"But I included a link!" What constitutes plagiarism?

This week has been very frustrating for English teachers. US Senator Rand Paul has been caught plagiarizing his speeches and now over 1,300 words from his book Government Bullies. If you haven't been following this story check out this video from the Rachel Maddow Show. 

And read this article from Buzzfeed about the plagiarism in his book. 

The thing that is so frustrating about this is that I fight with students about this every single week. I constantly get papers submitted with no effort at correctly citing sources. I can't count how many times I have gotten a paper where the student simply submitted a list of links at the end and thinks that's enough to not be charged with plagiarism. But that simply isn't the case. In the case of Rand Paul, simply including a footnote that the information came from somewhere else isn't enough. The cited information must also be correctly cited in the essay. It has to be clear when words are directly cited, paraphrased, or are original. 

Plagiarism is a serious problem in academia. More and more students are thinking plagiarism is "the easy way out" in spite of the risks. To be caught plagiarizing can cost a student his or her education, a professional his career, or can ruin a politician. Isn't it easier to just do the work in the first place?

Which "Gang" Are You a Member Of?

Ok, I admit it. I'm a member of the MLA Handbook gang. Check out this funny article about the escalating "gang violence" over which style guide to use.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/4-copy-editors-killed-in-ongoing-ap-style-chicago,30806/

The Credible Hulk

Resource For Annotated Bibliography

I cam across this amazing source that really breaks down what an annotated bibliography is and how to do it. It is at the Cornell University Library (it is amazing how many free resources are out there from other universities) under How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography. It breaks down all the whether-tos and why-fors and then shows some sample entries:

Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51(4), 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51.4 (1986): 541-554. Print.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

While the exact formatting for the entry will depend on which style guide (APA or MLA) you are using, the information on why and how we do annotated bibliogaphies is the same. I hope you find this source useful.

Identifying Dropped Quotes and How to Avoid Them

Dropped quotes are something students really struggle with when learning how to integrate quotes. A dropped quote happens when an author uses a quote as the entirely of the sentence. A quote must always be associated with the author's original words. There has to be some explanation as to why the quote is being used. Please look at the following paragraph and see if you can identify the dropped quotes.

Dropped quotes are a real problem for new writers. "Never use dropped quotes" (Roberts 2013). It is important to always associate your own words with the quote so that people know why the quote is being included. "Quotes are important, but dropped quotes interrupt the flow of the paper" (Roberts 2013). When a quote is simply dropped into a paragraph, readers are left wondering why the quote was included in the first place.

Do you see how the quotes (while relevant and cited correctly) disrupt the flow of the paper and are not given any explanation? Now look at the same paragraph where the quotes are inserted into the text correctly.

Dropped quotes are a real problem for new writers. The only rule about dropped quotes in writing is to "never use dropped quotes" (Roberts 2013). It is important to always associate your own words with the quote so that people know why the quote is being included. "Quotes are important, but dropped quotes interrupt the flow of the paper" and, thus, defeat the purpose of being included in the first place (Roberts 2013). When a quote is simply dropped into a paragraph, readers are left wondering why the quote was included in the first place.

See how in the second example the quotes smoothly flow from thought to thought? This is your paper, so you need to associate your own words with the quotes to give them a reason for existing.

There are several ways to avoid dropped quotes.

1. Use a signal phrase before the quote.

According to Ms. Roberts, writers should "never use dropped quotes" (2013).

2. Use an explanatory phrase after the quote.

"Never use dropped quotes" are words to live by (Roberts 2013).

3. Integrate the quote into an original sentence.

In academic writing, one should "never use dropped quotes" in order to be taken seriously (Roberts 2013). 

What do you think? Is this explanation helpful? What questions do you still have about dropped quotes?

Time for a Breakdown - In-text Citations

Ok, so I am getting more and more questions and confused looks about how to do in-text citations, so I am going to do my best to go to the very basics here and breakdown what an in-text citation is and how to do it.

I am writing and paper and my teacher says I have to use direct quotes and in-text citations. According to Ms. Roberts "the quoted information goes inside quote marks" (2013). But how will she know where the quote came from? The information in the parentheses after the quote is the actual in-text citation. The in-text citation is citing where the quote came from. The information in the in-text citation gives the reader just enough information to find the full citation on the reference page. The full citation on the reference page will tell readers where I got the original information so they can go look it up on their own if they want more information.

What information goes in the in-text citation? For APA formatting, the in-text citation will usually have the author's last name and the year the information was published (Roberts 2013). You must include an in-text citation any time your paper uses information that didn't originate with you. That means you must include an in-text citation for direct quotes, summaries, and paraphrases.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. 1) If you don't know the author's name, you would put the name of the article instead (Ms. Roberts' Writing Blog 2013). 2) If you name the author in the signal phrase then you don't need to also include it in the in-text citation.

What is a signal phrase? Well, you never want to just drop a quote into a paper without explaining what it is doing there. "This dropped quote has no context so it makes no sense" (Roberts 2013). You always want some kind of signal phrase before or after the quote to explain why it is in your paper. According to Ms. Roberts "the signal phrase usually explains why you are including the quote. Without a signal phrase, there is no reason to have the quote in the paper at all" (2013). In that last sentence, see how I put the author's name in the signal phrase so I didn't put it in the in-text citation at the end?

I hope this explains more to you about how to do in-text citations and what they are. For more information about how to do in-text citations and your reference page, please see this helpful post How to APA Format Your In-text Citations and Reference Page Using Microsoft Word.

Does this make sense now? What other questions about in-text citations do you have?

How to Use In-Text Citations

This is a skill that many students struggle with at first. How do you actually insert an original author into your text? If you name the author in your text, then you don’t need to include it in your in-text citation because it is redundant. I know that might sound confusing, but let me show you.

Author is named in a signal phrase:

Aggressive driving is characterized by the tendency to view driving as a competition rather than as a means of getting from one place to another. Although most drivers are content to move along with the flow of traffic, aggressive drivers weave from lane to lane, seeking any advantage that will place them ahead of others. According to researcher P. Arlove, “aggressive drivers are also more likely to tailgate and honk the horn in an effort to intimidate other drivers or simply to move them along faster” (2007).

Author is not named in a signal phrase:

Aggressive driving is characterized by the tendency to view driving as a competition rather than as a means of getting from one place to another. Although most drivers are content to move along with the flow of traffic, aggressive drivers weave from lane to lane, seeking any advantage that will place them ahead of others. According to one researcher, “aggressive drivers are also more likely to tailgate and honk the horn in an effort to intimidate other drivers or simply to move them along faster” (Arlove, 2007).

Your audience needs to know, not only the name of your source, but who that person is. Give him/her some kind of introduction or title. If you are using the person as a source, the audience needs to know why this person is an expert worth quoting. Notice in my first example above that I said “researcher” P. Arlove. However, after the first time the source is introduced, you can simply reference him/her by last name only. 

Finally, the source information you are given from most libraries is NOT in APA format. They simply give you all the information you might need when making a citation. An APA reference page citation for a book looks like this:

Arlove, P. (2007). Wordsmith: A Guide to College Writing. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

So if all you do is copy and paste the reference into your paper or reference page, you are doing it wrong.