Avoid Plagiarism
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Library Department would like to express its appreciation to the following members of the Baruch faculty for their contributions and assistance in preparing this booklet:
- Dr. Charles Bazerman (English)
- Dr. Harold Brent (English)
- Dr. Constance Denne (English)
- Prof. Eleanor Langstaff (Library)
- Dr. Robert A. McDermott (Philosophy)
- Dr. James V. Perrone (Student Personnel Services)
- Dr. Edward Pessen (History)
- Dr. Virginia Smith (Art)
- Dr. Norman W. Storer (Sociology)
LET'S FACE FACTS
As a college student, sooner or later you will be faced with the task of writing a paper. This may take the form of:
- a composition
- a book review
- an essay
- notes for a speech
- a research paper
For students who have not yet had much experience in writing, the task may seem difficult and, indeed, it isn't easy.
Writing a good paper requires thinking, finding the right information and knowing how to use it, organizing your thoughts, and presenting the information you have found in a way that others may easily understand.
You will be doing most of your research and some of your writing in the library. Knowing how to use the library effectively, therefore, is a major step toward writing a good paper. This booklet is designed to help you use the library so that your paper is well-informed and based on reliable sources.
The booklet will also tell you how to use these sources while avoiding plagiarism (see below).
HOW THE LIBRARY CAN HELP YOU
The library can help you by providing you with the facts, information, and opinions you will need. The librarians will help you find books, journals and other sources of information. However, there are a few things you should know about the library on your own.
- If you need some general information on a topic, consult an ENCYCLOPEDIA. It will provide you with the established, non-controversial body of knowledge on your topic.
- If you need information of a controversial nature, or on a topic that may not yet be covered in an encyclopedia, consult a PERIODICALS INDEX or NEWSPAPER INDEX. The index will direct you to issues of JOURNALS or NEWSPAPERS which have carried articles on your topic. The CUNY+ online catalog will tell you whether Baruch or another City University library owns the newspaper or journal you seek. Also check the Full Text Journals list under information resources on this Web site
- If you need an already-prepared list of books and articles on your topic, ask for a BIBLIOGRAPHY.
- If you need to know the meaning of a word, consult a DICTIONARY.
- If you need figures and other numerical data for your topic, you may wish to consult one of the many STATISTICAL SOURCES available in the reference section of the library.
- If you are writing about an individual person, a BIOGRAPHY might help. You may find biographies in one of the many BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES available in the reference section of the library, or in a book entirely devoted to the life of the person.
- If you want to find critical opinion about a book you are reading, use an INDEX TO BOOK REVIEWS.
- If you want to find literary criticism beyond book reviews, use an INDEX or EXPLICATOR.
- If you wish to find out whether one of the many government agencies has studied or conducted hearings on your topic, ask for an index to GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS.
- If you need the names and addresses of companies, organizations, or individuals involved in the field you are researching, consult a DIRECTORY of people and/or organizations.
- If you need illustrations, songs, or the speeches of famous people, the library also has INDEXES to songs, illustrations, and speeches.
- If you need to find out who first used a famous line or saying, use a book of QUOTATIONS.
- If you wish to read a book on your topic, you may find it by using the CUNY+ online catalog. You may look up a book by author's name, title, subject or keyword. If you search by subject, be sure to check the Library of Congress Subject Headings to find the actual search terms used in the catalog. Keyword searching allows you to combine two concepts or to locate materials when an appropriate subject heading cannot be found. The LOCATION and CALL NUMBER near the bottom of the record will show you where the book is located within the collection.
- CUNY+ will also tell you if the book has been borrowed by another user and which other City University libraries have copies you may borrow.
HOW BEST TO USE YOUR TIME IN THE LIBRARY
To make the most of the time you spend in the library, you must learn to read and take notes effectively. Note-taking is a critical skill, and in order to be a good note-taker you must:
- Allow sufficient time for your research so that you can work for an uninterrupted period of time without distractions.
- Organize your thoughts quickly.
- Take notes in outline form, following a logical format.
- Jot down the author, title, publisher and city of publication.
- Jot down the exact pages on which you found this material. Put direct quotations in quotation marks and make a note of paraphrased material. This will help you identify and credit your sources when writing the paper.
