Acknowledging, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Sources
Acknowledging, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Sources
When you write at the college level, you often need to integrate material from published sources into your own writing. This means you need to be careful not to plagiarize: “to use and pass off (the ideas or writings of another) as one’s own” (American Heritage Dictionary) or, in the words of the University of Wisconsin’s Academic
Misconduct guide, to present “the words or ideas of others without giving credit” (“Plagiarism,” ¶ 1). The
University takes plagiarism seriously, and the penalties can be severe.
This handout is intended to help you use source materials responsibly and avoid plagiarizing by (a) describing the kinds of material you must document; (b) illustrating unsuccessful and successful paraphrases; (c) offering advice on how to paraphrase; and (d) providing guidelines for using direct quotations.
What You Must Document
Quotations
1.
If you use an author 's specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source.
Information and Ideas
2.
Even if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source.
Information: If a piece of information isn’t common knowledge (see #3 below), you need to provide a source.
Ideas: An author’s ideas may include not only points made and conclusions drawn, but, for instance, a specific method or theory, the arrangement of material, or a list of steps in a process or characteristics of a medical condition.
If a source provided any of these, you need to acknowledge the source.
Common
Knowledge
3.
You do not need to cite a source for material considered common knowledge:
General common knowledge is factual information considered to be in the public domain, such as birth and death dates of well-known figures, and generally accepted dates of military, political, literary, and other historical events. In
When you write at the college level, you often need to integrate material from published sources into your own writing. This means you need to be careful not to plagiarize: “to use and pass off (the ideas or writings of another) as one’s own” (American Heritage Dictionary) or, in the words of the University of Wisconsin’s Academic
Misconduct guide, to present “the words or ideas of others without giving credit” (“Plagiarism,” ¶ 1). The
University takes plagiarism seriously, and the penalties can be severe.
This handout is intended to help you use source materials responsibly and avoid plagiarizing by (a) describing the kinds of material you must document; (b) illustrating unsuccessful and successful paraphrases; (c) offering advice on how to paraphrase; and (d) providing guidelines for using direct quotations.
What You Must Document
Quotations
1.
If you use an author 's specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source.
Information and Ideas
2.
Even if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source.
Information: If a piece of information isn’t common knowledge (see #3 below), you need to provide a source.
Ideas: An author’s ideas may include not only points made and conclusions drawn, but, for instance, a specific method or theory, the arrangement of material, or a list of steps in a process or characteristics of a medical condition.
If a source provided any of these, you need to acknowledge the source.
Common
Knowledge
3.
You do not need to cite a source for material considered common knowledge:
General common knowledge is factual information considered to be in the public domain, such as birth and death dates of well-known figures, and generally accepted dates of military, political, literary, and other historical events. In
References: Chase, S. K. (1995). The social context of critical care clinical judgment. Heart and Lung, 24, 154-162. Hertzberg, H. (2002, July 29). Framed up: What the Constitution gets wrong [Review of R. A. Dahl, How democratic is the Constitution?] Menand, L. (2002, November 26). Slips of the tongue [Review of J. McMorris, The warden of English: The life of H Ross, E. (1993). Love and toil: Motherhood in outcast London, 1870-1918. New York: Oxford University Press. Spatt, B. (1999). Writing from sources (5th ed.). New York: St. Martin’s Press. University of Wisconsin-Madison. (2002, October 1). Academic misconduct: Guide for students. Retrieved November 10, 2002, from http://www.wisc.edu/students/amsum.htm Rev.03/04/03 The Writing Center, 6171 White Hall, UW-Madison 7