Module 6: Sharing
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University of Idaho
Information Literacy Portal
UI Core Curriculum |
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6.0 Objectives
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Module 6: Sharing
Objectives:
- Recognize importance of keeping track of sources
- Determine when citing sources is necessary
- Know how to avoid plagiarism
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6.1 Transmitting Ideas
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6.2 Parts of a Citation
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6.3 Citing Your Sources
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There are a number of different styles or formats for citations.
Which style you use depends upon the subject discipline you are working
in. If you are uncertain about which style to use, ask your professor.
Each style includes the same basic parts of a citation, but may
organize them slightly differently.
Some Commonly Used
Writing Style Guides |
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)
The APA style is often used by students in the social sciences. |
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
The MLA (Modern Language
Association) style, is often used by students in languages and
English.
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A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations
This commonly-used style by Kate Turabian is a student version of
a longer guide, The Chicago Manual of Style. |
CBE (Council of Biology Editors) System is used by Biologists,
zoologists, earth scientists, geneticists, and other scientists |
IEEE ( Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) style is used by writers in electrical engineering, computer
science, and electronics |
Suggestions for Help |
Diana Hacker Research
and Documentation
An excellent way to understand how to use citation styles is to look
at the actual research papers at this site |
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6.4 Plagiarism
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Pla·giar·ism
is presenting the words or ideas of someone else as your own without proper
acknowledgment of the source.
If you don't credit the author, you are committing a type of theft called
plagiarism.
When you work on a research paper you will probably find supporting material
for your paper from works by others. It's okay to use the ideas of other people,
but you do need to correctly credit them.
When you quote people -- or even when you summarize or paraphrase information
found in books, articles, or Web pages -- you must acknowledge the original
author. It is plagiarism when you
- Buy or use a term paper written by someone else.
- Cut and paste passages from the Web, a book, or an article and insert
them into your paper without citing them. Warning! It is now easy to search
and find passages that have been copied from the Web.
- Use the words or ideas of another person without citing them.
- Paraphrase that person's words without citing them
Cite, Reference or Document your sources:
- Whenever you use factual information or data you
found in a source, so your reader knows who gathered the information
and where to find its original form.
- Whenever you quote verbatim two or more words
in a row, or even a single word or label that's distinctive, so the reader
can verify the accuracy and context of your quotation, and will credit the
source for crafting the exact formulation. Words you take verbatim from another
person need to be put in quotation marks, even if you take only two or three
words; it's not enough simply to cite. If you go on to use the quoted word
or phrase repeatedly in your paper, however, you don't need to cite it each
subsequent time.
- Whenever you summarize, paraphrase, or otherwise
use ideas, opinions, interpretations, or conclusions written by another person,
so your readers know that you are summarizing thoughts formulated by someone
else, whose authority your citation invokes, and whose formulations readers
can consult and check against your summary.
- Whenever you make use of a source's distinctive structure,
organizing strategy, or method, such as the way an argument is divided
into distinct parts or sections or kinds, or a distinction is made between
two aspects of a problem; or a particular procedure for studying some phenomenon
(in a text, in the laboratory, in the field) that was developed by a certain
person or group.
- Whenever you mention in passing some aspect of another
person's work, unless that work is very widely known, so readers know
where they can follow up on the reference.
When Not to Cite, Reference or Document your sources
- When the source and page-location of the relevant
passage are obvious from a citation earlier in your own paragraph.
If you refer to the same page in your source for many sentences in a row,
you don't need to cite the source again until your refer to a different page
in it or start a new paragraph of your paper.
- When dealing with "common knowledge," knowledge
that is familiar or easily available in many different sources (including
encyclopedias, dictionaries, basic textbooks) and isn't arguable or based
on a particular interpretation; (i.e. the date of the Stock Market Crash,
the distance to Saturn, the structure of the American Congress, the date or
birth of the discoverer of DNA. This is commonly available knowledge. Obviously,
what counts as "common knowledge" varies from situation to situation; when
in doubt ask - or cite anyway, to be safe. Note that when you draw a great
deal of information from a single source, you should cite that source even
if the information is common knowledge, since the source (and its particular
way of organizing the information) has made a significant contribution to
your paper.
- When you use phrases that have become part of everyday
speech: you don't need to remind your reader where "all the world's
a stage" or "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" first appeared,
or even to put such phrases in quotation marks.
- When you draw on ideas or phrases that arose in conversation
with a friend, classmate, instructor, or teaching assistant - including conversation
by e-mail or other electronic media. You should acknowledge help of this kind,
however, in a note. Be aware that these people may themselves be using phrases
and ideas from their reading or lectures. If you write a paper that depends
heavily on an idea you heard in conversation with someone, you should check
with that person about the source of the idea. Also be aware that no instructor
or teaching assistant will appreciate your incorporating his or her ideas
from conversation verbatim into your paper, but will expect you to express
the ideas in your own way and to develop them.