There are many methods of taking notes while reading on your topic. Some students prefer to use 3 X 5 index cards. These make it easy to arrange and rearrange the information and help to organize the paper. Several pamphlets are available in the Student Study Center on the 17th floor of 360 Park Avenue South to further assist you in selecting the study and note-taking methods best suited to your individual needs and preferences.
A number of guide books designed to help you prepare a paper are available in the library. The following basic titles are shelved at the reference desk:
Gibaldi, Joseph. The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 2nd ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America 1998.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1999.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Asociation, 1994.
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed. Revised by John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
(Circulating copies are also shelved on the 5th floor at LB2369 .T8 1996.)Many other helpful guide books may be found by searching CUNY+ under the subject REPORT WRITING.
Your instructors may assign any one of a variety of writing and research assignments, such as a report, a book review, notes for a speech, etc. Each requires a somewhat different approach. Be sure to check with your instructor regarding each particular assignment.
WRITING THE TERM PAPER
Of all your writing assignments, the TERM PAPER will probably be the most difficult. It asks you to act as an authority on your topic--a role that is unfamiliar and a bit threatening to most students. It will help to remember that the purpose of your paper is to show that you can take a topic, find an interesting question to ask about it, and (through research and reasoning) come up with a convincing answer to your question.
In your paper, you will be creating an argument, or a series of thoughts that move from a reasonable beginning to a sensible conclusion. Through all this, your main goal is COMMUNlCATlON -- showing the reader that you have something interesting to say about your topic and that you want the reader to understand what you have to say. The heart of the paper is thus ideas rather than emotions or value judgments.
The term paper should reflect the ideas you have formed as the result of your reading and research, but it should NOT SIMPLY REPEAT WHAT YOU HAVE READ. It should be your own synthesis of what you have learned from several sources, and your own conclusion based on what you have learned.
Your term paper should, in effect, answer the following questions:
- Why is the question you are asking about your topic interesting and/or important?
- What evidence have you found that leads to the answer you believe is most persuasive or logical?
- What are the implications of your answer for a broader understanding of the topic and for additional questions that remain to be answered?
AN ORGANIZED PAPER HAS THREE MAIN PARTS:
THE INTRODUCTORY SECTION. Here you introduce your topic, explain why it is important or interesting, and perhaps outline your "game plan" for the rest of the paper.
- THE MIDDLE, "CONTENT," OR "BODY" SECTION. Here you build your argument in detail, working toward an answer to your original question. You are like a lawyer, introducing evidence that supports your case and helping the "jury" (the reader) see how the evidence leads to your conclusion.
- THE CONCLUSION. Here you state your principal answer to the original question, reviewing briefly the supporting evidence. A good way to finish this section is to indicate some questions that remain unanswered. You may wish to suggest possible directions for further work on this topic or broader implications of the problem you have discussed.
OUTLINE
In order to obtain a clear and logical organization, it is a good idea to OUTLINE your paper before you begin to write. This will help you check to see that the information and argument you are presenting follows logically from the facts. The outline need not be written in complete sentences, but it should contain your key thoughts and the sources of information you obtained elsewhere. Once you begin to write, the outlined thoughts may easily be developed into clear sentences and paragraphs. An example of an outline follows:
Women and Employment in the U.S.
|
PRESENTATION
Neatness of presentation can influence your reader almost as much as clear reasoning. Neatness is not just a fussy ideal. A neat paper enables the reader to follow your argument. Neatness also shows that you want to communicate effectively and that you take pride in your work.
- Use a cover-page that gives your name and the date of submission. Also include the course and the instructor for whom it has been written.
- Always double-space, whether typing or handwriting. WORD PROCESS or TYPE your paper if you possibly can.
- Use ample margins: an inch or more at the left and right, and a bit more at the top and bottom of the page.
- Number the pages in the upper right-hand corner.
- Write in complete sentences and use relatively short paragraphs.
- Staple your paper in the upper left-hand side of the paper only.
- Observe the rules of proper documentation as described under "Documentation" below. Whichever method of documentation is used, your paper should be concluded with a list of works cited.
