EXERCISE MLA 2–2 Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers

EXERCISE MLA 2–2Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers

Read the following passage and the information about its source. Then decide whether each student sample is plagiarized or uses the source correctly. If the student’s sample is plagiarized, click on Plagiarized; if the sample is acceptable, click on OK.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

We probably spend more time thinking and talking about other people than anything else. If another person makes us exuberantly happy, furiously angry, or deeply sad, we often can’t stop thinking about him or her. We will often drop his or her name in our conversations with others, tossing in numerous pronouns as we refer to the person. Consequently, if the speaker is thinking and talking about a friend, expect high rates of third-person singular pronouns. If worried about communists, right-wing radio hosts, or bureaucrats, words such as they and them will be more frequent than average.

The word I is no different. If people are self-conscious, their attention flips to themselves briefly but at higher rates than people who are not self-conscious. For example, people use the word I more when completing a questionnaire in front of a mirror than if no mirror is present. If their attention is drawn to themselves because they are sick, feeling pain, or deeply depressed, then also use I more. In contrast, people who are immersed in a task tend to use I-words at very low levels.

From Pennebaker, James W. The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say about Us. New York: Bloomsbury, 2011. Print.

[The source passage is from pages 291-92. Page 291 ends after Consequently, at the start of the fourth sentence.]

From The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say about Us by James W. Pennebaker, published by Bloomsbury Press. © 2011 by James W. Pennebaker. Reprinted with permission of Bloomsbury Press, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.

1 of 5

Question

EXERCISE MLA 2–2 Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers - 1 of 5: Adults spend more time thinking and talking about other people than they spend on anything else.

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Question

EXERCISE MLA 2–2 Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers - 2 of 5: High levels of emotion about someone may cause us to refer to that person more often and to use “numerous pronouns as we refer to the person” (Pennebaker 291).

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Question

EXERCISE MLA 2–2 Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers - 3 of 5: Pennebaker notes that people talking about friends will use “high rates of third-person singular pronouns,” whereas plural pronouns “such as they and them will be more frequent than average” when people are talking about certain groups that might make them uncomfortable (292).

4 of 5

Question

EXERCISE MLA 2–2 Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers - 4 of 5: Pennebaker explains that self-conscious people use I more often because “their attention flips to themselves at higher rates than people who are not self-conscious” (292).

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Question

EXERCISE MLA 2–2 Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers - 5 of 5: Pennebaker suggests that we can understand the way speakers regard those whom they are talking about by analyzing the pronouns the speakers use most frequently (291-92).