Guard against inadvertent plagiarism - Signal every quotation, even when you cite its source - Drafting your report - Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Guard against inadvertent plagiarism - Signal every quotation, even when you cite its source
Drafting your report
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

It will be as you draft that you risk making one of the worst mistakes a researcher 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 being accused of plagiarism, a charge that, if sustained, could mean a failing grade or even expulsion.

Many instructors warn against plagiarism but don't explain it, because they think it is always an act of deliberate dishonesty that needs no explanation. And to be sure, students know they cheat when they put their name on a paper bought on the Internet or copied from a fraternity or sorority file. Most also know they cheat when they pass off as their own page after page copied from a source or downloaded from the Web. For those cases, there's nothing to say beyond Don't.

But many students fail to realize that they risk being charged with plagiarism even if they were not intentionally dishonest, but only ignorant or careless. You run that risk when you give readers reason to think that you've done one or more of the following:

You cited a source but used its exact words without putting them in quotation marks or in a block quotation.

You paraphrased a source and cited it, but in words so similar to those of your source that they are almost a quotation: anyone could see that you were following the source word-by-word as you paraphrased it.

You used ideas or methods from a source but failed to cite it.

7.9.1 Signal every quotation, even when you cite its source

Even if you cite your source, readers must know which words are yours and which you quote. You risk a charge of plagiarism if you fail to use quotation marks or a block quotation to signal that you have copied as little as a single line of words.

It gets complicated, however, when you copy just a few words. Read this:

Because technology begets more technology, the importance of an invention's diffusion potentially exceeds the importance of the original invention. Technology's history exemplifies what is termed an autocatalytic process: that is, one that speeds up at a rate that increases with time, because the process catalyzes itself (Diamond 1998, 301).

If you were writing about Jared Diamond's ideas, you would probably have to use some of his words, such as the importance of an invention. But you wouldn't put that phrase in quotation marks, because it shows no originality of thought or expression. Two of his phrases, however, are so striking that they do require quotation marks: technology begets more technology and autocatalytic process. For example,

The power of technology goes beyond individual inventions because technology “begets more technology.” It is, as Diamond puts it, an “autocatalytic process” (301).

Once you cite those words, you can use them again without quotation marks or citation:

As one invention begets another one and that one still another, the process becomes a self-sustaining catalysis that spreads exponentially across all national boundaries.

This is a gray area: words that seem striking to some readers are commonplace to others. If you use quotation marks for too many common phrases, readers might think you're naïve or insecure, but if you fail to use them when readers think you should, they may suspect you're trying to take credit for language and ideas not your own. Since it's better to seem naïve than dishonest, especially early in your research career, use quotation marks freely. (You must, however, follow the standard practices of your field. For example, lawyers often use the exact language of a statute or judicial opinion with no quotation marks.)