HOW TO AVOID PLAGIARISM
PLAGIARISM MEANS COPYING OR PARAPHRASING MATERIAL FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE WITHOUT INDICATING ITS SOURCE, PARTICULARLY WITH THE INTENT TO DECEIVE OR MISREPRESENT. IT ALSO MEANS COPYING WITHOUT QUOTATION MARKS EVEN IF YOU DO INDICATE THE SOURCE.
This is a form of intellectual dishonesty, for by failing to say that the material came from another source, or by failing to acknowledge a direct quotation as such, you seem to be claiming that these are your own words or ideas. This is just as serious an offense as copying another student's answers on an exam.
Common Ideas and Knowledge
Common ideas and knowledge need not be documented. There is no need, for example, for you to indicate where you learned that elephants live in Africa or that the year is 365 days long. However, if you tell your reader that the average African elephant weighs 5,238 pounds, or that the Aztec calendar divided the year into 24 parts, you should note the source of these particular facts.
Similarly, there is no need to document the fact that Lima is the capital of Peru. However, if you tell your reader that the population of Lima is 250,000, this fact should be documented. It is not a stable, unchanging fact, and if the researcher has not used the best source, it may be out of date.
Paraphrasing
All material copied exactly from your source should be identified by quotation marks (" ") and documented. However, merely repeating another's words with slight changes does not make it your own. This is known as "paraphrasing." PARAPHRASED INFORMATION MUST BE DOCUMENTED AS WELL.
Paraphrasing means summarizing the essence of what has been said by another even if some or most of the wording has been changed. For example, one might leave out some words, change a few words, or even skip a sentence or two. If, however, the basic material has been taken from someone else's work, it must be acknowledged. Even if you borrow characteristic phrases or works of another, these should be placed within quotation marks and documented.
PARAPHRASING, LIKE WORD-FOR-WORD COPYING, IS PLAGIARISM UNLESS THE SOURCE IS PROPERLY ACKNOWLEDGED.
To repeat, BOTH DIRECT QUOTATIONS AND PARAPHRASES MUST BE DOCUMENTED. SO MUST FACTUAL INFORMATION THAT MAY REQUIRE VERIFICATION OR IS NOT OTHERWISE COMMON KNOWLEDGE.
Baruch College, the City University and, indeed, all academic institutions, do not permit plagiarism. The Baruch College UNDERGRADUATE HANDBOOK lists plagiarism as first among the offenses which may subject a student to disciplinary action. Similarly prohibited is the sale or purchase of term papers, student essays, and other written assignments.
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. It is a lot easier to spot than most students realize and brings with it severe penalties up to and including expulsion.
CAUTION!
You should also avoid writing a paper that is merely a string of quotations, paraphrases, and statistics, no matter how well-documented your sources are.
Bear in mind that the purpose of the paper is to enable you to express your own educated point of view. The paper should be based on research, but it should not consist merely of research. It is up to you to examine your findings, consider their implications, formulate and express your opinion. Research should be used to support your "evidence," convince your reader, or even to help you form your opinion. It should not, however, so dominate your paper that your own viewpoint is absent or obscured.
EXAMPLES
Following is a passage as it originally appeared in Marcus Klein's After Alienation; American Novels in Mid-Century (Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1962), p. 147. Example 1 shows how the material would appear if quoted properly in a student's term paper. Example 2 shows how the same material might be paraphrased, but still documented.
The invisibility of the Negro in America has in fact been James Baldwin's underlying metaphor also, and when he has been most responsive to his materials he has made of invisibility, the failure of identity, a lyric of frustration and loss.Example 1 (direct quotation):
According to Marcus Klein, "The invisibility of the Negro in America has in fact been James Baldwin's underlying metaphor also, and when he has been most responsive to his materials he has made of invisibility, the failure of identity, a lyric of frustration and loss" (Klein 147).
(Note that you should not just "drop" the quotation in, but introduce it into your text by using such phrases as "by," "according to. . ." or "in the opinion of. . . ." The source of the quotation could be indicated with a footnote or with the parenthetical documentation used here. Documentation will be explained more fully in the next section.
Example 2 (paraphrase):
According to Marcus Klein, James Baldwin has made the invisibility of African Americans a major theme and has developed this theme with great poetic power (147).
