Content

• Combining new and existing information

• Transmitting Ideas

• Parts of a Citation

• Citing Your Sources

• Plagiarism

• Is it Plagiarism?

• Avoiding Plagiarism

• Copyright

Combining new and existing information

It is important to organize all of your new and existing information.

This can be done by:

Simply creating folders on your computer to store files

Printing off materials and keeping them in a ring binder

Using social bookmarking and tagging tools on the internet.

Brainstorming and mind mapping

Brainstorming is a good way of getting all your ideas onto a page.

Mind mapping will help you link up the ideas in an organised way.

There is a brainstorm of ideas followed by a mind map:

Befriending schemes  Young people  Elderly people Mental health problems  Outcomes  Social isolation Mentoring  Empowerment  Service users

Transmitting Ideas

Ideas about using non-violent resistance to enact change have passed from person to person.

Thoreau		Gandhi		King		Your Ideas & Research?

When you research a topic you may use information from articles, books, or the Web to support your ideas. However, you must credit the original authors of these sources by citing them. To cite means that you state where you found the information so that others can find the exact item again. In this way we build upon the ideas and knowledge of other people.

Tips for researching and citing:

•Take clear, accurate notes about where you found specific ideas.

•Write down the complete citation information for each item you use.

•Use quotation marks when directly stating another person's words.

•Always credit original authors for their information and ideas

Parts of a Citation

Write Down All Parts of a Citation

As you do your research, keep a list of your sources--books, periodicals, and the Web. Below is the type of information you need to write down from a citation with each of its important parts labeled:

EXAMPLE SOURCE	EXAMPLE CITATION
book
Article in a periodical
Sources on the web
Online Article

Citing Your Sources

There are a number of different styles or formats for citations. Which style you use depends upon the subject discipline you are working in. If you are uncertain about which style to use, ask your professor.

Each style includes the same basic parts of a citation, but may organize them slightly differently.

SOME COMMONLY USED

WRITING STYLE GUIDES

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)

The APA style is often used by students in the social sciences.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers

The MLA (Modern Language Association) style, is often used by students in languages and English.

A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations

This commonly-used style by Kate Turabian is a student version of a longer guide, The Chicago Manual of Style.

CBE (Council of Biology Editors) System is used by Biologists, zoologists, earth scientists, geneticists, and other scientists

IEEE ( Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) style is used by writers in electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics

Plagiarism

When you quote people -- or even when you summarize or paraphrase information found in books, articles, or Web pages -- you must acknowledge the original author. It is plagiarism when you

1.Buy or use a term paper written by someone else.

2.Cut and paste passages from the Web, a book, or an article and insert them into your paper without citing them. Warning! It is now easy to search and find passages that have been copied from the Web.

3.Use the words or ideas of another person without citing them.

4.Paraphrase that person's words without citing them

Cite, Reference or Document your sources:

• Whenever you use factual information or data you found in a source, so your reader knows who gathered the information and where to find its original form.

• Whenever you quote verbatim two or more words in a row, or even a single word or label that's distinctive, so the reader can verify the accuracy and context of your quotation, and will credit the source for crafting the exact formulation. Words you take verbatim from another person need to be put in quotation marks, even if you take only two or three words; it's not enough simply to cite. If you go on to use the quoted word or phrase repeatedly in your paper, however, you don't need to cite it each subsequent time.

• Whenever you summarize, paraphrase, or otherwise use ideas, opinions, interpretations, or conclusions written by another person, so your readers know that you are summarizing thoughts formulated by someone else, whose authority your citation invokes, and whose formulations readers can consult and check against your summary.

• Whenever you make use of a source's distinctive structure, organizing strategy, or method, such as the way an argument is divided into distinct parts or sections or kinds, or a distinction is made between two aspects of a problem; or a particular procedure for studying some phenomenon (in a text, in the laboratory, in the field) that was developed by a certain person or group.

• Whenever you mention in passing some aspect of another person's work, unless that work is very widely known, so readers know where they can follow up on the reference.

When Not to Cite, Reference or Document your sources

• When the source and page-location of the relevant passage are obvious from a citation earlier in your own paragraph. If you refer to the same page in your source for many sentences in a row, you don't need to cite the source again until your refer to a different page in it or start a new paragraph of your paper.

