What is plagiarism? / Haverford's policy on plagiarism / When to cite / Mechanics of citation / Citation guidelines for MLA, Chicago, APA, and CSE styles /

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is taking someone else's work and passing it off as one's own. It is obviously plagiarism to buy an essay on-line or to copy sections of a published article word-for-word and then submit it as your final paper. But plagiarism doesn't just mean using someone else's exact words; using ideas, data, or even organizational structures from a source without acknowledging it is also plagiarism. Putting the idea into your own words isn't enough; it's still plagiarism if you don't properly acknowledge your source. It takes some time to understand this subtler form of plagiarism, but it's crucial that you do so, and not only in order to avoid the serious consequences of plagiarism. As you learn how to work with sources - with other people's work - you're also learning how to find your own voice, a voice you will use to express your ideas and make your arguments in your Haverford classes and beyond

Plagiarism and How to Avoid It by Professor Maud McInerney (Haverford College) gives a comprehensive description of plagiarism, along with examples of properly and improperly used sources.

Avoiding Plagiarism (Purdue OWL)

Safe Practices (Purdue OWL)

Avoiding Plagiarism: Mastering the Art of Scholarship (UC Davis Student Judicial Affairs)

Doing College Level Research, with Advice on Avoiding the Plagiarism Question, by Margaret Mauer with Constance Harsh (Colgate Honor Code)

Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices (Council of Writing Program Administrators)

The Honor Code says that "A gross act of plagiarism constitutes a student's withdrawal from the commitment to the academic honesty required by the Honor Code, and will normally result in separation from the community" (III.A).

Haverford College Honor Code

Statement on Plagiarism by the Faculty of Haverford College

When to cite

A citation serves as an acknowledgment of the source you're using. You need of course to cite a source whenever you use its exact words, but you also need to cite when you use its idea, information, data, organizational structure, or key concept, even if you put it in your own words. You don't need to cite a source when the material is common knowledge - knowledge that is generally accepted, widely available, and not subject to interpretation. The dates of the Civil War are common knowledge; its causes are not. Different things may count as common knowledge in different fields; if you're not sure, you should cite your source.

The links below give more details on when you need to cite, along with examples of proper and improper citation and paraphrase. See also Gordon Harvey's Writing with Sources (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998), pp. 14-15.

Plagiarism and How to Avoid It, Maud McInerney (Haverford College)

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing (Purdue OWL)

Successful vs. unsuccessful paraphrases (UW-Madison Writing Center)

How to paraphrase a source (UW-Madison Writing Center)

How to quote a source (UW-Madison Writing Center)

Mechanics of citation

After you've figured out how to incorporate a source into your essay, you need to think about the technical aspects of the citation. The first thing to determine is the style of citation you’re using. Different disciplines tend to prefer different styles; for instance, English departments often use MLA style, while History departments might use Chicago style. If you’re not sure what style you should be using, ask your professor.

The next thing to determine is the type of document you’re citing. You’ll need to include different information depending on whether you’re citing a book, article, newspaper, film, interview, etc. There are also rules for citing electronic sources such as websites and email.

Citation guidelines for MLA, Chicago, APA, and CSE styles

The chart below indicates the major types of citation style. The links will take you to the relevant page of Diana Hacker's website, Research and Documentation Online. The site has useful pull-down menus that will tell you how to write the bibliographical entry for every possible kind of source, from books and articles to paintings, listserv postings, and newspaper articles. Another good resource is UW-Madison's Citing References in Your Paper, which also indicates the proper format for the various kinds of citation. You might also try an online bibliography generator such as bibme, but if you use this type of website be sure to doublecheck that your sources are cited fully and properly.