A student who merely incorporated Marcus Klein's opinions into his or her paper without giving Klein credit, or who used Klein's exact words without quotation marks, would be guilty of plagiarism.
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation is the method by which a writer acknowledges the source of the information contained in the paper. All direct quotations, paraphrases, facts, and important ideas originating in the work of another author must be properly documented. Failure to acknowledge your sources results in plagiarism.
Documentation is most often achieved through citations. These are of two basic types:
- BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATIONS are those which describe the whole document the researcher has used, whether a book, pamphlet, essay in a book, or periodical article. These citations appear in an alphabetical list of works cited at the very end of the paper. The list of works cited is also known as the bibliography.
- PARENTHETICAL REFERENCES in the text indicate the exact location in the source where the fact was found. This information may also be provided in the form of FOOTNOTES or ENDNOTES, described below.
The Modern Language Association style is followed in this booklet. Since different disciplines and, indeed, different professors have their own preferred styles of citation, you should always check with your instructor as to the desired format.
THE LIST OF WORKS CITED
The "works cited" section appears at the end of your paper and lists all sources that have contributed information or ideas to your work. The list makes documentation simple by allowing you to make brief references to the works in your text (see "Parenthetical Documentation" on page 19).
For bibliographic citations in your list of works cited, you will need to know the AUTHOR of the book or article, the TITLE of the work, and various other PUBLICATION FACTS such as PLACE and DATE of publication.
ALPHABETICAL ORDER:
Since bibliographic citations are alphabetized, begin with the LAST NAME of the author, if there is one. If there is no author, begin with the first word of the title. (Do not alphabetize by the words "A," "An," and "The.")
HANGING INDENTATION:
Notice that bibliographic citations use a form known as HANGING INDENTATION, the reverse of the usual indentation used for paragraphing. Start the first line at the left-hand margin. Start all subsequent lines 5 spaces (one half inch) to the right. Most word processing programs have a hanging indent command.
Example:
For citations in the list of works cited, provide information in the following order:
| a. | for a book: |
| author's last name, first name title underlined city(or city and state) of publication publisher's name written as briefly as possible year of publication |
|
| b. | for a periodical article: |
| author's last name, first name the title of the article in quotation marks the periodical title underlined volume number or date of issue and inclusive pages |
There are many variations. For example, a book may have two or more volumes, editors, or authors. Writers of research papers use the style manuals for explanations and models. In the examples given below, be sure to take note of the placement of the elements and the punctuation.
EXAMPLES
A book by one author:
A book by two or three authors:
An essay in an anthology:
An article in a magazine:
An article in a journal with continuous pagination:
An unsigned article from a daily newspaper:
A signed article in an encyclopedia:
A government document:
Material from a computer file:
Material from the Internet:
See the MLA Handbook (5th ed., 1999) and this Web site's link to Style Guides and Resources on the Internet, which includes guides to MLA style.
ALWAYS UNDERLINE THE TITLES OF BOOKS, JOURNALS, NEWSPAPERS AND OTHER FULL LENGTH WORKS.
ALWAYS PLACE THE TITLES OF PERIODICAL ARTICLES, NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES, ESSAYS AND CHAPTERS OF BOOKS BETWEEN QUOTATION MARKS.
For additional guidelines and examples, consult the MLA Handbook, available at the reference desk.
PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION
Parenthetical, or in-text, documentation is preferred by the MLA and some other style manuals as the most practical way to cite a work as the source of a specific quotation, idea, or fact. The purpose of the information, provided in parentheses, is to lead the reader to the list of works cited for full bibliographic information. Usually, the author's last name and the page reference are all that is needed. However, what goes into the parentheses is determined by what you have already put in the sentence.
Example:
One information specialist estimates that by the year 2000 most current research will be done using computers (Atkins 117-18).
If you mention the name in the text, however, give the page reference only.
Example:
Atkins estimates that.....(117-18).
Sometimes the author's last name is not enough because he or she has more than one work in the list of works cited. In this case give the first keyword in the title as well as the last name.
Example:
(Atkins, Information 117-18).
See the MLA Handbook or MLA Style Manual for additional examples.
