or screen numbers, use those numbers after the word section or screen. Most often, however, the source will have no
paragraph, section, or screen numbers. In such instances, include no number in the parentheses, as shown below:
The Collaborative Virtual Workspace prototype is being used by the Defense Department for crisis management (Davidson and
Deus).
Source: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/mlaparen.html
Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article
name, website name, film name). Source: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/2/