Citation

Learning means finding out what you and other people have discovered about the world. Your first and primary sources are, of course, your own experiences and imagination, although even those, it is argued, are influenced by the perceptions of those who came before you. When you consciously use those sources created by others, then you need to give credit to those sources. Doing so is not only fair; it is also moral, ethical, legal, and an academic requirement.

Not to give credit, wholly or partially, is to commit plagiarism, which basically means stealing (or literally, "kidnapping") from others. The people who have done the work deserve the credit for it. People who get caught trying to pass off others' work as their own can fail assignments, fail courses, ruin their reputations, and even be taken to court (the legal system "copyrights" the efforts of writers, musicians, and artists, and there have been many cases where the plagiarist paid in hard cash as well as reputation).

What you need to learn is how and when to give credit to sources. While the methods may seem complicated at first, keep in mind that they are, in most cases, fairly traditional, have been learned and used by millions before you, can be found in various sources (print and electronic) and are understood by many people on campus (like your professor and the librarians) who will be glad to help you. You can also seek assistance in the Writing Center.

Your work can be labeled plagiarized if one of the following occurs:

1. A passage is copied word-for-word (or, in music, note-for-note, or, in art, line-by line) from someone else's work, whether the source is printed, recorded, visual, or electronic, and that source is not given credit in the required ways.

2. A passage paraphrases a source (rewords or restates the content and ideas without using the author's words) without giving credit to the source in the required ways.

3. The work is based on sources but does not give credit to any of them.

4. The work closely follows the organization of ideas or concepts in someone else's work without giving credit to that source.

5. The work has been composed, wholly or in part, by someone other than the person who submits it (including collaborative efforts: if a project was generated by several people, all of them must be given credit).

6. The work is "patched together" from one or more electronic sources, none of which are credited. These sources may be downloaded or printed out, or purchased wholly from a "research paper retailer."

Ways to Give Credit

Giving credit to a source is called DOCUMENTATION and requires the following.

· Quotation Marks: when using words (three or more consecutively) copied from the source, put them in quotation marks, which means, "this is exactly what someone else said." Be sure to copy accurately and do whatever is needed to make the quotation grammatically correct.

· Citation: the exact place the material comes from is stated or "cited" for the reader, in shortened form, in parentheses right after the material, like this: (Katz 18). Most contemporary forms of documentation use parenthetical citations in the text, but a few specialty forms will require notes at the bottom of the page or at the end of the paper. Ask your professor or publisher what form is wanted.

· Bibliography/Source List/Reference List: a list of sources is placed at the end of the paper. "Bibliography" is the older term, meaning list of books; most writers now prefer "Sources," or "References" or some phrase using one of those words, to include both print and non-print materials.

· In-text Reference: the author's name or title is mentioned in the text, either because you're using only one source or because you want the reader to know where a paraphrase begins.