Understanding Plagiarism
Plagiarism – whether intentional or unintentional – is the use of someone else’s work and words without proper attribution (citation). Answering the question “says who?” helps avoid issues with plagiarism and other types of academic integrity.
Here are some sources to help you understand plagiarism and how to avoid it:
Tools like Grammarly can run plagiarism checks but they are not the authority on grading your work. If you feel stuck on this, reach out to your professor!
Quoting vs. Paraphrasing
Generally: Quote Less & Paraphrase More
One way to advance and mature your writing is to focus on paraphrasing more and synthesizing sources. More advanced writers showcase sources to support their conclusions and findings. Focus less on reporting what each source says and more on how your brought your research together to cohesively make an argument in your own voice.
Quoting is an exact repeat of the words found in a source. Quotes require quotation marks to indicate the words are not your own. They also require a page number (or location data if pages are not available).
How to Cite Quotes
Paraphrasing is an explanation of what you learned in your own words. Graduate writers should be paraphrasing a lot more than quoting!
How to Cite Paraphrases
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When Should I Quote?
Sometimes you read something super powerful from an author(s) and you want to share that exact phrase in your writing. If you stopped in your tracks reading it, it’s usually worth quoting!
Most of the time, paraphrasing is a stronger choice because it shows you understood how to both read and apply what you read and it makes room for synthesis of sources (more on that below).
Err on the side of paraphrasing over quoting. If you find yourself adding a super long quote that requires block quote formatting, make sure you (a) really ask yourself if that quote is vital and (b) know how to format long quotes.
Most graduate writing assignments are not long enough to justify more than one block quote max. For papers under 5 pages, skip it.
Source Synthesis
Less mature writing showcases a reporting of sources, in a style more like this (these sources are made up, but they’re still right about dogs!):
“Dogs are the greatest animals on the planet” (Smythe, 2022, p. 33). The research shows that dogs are helpful (Barnard, 2011). Dogs are also useful for medical reasons (Thompson, 2001).
More mature writing delivers conclusions supported by sources via source synthesis:
Many find that dogs are exceptional animals, able to provide services, helpful skills, and even medical support (Barnard, 2011; Smythe, 2022; Thompson, 2001).
Stronger writers quote less, paraphrase more (and understand the difference!).