FOOTNOTES
Another system of documentation uses footnotes to cite sources. Footnote citations, like parenthetical references, refer to the exact location in the cited source where the fact was found. As you cite each source you have used throughout your paper, give each a number. This number appears above the line, at the end of the cited material. These numbers correspond to the footnote citations, which generally appear at the bottom of each page or on a separate page right before the list of works cited, in which case they are referred to as ENDNOTES. Most word processing programs have a command which inserts footnotes or endnotes in the proper location for printing, but you have to provide the bibliographic citation in the format you select to use. Note that footnotes and endnotes use normal paragraph indentation; i.e., the first line is indented five spaces (or one half inch).
Only the FIRST REFERENCE to an item should be a FULL FOOTNOTE CITATION. Subsequent references to the very same item should use an abbreviated form of the title or the author's last name and the specific page number.
SAMPLE FOOTNOTE CITATIONS
For a book with one author:
1Ruth Benedict, Patterns Of Culture (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1934) 62.
For a book with two authors:
2Bernard Berelson and Gary A. Steiner, Human Behavior: An Inventory Of Scientific Findings (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1964) 282.
For a book with no author given:
3The Lottery (London: J. Watts, 1732) 20.
For a book with an editor or compiler as author:
4Lawrence H. Seltzer, ed., New Horizons Of Economic Progress (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1964) 11.
For an essay or chapter by one author in a work edited by another:
5Paul Tillich, "Being and Love," Moral Principles of Action, ed. Ruth N. Anshen (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1952) 663.
Notice that for books the city of publication, the publisher, and the date of publication are enclosed in parentheses ( ) in the footnote. The following page reference is to the exact page on which the cited information was found.
For a journal article:
6William C. Hayes, "Most Ancient Egypt," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 23 (October 1964) 217.For a signed encyclopedia article:
7J. W. Comyns-Carr, "William Blake," Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. 197.For a source used a second time:
8Hayes 218.When author's names are identical or two works by the same author are cited, add shortened titles:
9Hayes, "Most Ancient Egypt" 219.10Hayes, "Glorious Greece" 36.
When two references in sequence refer to the same work, repeat the information in its brief form. Do not use Ibid. unless you are specifically told to do so by your professor.
11Comyns-Carr 198.
12Comyns-Carr 200.
For an unsigned encyclopedia article:
13"Sitting Bull," Encyclopedia Americana, 1963 ed., 419.For a newspaper article:
14"Amazing Amazon Region," New York Times 12 January 1969, sec. 4: 11.For a government document:
15U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, National Foundation Act of 1949: Report To Accompany H.R. 4846, 81st Congress, 1st session, H. Rept. 796 (Washington: GPO, 1949).For material from a computer service:
16Howard Schomer, "South Africa: Beyond Fair Employment," Harvard Business Review May-June 1983: 145+ (DIALOG file 122, item 119425 833160).For material from the Internet:
See the MLA Handbook (5th ed., 1999) and this Web site's link to Style Guides and Resources on the Internet, which includes guides to MLA style.SAMPLE LIST OF WORKS CITED (BIBLIOGRAPHY)
* * * * * *
Note that the same sources which appear in the footnotes are alphabetized and repeated in the bibliography. Additional materials which you have actually consulted, although not footnoted, should also be included. HOWEVER, DO NOT PAD YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH MATERIALS YOU HAVE NOT ACTUALLY USED.
A FRIENDLY WORD OF ADVICE
Being assigned a term paper or other written assignment need not be an unpleasant experience. Don't be afraid to use sources and quote them. This does not detract from the originality of your paper.
Properly documented sources add weight to your arguments and serve as "evidence" in building your case. Take a point of view! Express your own opinion! Then bolster that opinion with facts, authority, and scholarship.
Avoid the pitfall of stringing together a series of quotations and paraphrases. Even if properly documented, this makes for a poor paper. Your job is not merely to collect information. You must also interpret, explain, and expand upon that information to the best of your abilities. This is where YOU come into the picture. This is where the paper becomes YOUR OWN.
Avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism will hurt YOU more than anyone else. In the unlikely event that you "get away with it," you will have robbed yourself of the valuable learning experience of finding, interpreting, and presenting information on your own.
Developed by Rona Ostrow and Spencer Means
Revised by Shelley Warwick July, 1995
Revised by Spencer Means Jan. 2000
