Week 15

PLAGIARISM
It is important to learn how to use information from outside sources without
committing plagiarism. Plagiarism is wrongly using someone else’s words
or ideas, and it is a serious offence.

There are two kinds of plagiarism:

a) When you use information from an outside source without citing the
source (telling where you got the information), you are guilty of
plagiarism.
b) Even when you cite your source, if your paraphrase is too similar in the
original, you are guilty of plagiarism.

a) USING IN-TEXT CITATIONS FOR QUOTATIONS

Evidence or information selected to support the main idea has to be

effectively used in a paragraph.
It can be written as a direct quotation from the source or it can be
paraphrased to explain the main idea of the writing.
Evidence used as quotes and paraphrases have to be logically and linked
to the topic sentence in the paragraph.

When using evidence from other sources, it is important to include the

author’s last name and year of publication in brackets as in-text citations.
Where the author’s name is not available, a shortened version of the title of
the article is used, and where the year of publication is not given, write ‘n.d.’
in brackets for the in-text citations. The abbreviation ‘n.d.’ here means ‘no
date’.

Follow the guidelines below when you cite another person’s ideas in your
text:

1. Use a reporting verb or phrase to introduce the idea

Below are some examples:
According to Zuid (2009), ...
A study by Zuid (2009) found ...
Zuid (2009) states ...
Zuid (2009) found ...
Zuid (2009) has found ...

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 Zuid (2009) indicates ...
Zuid (2009) suggests ...
Zuid (2009) argues ...
Zuid (2009) proposes ...
Zuid (2009) notes ...

2. Cite only the author’s surname and the date of publication

The complete reference to the source you are citing will be listed at the
end of your written assignment, in the reference section. It is important
to know which name is the surname. Generally, an author’s name
consists of two or three parts, and that the surname is usually the last
word. When citing names, it is important that you note these:
a Muslim name
) Use the first name (unless the author indicates otherwise). For
example, the name ‘Suhaimi Hassan’. You write it as, Suhaimi,
2009) in your text and as ‘Suhaimi Hassan’ in the reference
section.
b Indian name
) Some Indian names are written with the surname initialized and
written before the first name. For example, ‘Priyanka Gopinath’ is
commonly written as ‘G. Priyanka’. You cite it as (Priyanka, 2009)
in your text and as Priyanka, G. in the reference section.
c) Chinese names
The first name is the surname. For example, ‘Cheah Yin Mei’ is
written as (Cheah, 2009) in the text and as ‘Cheah, Y. M.’ in the
reference section.

3. Incorporate the author’s name into your sentence

This can be done in these ways:
a The author’s name could form part of the sentence, and only the
) date is in brackets. For example:
Halim (2012) found that teenage girls were the fastest growing
group of new smokers in the country.
If there are two authors, use the word ‘and’ to link them. For
example:
Khaw and Geetha (2013) found that reading proficiency was a
significant factor in academic achievement.

b The author’s name could appear at the end of the sentence. Both

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) the name and date are placed in brackets. A comma (,) is placed
after the name and a full stop (.) is written at the end of the
sentence. For example:
Teenage girls were the fastest growing group of new smokers in
the country (Halim, 2012).
If there are two authors, use the ampersand (&) to link them. For
example:
Reading proficiency was a significant factor is academic
achievement (Khaw & Geetha, 2013).

c) You can cite a work by three to five authors by mentioning all the
names when you first cite them, and then use only the first
surname followed by the date, in subsequent citations. Look at the
example below:
First citation: Ferris, Parry, Mala, Barlow and Pearce (2010) ...
Subsequent citations: Ferris et al. (2010) ...

d If the author is an organization or a government agency, cite the

) name of that body. For example:
According to the National Heart Foundation (2011), ...

e If an article or a web page has no author, cite the first three words
) of the title within double quotation marks, followed by the date, as
shown below:
In “Drug lords face” (2014) ...
In “Drug lords face” (n.d.) ...

f) You cite electronic sources the same way you would printed
sources. For example:
Lewis (2012) explained ...

g For newspaper articles, use the author’s name followed by the

) year. Do not include the day and month. For example:
Anandhi (2013) states ...
If there is no author, you use the first three words of the article
followed by the year. For example:
According to “By-election for Renggas” (2013) ...
h To cite an indirect source, i.e. to cite a work (A) in another work (B),
) you cite the original source (A), followed by the year, and include in
brackets the words ‘as cited in (B)’, also followed by the year. For

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 example:
Laila (2011, as cited in Khoo, 2012) states ...
Another example:
Soaking meat is salt water helps to lock in the moisture in the meat
(Laila 2011 as cited in Khoo, 2012)
In your reference, only cite the source you read, which is ‘Khoo’.

