Quoting,
Attribution, and
Plagiarism
PR 305: Dr. Kelly Winfrey
Quotes and
Attribution
• Statements and Information
• Statements are attributed to the person making them
• Information about the events not witnessed by the
reporter is attributed to the source of the information
• More sources are better
• Provides greater depth- more insight
• Provides more context- more perspectives
• More reliable- less chance of inaccuracy or bias
Sources
• Sources can:
• Illuminate and explain
• Lie, confuse, distort
• How many sources?
• Depends on the project
• A short news brief or press release may only require one
• More complex topics require more sources and diverse
sources
Sources
• Select sources based on relevance to what you’re
writing
• Check sources for accuracy to ensure all facts and
statements are true
• Balance sources for fairness to represent all sides of an
issue
Sources
• Who can be a source?
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Government or business officials
Facts in an almanac
Records in a courthouse
Public records
Statistics in a report or on a website
Officials at sites
University news
Ordinary people
And more…
Sources
• Imagine you are part of the marketing team at Target
Corporate. Your team has been tasked with creating a
report recommending the best products to sell and
methods of marketing for Christmas decorations.
• What sources might you use?
Quotations
• Quotations make stories and reports more believable
and appealing
• Be on the lookout for colorful quotes
• Be selective
• Don’t use every quote you get because people may lie,
get things wrong, ramble, and exaggerate.
Direct Quotes
• Captures the exact word for word of what someone
said or wrote
• Always begins and ends with quotation marks
• A phrase identifying the speaker/writer, called
attribution, precedes or follows the quote.
Direct Quote
• “I love teaching PR 305 because I get the opportunity
to teach students real-world skills they can use in their
future careers,” said Dr. Kelly Winfrey of the Greenlee
School.
• In an interview with Katie Couric Republican
presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina said, “The gulf
between how people feel about their lives and what’s
going on in Washington is huge. The disconnect
between regular people and the political class is wide
and growing.”
Direct Quotes
• Possible problems:
• Beware of foul language
• Readers must be gauged for their tolerance- you will be
blamed for the foul language more than the source
• Don’t distort quotes’ meanings by deleting words or
altering phrasing.
Partial Quote
• Partial quote is one that does not use every word in the
quote. It might select key phrases or sentences.
• Be careful because they can hurt your credibility and
be confusing
• Use only if a direct quote is too long
• Avoid because they “get in the way of ” the reader,
often imparting a meaning to words “not intended” by
the writer.
Paraphrase
• Paraphrase is when you summarize what a source told
you or you read without using the exact words or
adding quotation marks.
• A good way to condense or clarify someone else’s
statement.
• You still need to attribute the information to the
source.
Paraphrase
Greenlee School grad student says bumper stickers still
make mark in current campaign
…But bumper stickers don't always paint an accurate
picture of support. Brown said research suggests that
more expensive vehicles are less likely to be covered in
bumper stickers, and that more bumper stickers for
Democratic candidates appear on vehicles than those
supporting Republican candidates.
Paraphrase
• Possible problems:
• Avoid mimicking source dialect- this can be insulting
• Make sure the meaning is the same as what the source
intended
• Attribute information to the source
Dialogue Quote
• Dialogue quotes are used to capture the conversation
between two individuals. Your reprint the actual
dialogue.
• Use only when the actual dialogue is relevant.
• Might be used in a debate or focus group
• Usually reads like:
• Wilson: We can’t make any assumptions about who will
win the Republican primary.
• Smith: I disagree. We can assume that Trump will not be
able to win the nomination.
Other Quote
Problems
• Don’t bore readers or listeners with obvious or dull
quotes.
• Don’t rehash what a quote is saying.
• George Bush claims Iraq has weapons of mass
destruction. “I believe Iraq was WMD’s,” said Bush.
• Avoid using a quote as a lead. You need to frame it in
your own words.
Attribution
• Attribute opinion, accusatory statements, allegations,
statistics, and facts (that aren’t common knowledge).
• You don’t need to attribute a source for “common
knowledge.”
• Iowa State is a land grand university located in Ames,
Iowa.
• Avoid using “said” in all attributions.
• Argued, alleged, claimed, stated, etc.
Lifting Quotations
• If the quote was not said directly to you, do not pass
them off as your primary source.
• If you are using a quote cited in another source you
would attribute both.
• In a recent interview with Katie Couric, Carly Fiorina
argued. “….”
Attributing
• Use past tense when you attribute
• She said rather than she says.
• Sustain past tense throughout entire story when making
attribution
• Placing attribution
• Place at the beginning, end, or at a natural break in the
sentence.
• “The mayor said, “If I see him tomorrow I will press charges.”
• “I will press charges tomorrow if I see him,” the mayor said.
• “If I see him tomorrow,” the mayor said, “I will press charges”
Attributing
• Placing attribution cont.
• Before quote, but name and title before said.
• Mayor Jones said, “I support new development, and that
means I support the idea of another Ames mall.”
• If the title has more than 2 or 3 words, put it after said.
• “I will run a clean campaign and win,” said John Doe,
juvenile court judge.
Explanatory
Material
• Sometimes you need to add explanatory words to
make a quote understandable.
• These can go inside the direct quote enclosed in
parentheses.
• Should only be 1 or 2 words
• “Everyone has the right to (freedom of expression). I
intend to continue speaking out against the mayor,”
Doe said.
Punctuation
• Use double quotation marks for beginning and end of
direct quotes. “
• Put periods and commas inside of quotation marks.
• When quoting someone’s question, put the question
mark inside of the quote mark.
• Capitalize the first word of a direct quote
Plagiarism Defined
• ISU defines plagiarism as: “the act of representing
directly or indirectly another person’s work as your
own. It can involve presenting someone’s speech,
wholly or partially, as yours; quoting without
acknowledging the true source of the quoted material;
copying and handing in another person’s work with
your name on it; and similar infractions. Even indirect
quotations, paraphrasing, etc., can be considered
plagiarism unless sources are properly cited.”
Plagiarism
• Passing of someone else’s words as your own
• Failing to attribute direct quotations
• Failing to attribute paraphrased information
• Give credit when using:
• another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;
• any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of
information—that are not common knowledge;
• quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written
words
• paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.
Plagiarism Activity
• Everyone will get a short news story about plagiarism.
• We will then divide into groups to discuss.
Plagiarism Activity
As a group identify:
1. Main points of the article
2. Ways that plagiarism is defined
3. Consequences of plagiarism
4. Something new you learned about plagiarism