Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize Accurately and Appropriately
Unintentional plagiarism usually occurs when a writer takes poor notes and then uses the information from those notes in a document. As you draft, do the following:
Look for notes that differ from your usual style of writing. More often than not, if a note doesn’t sound like your own writing, it isn’t.
Place quotation marks around any direct quotations, use ellipses and brackets appropriately, and identify the source and the page or paragraph number of the quotation.
Make sure that paraphrases differ significantly in word choice and sentence structure from the passage being paraphrased, and identify the source and page or paragraph number from which you took the paraphrase.
Make sure that summaries are not just a series of passages or close paraphrases copied from the source.