Citing and Paraphrasing

to Avoid Plagiarism
 Is this plagiarism?
Copying a direct quotation into your paper,
placing quotation marks around it, and crediting
the source.

NO!
This is not plagiarism.
 How about this?
Taking someone’s ideas or words, putting them
into your own words, and crediting the source.

NO!
This is not plagiarism.

It’s Paraphrasing!
 What is Paraphrasing?

A paraphrase uses an author's idea, but expresses

it in your own words, without the use of
quotation marks.

Just changing a few words from the

original is plagiarism.

Paraphrasing is permitted as long

as you credit the source.
 Examples of Paraphrasing
The original passage:
Students frequently overuse direct quotation [when] taking notes,
and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research]
paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript
should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you
should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research
Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47
A legitimate paraphrase:
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep
quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually
originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material
recorded verbatim (Lester, 1976).
 Examples cont.
An acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotations
from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material
in a research paper (Lester, 1976).

A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many direct quotations when they
take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research
paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy
should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to
limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.
 What is Quoting?

A quotation uses exactly the same words and

puts them in quotation marks.

- In APA, if the quotation is more than 40 words you

should put it in a separate paragraph and indent
it from both sides.
 What is a Summary?

A summary should contain the main points

from the author's text. Don't forget to
reference it with the author's family name,
date of publication and page number.
 Paraphrase, cont.
Summaries and paraphrases have a lot in
common.
However, in a paraphrase, you not only
1)rewrite information in your own words
and sentence structure,
2) you also provide more detail than you
would in a summary.
 Paraphrasing tips
1. Replace some of the words with
synonyms.

Example:
Original: The corpulent feline consumed the
child care employee.
Paraphrase: The fat cat ate the babysitter.
 Paraphrasing tips
2. Change active constructions to passive,
and vice versa.

Example
Original: Excess stress accelerates aging.
Paraphrase: Aging is accelerated by
excess stress.
Paraphrasing tips
3. Change words into other
parts of speech: adjectives
into verbs, verbs into
nouns, etc.

Example
Original: Denny
participated in dancing at
the reception.

Paraphrase: Denny
danced at the reception.
 Paraphrasing tips
4. Move parts of sentences around.

Example
Original: Last night, I gave the cat extra food
so it wouldn’t eat the next babysitter.
Paraphrase: To make sure the cat wouldn’t
eat the next babysitter, I gave it extra food
last night.

…Paraphrase?
1. The author’s words
will be difficult for your
reader to understand
2. Your instructor wants
to know if you
understand the author
correctly
When Should I…
…Quote? …Summarize?
1. Everything the 1. Not all the author’s
author writes is words are necessary
important e.g. If the author gives
examples or explanations
that you don’t need to put
in your text
2. The quotation will 2. If paraphrasing or
not make your text too quoting will make your text
long too long
3. You haven’t used
many quotations
already
 Common Knowledge
Things that are considered “common knowledge”
do not need to be cited.

Examples:
-Jose Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna.
-Emilio Aguinaldo was the first president of the
Philippines.
-William Shakespeare was born in England in the
16th Century.
 Why bother?
• Reading comprehension.
When we summarize and paraphrase,
we’re pushed to deeply understand the
material we’re reading.
 Why bother?
• Demonstration.
By summarizing and paraphrasing, we’re
demonstrating that not only do we
thoroughly understand our research
sources—we also understand their
relationship to our own ideas.
 Why bother?
• If we just plop in one direct quotation
after another, our paper will sound
choppy and disconnected.
• It won’t sound like our work.
• In contrast, when we write most of our
paper in our ―voice‖—citing sources as
needed—we’ll dramatically improve the
flow of our writing.
 APA Formatting
• List only the resources to which you have specifically
referred, not those merely consulted
• Place the page of references at the end of your
assignment on a separate page titled References
• Use authors’ names in the order they appear on the title
page; do not alphabetize multiple authors of a source
• Invert authors’ names and include only initials of first and
middle names (i.e. Adam Smith becomes Smith, A.) Use
an ampersand (&) to connect two authors’ names (e.g.
Spacey, K., & Butler, G.)
• Use commas to separate authors and an ampersand for
the last author if there are three to six authors
 Formatting cont.
• List the first six authors and then et al. if there are more
than six
• Begin the reference with the title of the work if no author is
given
• Arrange the list alphabetically; if there is no author and the
title begins with a, an, or the, alphabetize by the second
word
• Begin each entry with a hanging indent (first line begins at
the left margin and all other lines are indented ½ inch)
• Double space within and between entries in your list of
references
• Capitalize only the first word in the title and the first word
after a colon
 APA Quick Tips
• An in text citation must point clearly to a specific source
in References.
• The in text citations and the References list work
together.
• The in text citation, a brief reference to a work, enables
the reader to identify the source of an idea quickly and
easily. Knowing the author’s last name (or the title) from
the in text citation, a reader can locate the complete
publication information for that work in the
alphabetically arranged References list.
 To sum up
Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are all
important skills to use when writing research
papers. Using other people’s information
provides support and credibility to your research.
– Use quotation marks if you are copying word for word.
– Use paraphrasing to put the thoughts of the author
into your own words.
– Use a summary to describe the main points of an
information source.
 References

Documenting research sources using APA style. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://spark.mohawkcollege.ca/tutorials/PDFtutorials/APA_guide.pdf

You note it, you quote it. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/

Helpful Fact Sheets. (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://www.mohawkcollege.ca/Discover/Help/CommCentre/helpfulFactSheets.html
QUESTIONS?