O5-b: Keeping track of source material

O5-bKeep track of source material.

Especially when you’re working with electronic sources, it can be easy to unintentionally plagiarize by borrowing words or ideas without giving proper credit. If you take notes by copying and pasting or retyping material you’d like to use in a paper, make sure you include publication information—author, source title, Web site title, sponsor, most current update date, and so forth—in your notes. Such information will help you properly cite ideas and words from the source and avoid plagiarism. It will also save you time by making it easy to track down the source if you need to refer to it again later.