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By the time you all reach the English 103 class (or whatever
course you take to satisfy the critical thinking requirement in your GE
courses), your professors will assume that you understand 1) how to conduct
research; 2) how to document your research; 3) the difference between quoting
and paraphrasing; 4) what plagiarism is and how not to stumble into
it. For these reasons, this section of the course goals is to teach
you to produce honest, scholarly work not just in the academic setting but also
in the non-academic world, especially when you all advance and move into your
chosen careers. So it is in this context that I want you to understand
these notes.
What is a citation?
First, let's review what a citation is. A citation means any time, ANY
TIME, you refer to a source of information that you did not independently
know. It could be a fact or it could be an opinion; it doesn't matter.
Citations exist in three (3) forms.
- A direct quotation occurs when you use the exact
words of another source. Anytime you use more than a couple words of
an outside source, you are bound by your academic integrity as a scholar to
surround the text with quotation marks and add a parenthetical note indicating
the author's name and page number where you found the fact of opinion.
- A paraphrase occurs when you use the ideas of
another source. These ideas are not the exact words of the
original; instead, they are your words expressing the ideas of the
author. When you paraphrase, you really are
translating the concepts of a complex passage into language that your
audience will understand. Naturally key words will need to be part of the paraphrase.
Many students mistakenly think that as long as they change a word or two of an
outside source that the language constitutes a paraphrase. However, this
is one of the biggest myths, and believing in it produces the greatest abundance
of plagiarism. You have to be very wary of what you are doing. Don't
accidentally steal the words or thoughts of the source you are using and claim
them as your own.
- A summary occurs when you condense the length
of the original source and express it in your own words. An occasional key
word will obviously be necessary. A summary must be cited with a
parenthetical note. (Because summaries and paraphrases are so close in
nature, assume that the paraphrase examples below apply to summaries.)
Many errors involve confusion between quoting and paraphrasing.
Consider the original language from chapter 10 of Patterns for
College Writing:
Even though the interrelated processes of classification and
division invariably occur together, they are two separate operations. When
you classify, you begin with individual items and sort them into
categories. Since most things have several different attributes, they can
be classified in several different ways. Take as an example the students
who attend your school. The most obvious way to classify these individuals
might be according to their year in college. But you could also classify
students according to their major, racial or ethnic background, home sate, grade
point average, or any number of other principles. The principle of
classification you choose--the quality your items have in common--would
depend on how you wished to approach the members of this large and diverse
group. (380)
Now that you have this text in mind, examine the following
examples:
When writing a classification essay, you must consider the
quality your items have in common.
Notice that none of the words was changed from the original
text. The parenthetical note is missing, too. The above is an
example of an undocumented direct quotation and is an egregious case of
plagiarism. It is outright intellectual stealing, morally reprehensible,
dishonest. Compare it to the correct way to format this citation:
When writing a classification essay, you must consider "the
quality your items have in common" (380).
The quotation marks surrounding the text now mark the text
that is quoted, and the parenthetical note appears after the closing quotation
mark, inside the period.
Here is another example:
When writing a classification essay, you must consider the
quality the items have
in common.
In this example, the word "your"
has been changed to "the". I see
this error made most often. The most important thing that is missing is
the parenthetical note indicating the author and page of this source. If
you change just a word or two and claim the sentence as your own, you have
committed plagiarism. The text in blue is essentially the exact same text
as the original. The best way to fix this mistake since just one word is
changed is to go ahead and quote the original and use quotation marks (see
below). Never try to pass something off as a paraphrase if it really is
not expressed in your own words.
When writing a classification essay, you must consider "the
quality your items have in common" (380).
Look at another kind of plagiarism:
When writing a classification essay, you
begin with individual items and sort them into categories but remember to
consider "the quality your items have in common"
(380).
Notice that the first set of words in blue are actually a
direct quotation but do not have the quotation marks surrounding them. The
second set of words does have the quotation marks correctly placed. This
is a frequent error, and writers who are desperate think that they are safe
since the parenthetical note appears at the end. A single sentence like
this would cause the essay to be failing because, again, the language is being
passed off as the writer's own. Fix the sentence this way:
When writing a classification essay, "you
begin with individual items and sort them into categories" but
remember to consider "the quality your items have in
common" (380).
Here is a similar example:
When writing a classification essay, you
start with individual
items and move them
into categories but remember to consider "the
quality your items have in common" (380).
The writer thinks the first set of words constitutes a
paraphrase because two words from the original have been changed to synonyms,
but again, this is plagiarism, something the careful scholar seeks to avoid.
How to Paraphrase Properly and Avoid Purloining Prose:
When using a paraphrase, another trouble spot occurs when the reader does not
know when the paraphrase begins. We know how a correct paraphrase ends
because it will have the parenthetical note after it. To start the
paraphrase (or a summary) use a lead-in. A lead-in will introduce
the paraphrase, and this marker is crucial to knowing where the paraphrase
starts. Without it, the reader is going to assume just the most recent
sentence is the paraphrased material, but in fact the paraphrase could extend
back to the beginning of the paragraph. A conscientious writer will not
mislead the reader into thinking the prose is her own word when they actually
are those of an outside source. Here is how to paraphrase correctly:
In your classification and division essays, you should pay
close attention to the steps involved in drafting your paper. Kirszner and
Mandell remind writers that they can classify their
subject in a variety of ways. But the more important part to keep in mind
is that a consistent "principle" needs to be applied (380) when
creating the various categories or boxes into which the arbitrary types of the
subject are placed.
If you compare the original text above to my paraphrase in
blue, you will notice that the paraphrase is significantly different. In
fact a well-worded paraphrase will indicate to the reader your understanding and
mastery of the concept or idea. Why did I put quotation marks around the
word "principle"? That's because it is a key word in the concept
that Kirszner and Mandell are trying to convey; therefore, it is important for
me to draw attention to that word, for it is not one that I made up. Once
I introduce the word or idea, I can then elaborate on it and use synonyms.
Such a practice will also illustrate to my readers that I convincingly
understand the material I am writing about.
In reality, good writers are language snobs: they always
think they have a better way of saying something than the original writer who is
being cited. I'll be the first to admit that I am a language snob, but
that's my job. If it helps prevent plagiarism, become snobby about
language. Insist that your wording of phrasing is better than the text you
are consulting. But no matter what, be sure you surround the paraphrase
with a lead-in and a parenthetical note. Without those you
are an intellectual thief.
Work Cited
- Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell,
eds.
"Classification and Division." Patterns for
- College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide.
4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.
Print.
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