Avoiding
Plagiarism: Quotes & Paraphrase
Plagiarism,
Paraphrase, and Summary / How
to Quote from a Text
Sample
Passage & Examples of Plagiarism
Plagiarism,
Paraphrase, and Summary
|
Plagiarism
is loosely defined as
the use of another person's words or ideas without
giving any credit or making any acknowledgment of the original
source . This is true for both written texts
(essays, articles, books, web pages, etc.) and for spoken
language (speeches, lectures, interviews, etc.). |
Paraphrase
is used when you want
to convey the same ideas as another writer in
roughly the same amount of language, entirely in your own
words and sentence structure . You must still
acknowledge the original source, but paraphrase allows you
to work those ideas more seamlessly into your own writing.
|
Summary
is when you use
your own words to reduce another person's language and ideas
to a brief overview, excluding all but the most significant
supporting details . The language used in a
summary should be your own, and it should take considerably
less room than the original passage. The ideas identified
in a summary should be attributed to the original author.
|
You must put "
quotation
marks "
around any exact wording
that you borrow, including phrases and sometimes even words. A quotation
should always fit logically into your own sentence.
For
example: She told me to "get a job" and then stormed
out of the room!
Use
"quotation marks"
around the titles of essays, book chapters,
short stories, journal & newspaper articles, songs, and
poems. |
Underline
or italicize
the titles of books, plays, films, journals
and magazines, music CDs & other collections, and long
(epic length) poems. |
Back to Top
HOW
TO QUOTE FROM A TEXT USING MLA CITATION
In
academic writing, you should make a habit of establishing the relevance
of any quotation to the paper YOU are writing. As you begin to quote
from another source, you should introduce that source to your readers.
You can do this by setting up what is called a signal phrase, so
named because it signals the reader that a quote, paraphrase, or
summary is coming. The following paragraph demonstrates how to quote
from another printed text.
In her book entitled Borderlands, La Frontera: The New
Mestiza , Gloria Anzaldua wrote that:
the
switching of "codes" in this book from English
to Castilian Spanish to the North Mexican dialect to Tex-Mex
to a sprinkling of Nahuatl to a mixture of all of these,
reflects my language, a new language-the language of the
Borderlands. There, at the juncture of cultures, languages
cross-pollinate and are revitalized; they die and are born
. . . . Today [in 1987] we ask to be met halfway. This book
is our invitation to you-from the new mestizas (3).
Anzaldua
wrote this at a time when many Latina women writers were finding
their voices, and she has continued to be an outspoken advocate
for women writers.
- When you are quoting more
than three lines of text, you should indent your paragraph
two tabs or 10 spaces from the left margin only. Writing
in MLA format, both your writing and the block quote should
be double-spaced.
- The introductory signal
phrase that begins "In her book..."
informs the reader that the voice of the writer is going
to change and whose voice it will be.
- The next phrase, "Gloria
Anzaldua wrote that," sets up the quote so that the
writer can begin mid-sentence.
- The exact words from Anzaldua's
book are indicated within the quotation marks .
- The ellipsis
( . . . . ) indicates that the writer/borrower has deleted
part of the original not considered relevant to the point
s/he was making. If the writer deletes a full sentence or
more in the middle of a quoted passage, use a period before
the three ellipsis dots.
- The brackets
[ ] indicate that the borrower has inserted something not
found in the original, sometimes changing pronouns for a
better fit within the sentence or for clarifications related
to the borrower's ideas.
- The page number of the quoted
text is cited in parenthesis after the quotation
marks and before the period. If the author had
not included Anzaldua's name in the introductory signal
phrase, the in-text citation would include it: (Anzaldua
3) .
- After you have introduced
the original author by first and last name, you should refer
to that author by last name from then on, never by first
name only.
|
Back
to Top
Examples
of Plagiarism
The
following passage and sample attempts to plagiarize come from
the Northeastern University policy on plagiarism, originally
written in 1970 by Dr. M. X. Lessor and revised by Dr. Stuart
Peterfreund in 1991.
|
Below
you will find an example paragraph from Richard Bridgman's The
Colloquial Style in America (1966), pp. 9-10, about Mark Twain's
Huckleberry Finn . Following Bridgman's paragraph are examples
of writers borrowing from Bridgman's text, using direct
quotation and paraphrase with acknowledgment
- both of which are acceptable. Following these, you will see examples
of three types of PLAGIARISM
: word-for-word , close
paraphrase , and patchwork . Portions
borrowed from the original passage appear in bolded
italics in each example.
ORIGINAL
PASSAGE:
Mark
Twain's use of a boy as narrator in Huckleberry Finn provided American
writers one important entry to the language and homely particulars
of American life. In that story we hear no condescending adult voice
by which Huck can be judged insufficient. His idiom is the standard.
And because Huck is a boy, not only is his language natural to him,
but his attitude toward the world of particulars around him is one
of unremitting interest. His quiet concentration upon all that surrounds
him invests the commonplace world with dignity, seriousness, and
an unforeseen beauty that radiates through the very words he uses.
An adult is tainted with stylistic original sin-double vision, awareness
of tradition, vanity. Huck's style is prelapsarian in its innocence
and single-minded directness. That is its excellence, but its limitation
too, for although Huck saw deeply, his was a narrow vision. After
the example of Huckleberry Finn, writers had to learn how to overcome
the limits of his restricting viewpoint (Bridgman 9).
