Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

Lamar is writing an informative essay about the properties of vitamin C for an introductory Nutrition class. He read a research study about whether vitamin C is actually effective in preventing the common cold, and he wants to summarize the findings. In this scenario, does Lamar need to cite his source?

Yes

Which of the following statements would NOT be an example of common knowledge?

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 44% of American households have a dog and 34% have a cat.

Intellectual property describes the expression of the human mind that can be owned and protected. Once somebody puts their creative ideas into a fixed and tangible format, that creative work becomes intellectual property. Which of the following is an example of intellectual property? (Select the best answer) :

All of these are examples of intellectual property

To give information from an outside source as support or evidence in a research paper or project.

Cite

Facts that are generally well-known, not controversial, and easy to look up.

Common knowledge

The exact word-for-word sentences or phrases that you found in an outside source.

Direct quote

It would be difficult to memorize all the rules of each citation style, especially because organizations regularly update their citation rules. The module described a variety of tools and resources to help when citing sources for college assignments. Which of the following is NOT one of the ways described in the module to get help with citation?

Go to the college bookstore for help with your citations.

Citing your sources in a research project serves a few purposes. Which of the following is NOT a reason to cite described in the module?

It makes you sound more important and helps you write a longer paper.

According to the lesson, what is the best way to avoid unintentional plagiarism?

Keep yourself organized

To explain someone else's writing or ideas in your own words.

Paraphrase

There are usually two parts to citation in academic writing. First, you tell your reader that you've included information from an outside source by placing an in-text citation or a footnote/endnote in your paper. Second, you:

Provide full citations for each of your outside sources at the end of your paper. The citations include information like the author/creator, title, publisher, and date it was published. These lists are sometimes known as "Works Cited" lists or "References" lists.

Plagiarism is using someone else's words or ideas in your academic work without giving credit to the original author. Which of the following would NOT be considered plagiarism?

Putting someone else's idea into your own words and telling your reader where you got the information using a citation.

How did the student use this source in her paper?

The student paraphrased the source.

How would you paraphrase the following paragraphs? (Select the best answer.)

The 2016 Presidential election is long over, but the political disagreements and strong political feelings might still be muddying up your Facebook feed. According to PCWorld, help is just a few clicks away - and it's free (Campbell, 2017).

Most of the library databases contain a citation generator tool, which can be a time-saver. But, the module includes a word of caution. Why do you need to be cautious with citation generators?

Citation generators are robots that are scraping the information from the source and sometimes the information or formatting is wrong.