Assignment modules

Avoiding plagiarism: Citing sources

Mod-3

Your research paper is a collaboration between you and your sources. In the academic world, you are free to use the ideas of other people as long as you cite your sources.

Sources are cited for two reasons:

to tell readers where your information comes from—so that they can assess its reliability and, if interested, find and read the original source
to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas

Borrowing another writer’s language, sentence structures, or ideas without proper acknowledgment is a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism, a serious academic offense.

These acts are considered plagiarism:

Failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks and to cite the source of the quotation
Failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words and to cite the source of the ideas
Failing to cite sources of data, images, or artwork
Turning in a paper that someone else wrote

Images on the web must be cited like any other source; you may not simply copy and paste an online image into your work. If you use an image for academic purposes, you must give a complete citation, and in some cases you must secure permission for use of the image.

The only information that you do not have to cite is common knowledge, which varies by discipline and by subject within a discipline.

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