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MHS Library | Research

Quick Tips

Document 

 

  • Document your search strategies
  • Keep track of books, journal articles and websites that you use; this will save you a lot of time when you need to write a bibliography 
  • Consider how you will collect and record this information
  • Cite your sources and avoid plagiarism
  • Use a consistent citation style

 

Why citing other people's writing is important

Citing the sources you use is important, because if you draw upon other people's work in your writing and research and do not acknowledge those sources, you can be accused of plagiarism.

Citations also allow your readers to follow up sources you have referred to enabling the sharing of ideas.

Sometimes a student might accidentally plagiarise. This is usually the result of a lack of academic writing skills, inexperience, sloppy note taking, or a combination of these.

 

More citation and bibliography help

Credits

The information on this guide has been modified from  Melbourne University Beginning Research libguides.

Summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

You can borrow from the works of other writers as you research. Good writers use three strategies—summarizing, paraphrasing and quoting—to blend source materials in with their own, while making sure their own voice is heard.

Quotations are the exact words of an author, copied directly from the source word for word. Quotations must be cited!

Use quotations when:

  • You want to add the power of an author’s words to support your argument
  • You want to disagree with an author’s argument
  • You want to highlight particularly eloquent or powerful phrases or passages
  • You are comparing and contrasting specific points of view
  • You want to note the important research that precedes your own
Paraphrasing means rephrasing the words of an author, putting his/her thoughts in your own words. A paraphrase can be viewed as a “translation” of the original source. When you paraphrase, you rework the source’s ideas, words, phrases, and sentence structures with your own. Paraphrased text is often, but not always, slightly shorter than the original work. Like quotations, paraphrased material must be followed with in-text documentation and cited the on the Works-Cited page.

Paraphrase when:

  • You plan to use information on your note cards and wish to avoid plagiarizing
  • You want to avoid overusing quotations
  • You want to use your own voice to present information
Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) or one or several writers into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summarized ideas are not necessarily presented in the same order as in the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

Summarize when:

  • You want to establish background or offer an overview of a topic
  • You want to describe common knowledge (from several sources) about a topic
  • You want to determine the main ideas of a single source

(Source: Spartan Guides)

What is plagiarism?

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