Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010
Guard against inadvertent plagiarism
Preventing plagiarism
Writing your paper
10.1 Guard against Inadvertent Plagiarism
10.2 Take Good Notes
10.3 Signal Every Quotation, Even When You Cite Its Source
10.4 Don't Paraphrase Too Closely
10.5 (Almost Always) Cite a Source for Ideas Not Your Own
10.6 Don't Plead Ignorance, Misunderstanding, or Innocent Intentions
10.7 Guard against Inappropriate Assistance
10.1 Guard against inadvertent plagiarism
It will be as you draft that you risk making one of the worst mistakes you can make: you lead readers to think that you're trying to pass off the work of another writer as your own. Do that and you risk an accusation of plagiarism, a charge so serious that, if sustained, could mean a failing grade or, if you're in a college class, expulsion.
These days teachers are intensely concerned about plagiarism, because they believe the Internet makes it easier for students to cheat. So they are especially vigilant for signs of plagiarism. Even if you don't mean to cheat, you may still have a problem if you fail to follow the rules for using and citing material from sources, because many teachers won't accept ignorance as an excuse. In any case, you do not help readers trust you or your argument if you fail on something as basic as properly citing everything you have used from a source.
Many instructors punish students for plagiarism but don't explain it, because they think it needs no explanation. And in some cases they are right: students don't need to be told that they cheat when they put their name on a paper they didn't write. Most also know they cheat when they pass off as their own work page after page downloaded from the web. But many students fail to realize that they risk a charge of plagiarism even when they are not intentionally dishonest, but only ignorant or careless.
Three Principles for Citing Sources
When you use any source in any way, readers expect you to follow three principles. You risk a charge of plagiarism if you ignore any one of them.
1. You must cite the source for any words, ideas, or methods that are not your own.
Writers can avoid paraphrasing too closely if they focus on remembering what they understand from the original, not its actual words. One way to do this is simply to put the original aside as you write the paraphrase (Colomb and Williams, 92). But a better way is to imagine that you are explaining the idea to someone who hasn't read the original.
2. When you quote the exact words of a source, you must put those words in quotation marks or a block quotation, even if you cite the source in your own text. This would be plagiarism:
According to Colomb and Williams, when you quote the exact words of a source, you must put those words in quotation marks or a block quotation, even if you cite the source in your own text (100).
3. When you paraphrase the words of a source, you must use your own sentences, not sentences so similar to the original that they are almost a quotation. This would be considered plagiarism by many teachers:
According to Colomb and Williams, you risk being charged with plagiarism when you paraphrase a passage from a source not in your own words but in sentences so similar to it that you almost quote them, regardless of whether your own text cites the source (100).
Some students think that they don't have to cite all of the material freely circulated online. Not so. These principles apply to sources of any kind—printed, recorded, oral, and online—but teachers are most on the lookout for plagiarism of online sources. You risk a charge of plagiarism if you fail to cite anything you get from a source, especially if it's from a website, a database, a podcast, or other online source. A source is a source, and you must cite them all.