Plagiarism & Citation

If you there is an idea, two sentences, or item in your paper or project that you didn’t create and have not cited (given another source credit for), you have plagiarized.

When your name is on a paper you turn in, you are stating that anything in that paper that you have not cited, is your idea/intellectual property. Failing to alert the reader to what is not your idea is lying.

Sometimes. However, accidental plagiarism is still plagiarism.

When you cite information incorrectly or forget to cite it at all it is plagiarism.

The big deal is: Plagiarism is cheating. When you plagiarize, another person’s work is being evaluated in your name. It is unfair to other students who have worked hard on their projects and presented their own ideas. It is theft of intellectual property, which is the same as downloading a movie or stealing an iPod. It is, in fact, illegal in the state of Massachusetts.

1. Give yourself plenty of time to work on your project. You need time to ask questions, clarify assignment requirements, do the research, rewrite, and understand the material with which you are working.
2. Take thorough notes. Be careful with your analysis. Make sure you note which information you are getting from what source. The era of “copy and paste” makes it easy to take the information that you want to use in your paper or project, but it also makes it easy to forget from where it came.  WRITE THE SOURCE DOWN!
   • (Tip from the pros: when you find information you want to use, paraphrase it–even if you want to use it as a quotation. Paraphrasing the idea forces you to summarize and interpret the idea in your own words. If you have trouble paraphrasing the author’s argument, you don’t understand it. Period. Stop and ask for help. Don’t cut and paste it to read over later in the hopes that two weeks from now, when you’re putting together the project, it will magically make sense to you.
3. Cite your sources, correctly. Anytime you use someone else’s work (whether a direct quote, something you have paraphrased, a graph, facts, images, etc.) indicate this with a citation. Citations tell us what is your work and what belongs to someone else.

No. There are two types of things you do NOT need to cite.

1. Your ideas, your thoughts, your graphs, your images, your films, your analysis, your summaries, your interpretations, are all yours to use as you please.
2. You do not need to cite information that are considered common knowledge.

There are two kinds of common knowledge.

1. Facts: the fact is mentioned in five reliable reference sources and is well known in your culture.
   • Examples: George Washington was the first U.S. President/There are 50 states in the United States of America/Santiago is the capital of Chile/Bears hibernate in winter.

2. Folklore and urban legends:
   • Examples: Rip Van Winkle/the story about the man who wakes up in a tub full of ice with a note on his chest telling him to call 911—his kidneys have been removed and are now for sale on the black market!

Still not sure if it’s “common knowledge?” CITE IT!

WARNING!! Some believe that anything that appears on the internet is “common knowledge.” This is FALSE! You need to cite any information you find based on the guidelines here.

Someone else’s written, spoken, or documented work. Anything you have paraphrased or quoted.

Any information that is NOT common knowledge

When in doubt, CITE IT! Better safe than sorry.

We use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for our citations and NoodleTools as our works cited generator.  There are instructions for these on the LHS Library website.

Examples of correct and incorrect citation:

NOTE! For the sake of this guide, I have made up a source and quote to show you examples of what to and not to do for citations. DO NOT make up citations or sources for your own papers or projects.

The made-up book is:

Simpson, Homer J. All Things Simpsons Considered: The Role of Veggies in Television. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company, 2011. Print.

KEEP IN MIND that the following examples are the proper MLA formatting for a book source with a known author. Other source types(magazines, database, images, websites, etc.) may have different MLA formats.  Check the individual source’s style before you cite.

The passage you are using a quote from reads:

“I have always loved food. Though my obsession with donuts and ‘floor pie’ is well documented, I really, really, really like vegetables…and pudding. I also like pizza, burgers, French fries, and fried dough–not fried d’oh! Ha, ha. ”

This appears on page 37 of the book.

Citing a Direct Quotation

INCORRECT

Example 1:

The vegetable has become quite important in cartoon culture;some characters really like vegetables.

This is incorrect. Where is the quotation? Where is the citation? Where did you get this?

Example 2:

The vegetable has become quite important in cartoon culture,“I really like vegetables” (Simpson).

This is incorrect for two reasons.  1. The quote is not correct (it is missing two“really”s).   2. There is no page number listed.

CORRECT

Example 3:

The vegetable has become quite important in cartoon culture,“I really, really, really like vegetables” (Simpson 37).

This is correct. The quote is correct and the author and page number are indicated.

Example 4:

The vegetable has become quite important in cartoon culture.As Simpson wrote, “I really, really, really like vegetables” (37).

This is also correct. Why? You have indicated the author in the text itself so you don’t need to add it to the citation. All you need to add it the page number.

Citing Paraphrases

Again, here is the passage:

“I have always loved food. Though my obsession with donuts and ‘floor pie’ is well documented, I really, really, really like vegetables…and pudding. I also like pizza, burgers, French fries, and fried dough–not fried d’oh! Ha, ha. ”

This appears on page 37 of the book.

INCORRECT

Example 1:

The eating of vegetables has become quite important in cartoon culture; a popular cartoon character has stated that he enjoys them.

This is incorrectly cited because:

1. There is no indication where you got this information. Even if you had put the author and page number after this it is STILL incorrect because…
2. In this example “really like vegetables” isexactlywhat Simpson wrote. If you have three or more words that match the original phrase, you have just plagiarized, my friend—“really like vegetables” are his words, not yours. Be sure to paraphrase/put it in your own words more thoroughly.

Example 2:

The eating of vegetables has become quite important in cartoon culture; a popular cartoon character has stated that he enjoys them(Simpson).

What is missing here? The page number is needed.

CORRECT:

Example 3:

The eating of vegetables has become quite important in cartoon culture; a popular cartoon character has stated that he enjoys them(Simpson 37).

This is correct. The author’s idea is properly paraphrased and the MLA citation tells us where you got the information.

Example 4:

The eating of vegetables has become quite important in cartoon culture; Homer Simpson, himself, enjoys them (37).

This is also correct. Why? As in the quotation example, the author is indicated the in the text itself, so his name is not needed in the citation. Only the page number is necessary.