Lesson 3-Locating Sources For Academic And Professional Purposes
Plagiarism is the act of presenting the words, ideas, images, sounds or the creative expression of others as your own
without giving proper credit; may be intentional, reckless, and unintentional.
Common examples of plagiarism
Turning in someone else’s work as your own
Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
Failing to put quotation marks in quotation
Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
Changing of words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
Copying so many words and ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give
credit or not
Types of plagiarism
1. Direct plagiarism-word for word transcription of someone’s work without quotation or credit
2. Self-plagiarism- submitting own previous work or mixing parts of previous work
3. Mosaic plagiarism- borrowing phrases from a source without quotation marks or finding synonyms for the
author’s languages while keeping the same structure
4. Accidental plagiarism- neglecting to cite sources, misquotation of sources, or unintentionally paraphrasing a
source by using similar words, group of words, and/or sentence structure without attribution
Why do people plagiarize?
1. Laziness
2. Fame
3. Fear of success
4. Procrastination
5. Panic
6. Misbelief and misinformation
7. Apathy and indifference
Consequences of plagiarism
1. Failure in task/class
2. Disciplinary action
3. Academic dismissal(suspension/expulsion)
4. Withdrawal of diploma/degree
5. Loss of employment
6. Fines/penalties
7. Lawsuits
8. Loss of reputation
How to avoid plagiarism
1. Put everything in your own words. Do not copy!
2. Give credit where credit is due.
Incorporating sources in academic and professional texts
Summarizing-short statement of the main idea or key point of a text
Paraphrasing-restating a statement or passage in your own words
Principles in paraphrasing
1. The meaning conveyed in the paraphrased material should be the same as that of the original source
2. The length should be the same or almost the same
3. The structure is different from that of the source.
4. Technical terms or generally accepted terms may be retained.
5. The source is indicated in the paraphrase
Forms of paraphrasing
1. Literal-replacing vocabulary terms from the original text
2. Structural- changing the sentence structure as well as the word class of key words of the text
3. Alternative- posing questions about the text, and then answering these questions using own words after
reading the text making sure that all ideas are connected.
Citations-the way you tell your readers that certain material in your work came from another source and where to find
that information again.
What do citations include?
Information about the author
Title of the work
The name and location of the publisher
The page number of the material you used
When do we need to cite?
Whenever you use quotes
Whenever you paraphrase
Whenever you use an idea that someone else has already expressed
Whenever you make specific reference to the work of another
Citation styles:
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL MODERN LANGUAGE CHICAGO/TURABIAN
ASSOCIATION(APA) ASSOSIATION(MLA)
Used by Education, Psychology and Used by Humanities Used by Business, History and the
Sciences Fine Arts
Types of citation:
1. Author-oriented citation-starts with the surname of the author followed by the year of publication in
parentheses
2. Text-oriented citation-a paragraph or sentence from a source is followed with a surname of the author of the
work and the year of publication, both enclosed in parentheses.
Other ways of citing sources
Start the sentence or paragraph by using the phrase “according to..” followed by the surname of the author and
the year of publication enclosed in parentheses