4. Cite the author’s ideas correctly

This can be done in two ways:
a The idea can be presented as a direct quote. You need to put in
) the page reference. For example:
According to Krishna (2008), “an effective career plan will enable
me to enjoy a satisfying career. This entails setting career goals
and formulating an action to meet those goals” (p. 92).
Another example:
“An effective career plan will enable us to enjoy a satisfying career.
This entails setting career goals and formulating an action plan to
meet those goals” (Krishna, 2008, p. 92)
b The idea can be presented as a paraphrase. For example:
) According to Krishnan (2008), to have a fulfilling career, one has to
have a good career plan which involves setting targets and working
out strategies to achieve those targets.
Another example:
To have a fulfilling career, one has to have a good career plan
which involves setting targets and working out strategies to achieve
those targets (Krishnan, 2008).

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b) PARAPHRASING
Paraphrasing involves changing a text so that it is quite different from the
source while retaining the meaning. As paraphrase involves rewriting all or
nearly all of the content of the original passage, a paraphrase is almost as
long as the original. Effective paraphrasing is vital in academic writing to
avoid the risk of plagiarism.

GENERAL GUIDELINES ON PARAPHRASING

1. Although paraphrasing techniques are used in summary writing,
paraphrasing does not aim to shorten the length of a text, merely to
restate it.
For example:
Evidence of a lost civilization has been found off the coast of China.
could be paraphrased:
Remains of an ancient society have been discovered in the sea near
China.

2. A good paraphrase is significantly different from the wording of the

original, without altering the meaning at all.
Read the text below and then decide which is the better paraphrase, (a)
or (b).
Ancient Egypt collapsed in about 2180 ac. Studies conducted of the
mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous
regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This
would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to
feed itself.
a The sudden ending of Egyptian civilization over 4,000 years ago
) was probably caused by changes in the weather in the region to the
south. Without the regular river flooding there would not have been
enough food.
b Research into deposits of the Egyptian Nile indicate that a long dry
) period in the mountains at the river’s source may have led to a lack
of water for irrigatrion aound 2180 ac, which was when the collapse
of Egyptian society began.

3. Techniques
a Changing vocabulary:
) studies > research society > civilization
mud > deposits

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 Note: Not all words and phrases can be paraphrased. For
example, economics, socialism or global warming have no effective
synonyms.
b Changing word class:
) Egypt (n) > Egyptian (adj), mountainous regions (adj) + (n) > in the
mountains (n)
c) Changing word order:
Ancient Egypt collapsed > the collapse of Egyptian society began

4. Find synonyms for the words in italics in (b) and (c).

Example:
a The growth of the car industry parallels the development of modern
) capitalism. >
The rise of the automobile industry matches the progress of
contemporary capitalism.
b It began in France and Germany, but took off in the United States.
)
c) There Henry Ford adapted the moving production line from the
Chicago meat industry to motor manufacturing, thus inventing mass
production.

5. Change the word class of the words in italics, and then rewrite the
sentences.
Example:
a In the 1920s, Alfred Sloan’s management theories helped General
) Motors to become the world’s dominant car company. >
In the 1920’s, with help from the managerial theories of Alfred
Sloan, General Motors dominated the world’s car companies.
b After the Second World War, the industry developed ‘planned
) obsolescence’, whereby frequent model changes encouraged
customers to buy new cars more often than they needed to.
c) Later, from the 1970’s, environmentalists began to criticise the
industry for producing inefficient models which used too much fuel,
contributing to global warming.

6. Change the word order of the following sentences (other changes may
be needed).
Example:
a At this time, trades unions became increasingly militant in defence
) of their members’ jobs. >

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 At this time increasingly militant trades unions defended their
members’ jobs.
b Today the industry owns some of the strongest brands in the world.
)
c) However, many major car companies struggle with stagnant
markets and falling profits.

c) SUMMARIZING

Another way to use borrowed information from an outside source is to

summarize it. The three keys to writing a good summary:
i) Use your own words and your own sentence structure
ii) Remember that a summary is much shorter than a
paraphrase. Include only the main
points and main supporting points. Leave out most details.
iii) Do not change the meaning of the original.