DIRECT
QUOTATION (ACCEPTABLE):
Thumbing
through the opening pages of Huckleberry Finn reveals a startling
narrative device: the story is told by a boy whose speech is not
completely grammatical. And yet no one intrudes, comments, or corrects-not
Mark Twain, not even his mother, Mrs. Clemens. In fact, there is
"no condescending adult voice by which Huck can
be judged insufficient. His idiom is the standard. . . . [His] style
is prelapsarian in its innocence and single-minded directness"
(Bridgman 9).
Only
the exact quotation is language borrowed from the original passage.
Since the ideas are still Bridgman's, the borrower must acknowledge
this source either when introducing the quote, or as an "in-text
citation" at the close of the quoted passage.
PARAPHRASE
WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENT (ACCEPTABLE):
Huck's
telling his own story is an effective but limiting narrative technique.
Because he is a boy, he has the wonder and the words appropriate
for his age. That means that the world is refracted through innocent
eyes, and that each event has its own importance. But it also means
that Huck's experience is a boy's experience, and the resultant
knowledge is also a boy's. His words, however apt, cannot render
the world whole. Subsequent writers, while noting the significance
of Twain's innovation, must necessarily move beyond it ( Bridgman
9 ) .
None
of the above language is borrowed from the original passage, so
quotation marks are not required. But since the ideas are still
Bridgman's, the borrower must acknowledge this source. Paraphrasing
allows the writer to use his/her own words, but at the same time
it shows the reader that these words have been influenced by the
thought and words of a (qualified) predecessor. Any failure to acknowledge
a primary or secondary source results in plagiarism.
Back
to Top
UNACCEPTABLE
FORMS OF PLAGIARISM
(original passage is on the left for comparison):
Word-for-word
Plagiarism: The
passage below steals language in whole phrases and clauses from
the original. There is no reference to the original author, and
the borrower has "kidnapped" Bridgman's language.
Mark
Twain's use of a boy as narrator in Huckleberry
Finn provided American writers
one important entry to the language
and homely particulars of American life .
In that story we hear no condescending adult voice
by which Huck can be judged insufficient. His idiom is the
standard. And because Huck is a boy, not only
is his language natural to him, but his attitude toward the
world of particulars around him is one of unremitting interest.
His quiet concentration upon all that surrounds
him invests the commonplace world with dignity ,
seriousness, and an unforeseen beauty that radiates through
the very words he uses. An adult is tainted with stylistic
original sin-double vision, awareness of tradition, vanity.
Huck's style is prelapsarian in its innocence
and single-minded directness . That
is its excellence, but its limitation too, for although Huck
saw deeply, his was a narrow vision. After the example of
Huckleberry Finn, writers had to learn how to overcome the
limits of his restricting viewpoint (Bridgman 9). |
Plagiarized
Passage
American
writers
were given an important entry to the language
and homely particulars of American life when
Mark Twain used a boy as narrator in Huckleberry
Finn . In that story we hear no condescending adult
voice by which Huck can be judged insufficient. His idiom
is the standard. His quiet concentration upon all that surrounds
him invests the commonplace world with dignity ,
and his innocence and single-minded directness
lends truth to his observations. |
Close
Paraphrase Plagiarism:
The original passage is in plain text below (O). Plagiarized passage
follows in italics ( P ). In this example, the
italicized paraphrase keeps the same sequence of ideas
and some of the same language as the original. There are a few insertions
and substitutions of synonyms (words close in
meaning to the original), but regardless, this is a form of PLAGIARISM.
Doing away with all original language but using synonyms in place
of existing language in the same sentence format--presenting ideas
in the same order as the original--also constitutes plagiarism.
O: Mark Twain's use of a boy as narrator in Huckleberry Finn
provided American writers one important
P: Mark Twain
utilized a boy as a narrator in his classic, Huckleberry Finn,
and gave native writers an
O:
entry to the language and homely particulars of American life.
In that story we hear no
P: opening
wedge into the language and particulars of ante-bellum America.
In that novel there is no
O:
condescending adult voice by which Huck can be judged insufficient.
His idiom is the standard. . . .
P: condescending
adult voice to judge Huck by. On the contrary, his way with
words is the standard.
O:
Huck's style is prelapsarian in its innocence and single-minded
directness.
P: His style
is Adamic in its simplicity and forthrightness. |
Patchwork Plagiarism:
Stealing
just a few exact phrases without quotes even when acknowledging
the source is considered PLAGIARISM. Exceptions to this rule may
occur when using professional or academic jargon (terms commonly
understood and shared within the discipline or profession under
discussion). However, this example does not use jargon that can't
be reworded.
Mark
Twain's use of a boy as narrator in Huckleberry Finn provided
American writers one important entry to the language and homely
particulars of American life. In that story we hear no condescending
adult voice by which Huck can be judged insufficient.
His idiom is the standard. And because Huck is a boy, not
only is his language natural to him, but his attitude toward
the world of particulars around him is one of unremitting
interest. His quiet concentration
upon all that surrounds him invests the commonplace
world with dignity ,
seriousness, and an unforeseen beauty
that radiates through the very words he uses. An adult is
tainted with stylistic original sin-double vision, awareness
of tradition, vanity. Huck's style is prelapsarian in its
innocence and single-minded directness. That is its excellence,
but its limitation too, for although Huck saw deeply, his
was a narrow vision. After the example of Huckleberry Finn,
writers had to learn how to overcome the limits of his restricting
viewpoint (Bridgman 9). |
Plagiarized
Passage
Unlike
that other book by Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
, there is no condescending adult voice
in Huckleberry Finn . The words are all Huck's, and
because he is young and inquisitive, what he tells us has
an interest and freshness all its own. His quiet
concentration makes the commonplace
world a thing of dignity
and beauty . It is as if everything
is seen for the first time (Bridgman 9). |
Back
to Top
|