Based on: |
Radford, Marie L.,
Susan B. Barnes, and Linda R. Barr. Web Research: Selecting, Evaluating,
and Citing. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2002. |
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6.5 Is it Plagiarism?
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Plagiarism ranges from copying word-for-word to paraphrasing a passage without
credit and changing only a few words. Below is a sentence from a book. The original
source is followed by its use in three student papers.
For each student's version check the pull-down box to see if the passage would
be considered plagiarism.
Original Passage
Still, the telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more
casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before.
Student |
Example Written Content |
Abbie |
The telephone was a convenience, enabling
Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had already
been doing before.
Comments
on Abbie's passage (click me):
This is plagiarism in its worst form. Abbie does not indicate that
the words and ideas belong to Boorstin, leaving her readers to believe
the words are hers. She has stolen the words and ideas and attempted to
cover the theft by changing or omitting an occasional word.
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Brian |
Daniel J. Boorstin argues that the
telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more casually
and with less effort what they had already been doing before.
Comments
on Brian's passage (click me):
Even though Brian acknowledges his source, this is plagiarism. He has
copied the original almost word for word, yet he has not supplied quotation
marks to indicate the extent of his borrowing.
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Chad |
Daniel J. Boorstin has noted that most
Americans considered the telephone as simply "a convenience," an instrument
that allowed them "to do more casually and with less effort what they had
already been doing before."2
Sample Foot Note:
1 (Daniel J. Boorstin, The Americans: The Democratic Experience,
page 390.
2 Excerpt, examples, and commentary below are from James M. McCrimmon, Writing
With A Purpose, page 499.)
Comments
on Chad's passage (click me):
Chad has done a good job. He has identified his source at the beginning
of the paragraph, letting readers know who is being quoted and has provided
a footnote directing them to the exact source of the statement. He has
paraphrased some of Boorstin's words and quoted others, but makes it clear
to the reader which words are his and which belong to Boorstin.
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6.6 Avoiding Plagiarism
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Five Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism |
1 |
First, use your own ideas. It should be your paper and your ideas
that should be the focus. |
2 |
Use the ideas of others sparingly--only to support or reinforce your
own argument. |
3 |
When taking notes, include complete citation information for each
item you use. |
4 |
Use quotation marks when directly stating another person's words. |
5 |
A good strategy is to take 30 minutes and write a short draft of
your paper without using any notes. It will help you think through
what you want to say and help prevent your being too dependent upon
your sources. |
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6.7 Copyright
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Copyright is a complex and confusing area of the law these days. But you should
know the following about copyright:
- Everything that is produced is automatically copyrighted.
The U.S. Copyright Office puts it this way: "Copyright is secured automatically
when the work is created, and a work is 'created' when it is fixed in a
copy or phonorecord for the first time. 'Copies' are material objects from
which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the
aid of a machine or device…” Thus, a book, Website, sound recording, or
photograph are all examples of works that are automatically protected by
copyright immediately upon their creation. The U.S. Copyright Office’s website
at http://www.copyright.gov/
gives in-depth information.
- There is no need to register for copyright or to put any words or symbol
on an item: it is copyrighted merely by existing. The owner can, of course,
register for copyright, as well as putting a notice on the work such as:
Copyright 2005 University
of Idaho Library All Rights Reserved
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- The right to copy (i.e, to control intellectual property) is protected
for many years. The U.S. Copyright Office tells us:
“A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or
after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its
creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus
an additional 70 years after the author's death. In the case of 'a joint
work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire,' the term
lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death.
For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless
the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration
of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation,
whichever is shorter.” A helpful chart can be found at:
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm
- Does that mean I cannot use a copyrighted work? No. Here is what the
Copyright Website
http://www.benedict.com/ has to say:
“The 'fair use' provision of the law says use of a copyrighted work, including
such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means
specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship,
or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”
Public Domain
Also, some work is in what’s called the public domain. Works in the public
domain include works with the following characteristics:
- Originally Non-copyrightable such
as ideas, facts, titles, names, short phrases and blank forms
- Lost Copyright such as all works
published before January 1, 1978 that did not contain a valid copyright
notice may be considered to be in the public domain.
- Expired Copyright for which the statutory
copyright period has expired.
- Government Documents are not copyrighted,
and therefore are considered to be in the Public Domain. Consequently, if
you obtain a government document from the net, such as a law, statute, agency
circular, federal report, or any other document published or generated by
the federal government, you are free to copy or distribute the document.
- Works Granted to the Public Domain
if the copyright owner grants the work to the public domain.
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