Transcript Citation versus Plagiarism II

Citation versus Plagiarism II
Summarizing, Paraphrasing and
Misquoting
Definition of Plagiarism
• In the American academic context, plagiarism
applies to any number of instances where:
– The ideas or words of another person or entity are
used without properly crediting the original “owner”
– The ideas or paper has been submitted, by yourself or
another person, for a different project or assignment
in a journal or difference class
– Influence by another person makes the work almost
completely different than the author’s original or a
project was intended as a solo, non-collaborative work
Intention Doesn’t Matter, Quality of
Source Does
• There are two types of plagiarism, and yet not
even ignorance will save you from a failing
grade. 
• Be aware as well that the quality of ideas can
often indicate sloppy scholarship as well:
– The Internet is NOT your friend for last minute
information.
– Non-integrated sources undermine your work
even further in terms of both scholarship &
readability.
Strategies for Ensuring Accuracy and
Fluency
• Be sure what you are trying to prove: it’s easier to
choose a source and fit it neatly into your writing
if you feel secure in your own purpose.
• Focus on the nouns: content words reflect not
only meaning but connotation as well.
• Always explain the source’s relationship to your
idea. Don’t expect the reader to make the
connection.
• Use whole paragraphs when possible: a
paragraph is the smallest unit of meaning.
Strategies for Summarizing
• Create a topic sentence that reflects the author,
title, and main idea (topic and purpose of the
WHOLE original).
• Mention only the major supporting ideas that
support this overall topic, again returning to the
main idea.
– The story The Fox and the Crow attributed to Aesop
shows the consequences of vanity. By flattering the
crow, the fox is able to “steal” the crow’s food, a feat
that would have been impossible if the crow hadn’t
succumbed to vain demonstration.
Pick a Book!
• Choose a book from the list that you’ve read,
or another famous book that you know, and
create a succinct 2-3 sentence summary.
– Grapes of Wrath
– Gone with the Wind
– Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet
Strategies for Paraphrasing
• The first time you read the article or source,
you should be summarizing EACH paragraph in
your own words.
• Put the desired comment in a safe place, put it
away from you, and then write, from memory,
the ideas of the source.
• Check the nouns, verbs, and main clauses for
accuracy of ideas conveyed, as well as tone.
Practice
• Look at this passage, then from memory, write down what you
remember….
• Like any metropolis, the web has neighborhoods, some
safer and some horrific. Unlike any other metropolis, the
web lacks a government, laws, or a police force. The only
universally acknowledged cyber-crime is the intentional
spreading of computer viruses—infectious software
programs that could impair the experience of other cybertourists. Beyond this, there are no moral guidelines. A turn
down the wrong cyber-street guarantees exposure to
information or images at least as corrosive as anything
available in the streets of New York, Paris, or Tokyo—and
often even worse.
–
Kelemen, L. (n.d.). Escaping the cyber-slums: Online dangers and practical responses. Simple to remember.com. Retrieved from
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/dangers-of-the-internet
/
Quoting and Misquoting
• A sentence quoted once again must respect
the context of the whole.
• Try to keep the main clause the center of the
quote’s meaning.
• Look at the sentence’s meaning before and
after the quote in the original and circle any
identifying concepts that could affect your
CORRECT use of this idea.
Tell me about munchkins….
• Reality is a tricky thing. That which has become a
main stay of the language has not ever been seen as
a true, participatory member of society. Take
“munchkins”, the nation of little people from Oz, for
instance. Munchkins do not exist in so far as anything
the comes to the big screen does not exist. Yet
existence, except in our minds, is itself unreal. How,
then, can we deny this nation their autonomy when
we cannot even guarantee our own reality outside
the constructs our own heads create?
What Can Be Done?
• Be aware of what the big names ACTUALLY say
so that you can be wary of misuses, and call
authors on it!
• Strive for accuracy—in your own work, and
when you read. The best readers comprehend
what the author truly intends, recognizing all
the factors at play:
– Audience, intent, purpose, tone or attitude,
perspective, relationships used to further the
argument/prove the point