Workshops on Ethical Use of Sources
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Workshops on Ethical Use of Sources |
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| Writing Center
Handouts: Quoting Tips Paraphrasing Tips Summarizing Tips |
Writing Center
Help: Tutorial Hours: Mon. through Thurs. 3-11 p.m.; Fri. 3-5 p.m.; Sun. 7-11 p.m. Documentation Workshops |
How Alex Might Have Avoided
Plagiarism
Convocation: Academic Integrity at
Bridgewater College, Feb. 10, 2004
(See Alex's Paper written for the Honor Council's Mock Trial)
From BC's Plagiarism Policy:
"1. One form of plagiarism is the deliberate act of putting one’s name on a paper written by someone else or putting one’s name on text copied from a Website and pasted into a document. Within academic communities, this practice is considered a flagrant violation of the trust that students, faculty members, and administrators share in each individual’s doing his or her own work, including writing."
Problem: Illustrated in the Mock Trial. See
paper excerpt and source used in Mock Trial.
Solution: Do your own writing.
"2. Another form of plagiarism is the presentation of factual information without citing the source from which the information was obtained. This is often considered a simple breakdown in documentation, and may be defended with the comment, 'Oh, I forgot to put in the parenthetical documentation.' This defense is not acceptable in academic communities. The best way to avoid committing this kind of plagiarism is to document sources as one drafts a paper."
| Problem: Undocumented factual
information-- Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby while living in France and revised it while wintering in Rome. |
Solution: Cite source. Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby while living in France and revised it while wintering in Rome (Bruccoli). Works Cited Entry-- Bruccoli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of Fitzgerald." 1994. F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary. 4 Dec. 2003. U of South Carolina. 9 Feb. 2004. < http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html>. |
"3. Yet another form of plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words to present ideas, information, or analysis without use of quotation marks and citation. Any time that a writer uses a phrase, part of a sentence, a whole sentence, or more than one sentence composed by another writer, he or she must place quotation marks around the other writer’s wording and use an appropriate documentation form, either parenthetical citation or a note, to indicate the source of that wording."
| Problem: Use of someone else's phrase
without documentation-- One important element of the novel is its critique of the careless gaiety and moral decadence of the 1920s. |
Solution: Place another writer's phrase in
quotation marks and cite the source (or paraphrase the source phrase). One important element of the novel is its critique of "the careless gaiety and moral decadence of the period" ("Great Gatsby's Theme"). |
| Problem: Use of part of someone else's
sentence without documentation-- Underlying Fitzgerald's portrayal of the way that the American dream promises more than it delivers is the truth that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the classes cannot be overcome. |
Solution: Place another writer's phrase in
quotation marks and cite the source (or paraphrase). Underlying Fitzgerald's portrayal of the way that the American dream promises more than it delivers is "the truth . . . that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the classes cannot be overcome" ("Great Gatsby's Theme"). Underlying Fitzgerald's portrayal of the way that the American dream promises more than it delivers is the discrimination among social and economic classes that keeps Americans from realizing true equality. [Do you think this sentence needs to be cited?] |
| Problem: Use of someone else's sentences
without documentation-- Myrtle takes advantage of her lively nature and seeks to escape from her own class. Entering into an affair with Tom and assuming his way of living, she becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich. She scorns people from her own class and loses all sense of morality. |
Solution: Quote the entire passage
(indenting the quotation if it is longer than 4 lines), or paraphrase the
passage, including quoted phrases if you wish. Cite the source. Myrtle's ability to charm Tom leads her to expect to enter his social class through carrying on an affair with him and acting like him. She acquires his values and models her behavior on his, and thus "she becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich" ("Great Gatsby's Theme"). Identifying herself with the rich, she comes to look down on others of her own class and abandons the moral values she was taught. |
"4. An often unrecognized form of plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas or argument without attribution. When a writer presents an argument, a definition, an interpretation of events, or an interpretation of a text as his or her own, when in fact that argument or definition or interpretation came from someone else’s text, the writer is plagiarizing. The solution is to frame the idea by introducing it as the original author’s and by citing the source from which the idea came."
| Problem: Use of someone else's ideas without
documentation-- The Great Gatsby constitutes a social commentary on Americans' loss of spiritual and moral values in the twentieth century as they forsook the idealism of the American dream cherished by early colonists and embraced a purely materialistic definition of success. This is shown in Nick's comparison of Dutch explorers' awe at the New World with Gatsby's hope for acceptance. |
Solution: Quote the entire passage
(indenting the quotation if it is longer than 4 lines), or paraphrase or
summarize the argument. Give credit to the author for his or her
argument, even if you use none of the wording of your source. According to the writer of "The Great Gatsby's Theme," The Great Gatsby constitutes a social commentary on Americans' loss of spiritual and moral values in the twentieth century as they forsook the idealism of the American dream cherished by early colonists and embraced a purely materialistic definition of success. This is shown in Nick's comparison of Dutch explorers' awe at the New World with Gatsby's hope for acceptance. |
For further discussion and consultation on your use of material from online, print, and other sources, visit the Writing Center during regular hours or attend a Documentation Workshop.
Posted by Dr. Trupe Feb. 9, 2004