• When dealing with "common knowledge," knowledge that is familiar or easily available in many different sources (including encyclopedias, dictionaries, basic textbooks) and isn't arguable or based on a particular interpretation; (i.e. the date of the Stock Market Crash, the distance to Saturn, the structure of the American Congress, the date or birth of the discoverer of DNA. This is commonly available knowledge. Obviously, what counts as "common knowledge" varies from situation to situation; when in doubt ask - or cite anyway, to be safe. Note that when you draw a great deal of information from a single source, you should cite that source even if the information is common knowledge, since the source (and its particular way of organizing the information) has made a significant contribution to your paper.

• When you use phrases that have become part of everyday speech: you don't need to remind your reader where "all the world's a stage" or "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" first appeared, or even to put such phrases in quotation marks.

• When you draw on ideas or phrases that arose in conversation with a friend, classmate, instructor, or teaching assistant - including conversation by e-mail or other electronic media. You should acknowledge help of this kind, however, in a note. Be aware that these people may themselves be using phrases and ideas from their reading or lectures. If you write a paper that depends heavily on an idea you heard in conversation with someone, you should check with that person about the source of the idea. Also be aware that no instructor or teaching assistant will appreciate your incorporating his or her ideas from conversation verbatim into your paper, but will expect you to express the ideas in your own way and to develop them.

Is it Plagiarism?

Plagiarism ranges from copying word-for-word to paraphrasing a passage without credit and changing only a few words. Below is a sentence from a book. The original source is followed by its use in three student papers. For each student's version check the pull-down box to see if the passage would be considered plagiarism.

Student	Example Written   Content
Abbie	The telephone was a convenience,   enabling Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had   already been doing before. Comments on   Abbie's passage   This is plagiarism in its worst form.   Abbie does not indicate that the words and ideas belong to Boorstin, leaving   her readers to believe the words are hers. She has stolen the words and ideas   and attempted to cover the theft by changing or omitting an occasional word.
Brian	Daniel J. Boorstin argues that the   telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more casually   and with less effort what they had already been doing before. Comments on   Brian's passage   Even though Brian acknowledges his source, this is plagiarism. He has   copied the original almost word for word, yet he has not supplied quotation   marks to indicate the extent of his borrowing.
Chad	Daniel J. Boorstin has noted that most   Americans considered the telephone as simply "a convenience," an   instrument that allowed them "to do more casually and with less effort   what they had already been doing before."2 Sample Foot Note:   1 (Daniel J. Boorstin, The Americans: The Democratic Experience, page   390.   2 Excerpt, examples, and commentary below are from James M. McCrimmon,   Writing With A Purpose, page 499.) Comments on   Chad's passage   Chad has done a good job. He has identified his source at the beginning   of the paragraph, letting readers know who is being quoted and has provided a   footnote directing them to the exact source of the statement. He has   paraphrased some of Boorstin's words and quoted others, but makes it clear to   the reader which words are his and which belong to Boorstin.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Copyright

Copyright is a complex and confusing area of the law these days. But you should know the following about copyright:

•Everything that is produced is automatically copyrighted. The U.S. Copyright Office puts it this way: "Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is 'created' when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. 'Copies' are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device…” Thus, a book, Website, sound recording, or photograph are all examples of works that are automatically protected by copyright immediately upon their creation. The U.S. Copyright Office’s website at www.copyright.gov  gives in-depth information.

•There is no need to register for copyright or to put any words or symbol on an item: it is copyrighted merely by existing. The owner can, of course, register for copyright, as well as putting a notice on the work such as:

•The right to copy (i.e, to control intellectual property) is protected for many years. The U.S. Copyright Office tells us:

“A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death. In the case of 'a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire,' the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death.

For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.”

•Does that mean I cannot use a copyrighted work? No. Here is what the Copyright Website www.benedict.com    has to say:

“The 'fair use' provision of the law says use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

Public Domain

Also, some work is in what’s called the public domain. Works in the public domain include works with the following characteristics:

• Originally Non-copyrightable such as ideas, facts, titles, names, short phrases and blank forms

• Lost Copyright such as all works published before January 1, 1978 that did not contain a valid copyright notice may be considered to be in the public domain.

• Expired Copyright for which the statutory copyright period has expired.

• Government Documents are not copyrighted, and therefore are considered to be in the Public Domain. Consequently, if you obtain a government document from the net, such as a law, statute, agency circular, federal report, or any other document published or generated by the federal government, you are free to copy or distribute the document.

• Works Granted to the Public Domain if the copyright owner grants the work to the public domain.