Using Sources Properly

By now we’ve identified the right types of

sources for our needs, used the right
search tools and evaluated everything we
came across.

But that still leaves a crucial step: actually

using these sources to help write our
paper.
Properly using sources involves a variety of
skills, including effective note-taking, proper
integration of source material and above
all, correct citation.
Trying to remember all the articles and books
you looked at and then manually writing up
all your citations is a great way to keep you
up all night before your paper is due.

But there are some strategies you can use

to make the process a lot less painful.
But first it’s important to understand why
citation is important in the first place,
since there are several reasons why we
do it.
 Why Do We Cite?

1. To help make our argument and

show that it is well-supported by
objective evidence.
Recall that good college-level research is all
about taking your own stance and
supporting it with high-quality evidence
that you get from your sources.

Different sources play different roles. Some

give background info that your reader needs
to know. Others provide actual evidence that
supports your argument. Some might even
argue against your claim, which shows you’ve
considered other viewpoints.
 As you read over the sources you’ve
found, ask yourself questions like

• Does this give me or my reader important

context or background information?
• Does this give evidence to support my claim?
• Is this a broader source, where my claim
could form a specific example?
• Is this a narrower source, which could be an
application of my claim?
• Does this argue against my claim?
This leads into the next reason why
we cite.
 Why Do We Cite?

1. To help make our argument and show that

it is well-supported by objective evidence.
2. To give credit to those who
influenced our ideas and avoid
plagiarism.
Plagiarism can be a scary word and it
indeed carries serious punishments, but
there are also some common misconceptions
surrounding it.

Let’s answer a couple of questions to

learn more about properly using sources.
 True or False?

Plagiarism means copying text

word-for-word from a published work.
 False

Plagiarism means copying text

word-for-word from a published work.

In fact, none of the red terms above have to be true.

Some other things that could be plagiarized:

• Conversations or correspondence (ex. an interview)

• Film, song or audio clips
• Images and photographs
• Data such as statistics, charts, maps or graphs
 Better Definition

“Plagiarism is using others’ ideas and

words without clearly acknowledging
the source of that information.”
(Indiana University)
It can be plagiarism even if you put something
in your own words. There are three ways to
integrate your sources and all of them require
that you cite the source.

Quote – An exact phrase taken from a passage and put

inside quotation marks.

Paraphrase – A restatement of a passage in your own

words, about the same length as the original.

Summary – A much shorter rephrasing of the main idea

of the passage (usually just one or two sentences).
 Example Passage
Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is
linked together in a kind of collective learning process.
Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid
foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and
understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of
appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together
about the nature of a particular problem or an aspect of
some phenomenon.

Let’s use this passage as an

example to explore quotes,
paraphrases and summaries.
 Is this an acceptable paraphrase?
Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is
linked together in a kind of collective learning process.
Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid
foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and
understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of
appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together
about the nature of a particular problem.

Intellectual honesty is the recognition that humanity is

linked together in a type of joint learning process. Not
much is discovered new without really understanding
other scholars' previous research and knowledge. Citing
shows you are grateful and appreciate what other
researchers have figured out about a particular issue.
 No, not an acceptable paraphrase
Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is
linked together in a kind of collective learning process.
Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid
foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and
understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of
appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together
about the nature of a particular problem.

Intellectual honesty is the recognition that humanity is

linked together in a type of joint learning process. Not
much is discovered new without really understanding
other scholars' previous research and knowledge. Citing
shows you are grateful and appreciate what other
researchers have figured out about a particular issue.
 No, not an acceptable paraphrase

Notice how the sentences are almost the same

except for some synonyms thrown in. This is
plagiarism since it’s so close to the original passage
without acknowledging which words were taken from
it directly.

• Original: Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity

is linked together in a kind of collective learning process.

• Bad Paraphrase: Intellectual honesty is the recognition that

humanity is linked together in a type of joint learning
process.
 Is this an acceptable paraphrase?
Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is
linked together in a kind of collective learning process.
Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid
foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and
understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of
appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together
about the nature of a particular problem.

Hoemann says that there is very little absolutely new

knowledge (2012). Most of our discoveries take advantage
of work done by those who have gone before us. The
process of learning is, in fact, a long tradition passed on
from generation to generation. Acknowledging the source
of ideas gives recognition to the contributions of others in
this tradition and is, as Hoemann says, an “act of humility.”
 Yes, an acceptable paraphrase!
Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is
linked together in a kind of collective learning process.
Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid
foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and
understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of
appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together
about the nature of a particular problem.

Hoemann says that there is very little absolutely new

knowledge (2012). Most of our discoveries take advantage
of work done by those who have gone before us. The
process of learning is, in fact, a long tradition passed on
from generation to generation. Acknowledging the source
of ideas gives recognition to the contributions of others in
this tradition and is, as Hoemann says, an “act of humility.”
 Yes, an acceptable paraphrase!

Notice how the sentences are much different,

not just by a couple of words. It also names the
original author and includes a short quote at the
end.

• Original: “Intellectual honesty is the admission that

humanity is linked together in a kind of collective learning
process.”

• Good Paraphrase: “Hoemann says that there is very little

absolutely new knowledge.”

• Good Quote: “… gives recognition to the contributions of

others in this tradition and is, as Hoemann says, an “act of
humility.”
 Is this an acceptable summary?

Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is

linked together in a kind of collective learning process.
Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid
foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and
understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of
appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together
about the nature of a particular problem.

Hoemann says that most of our discoveries take

advantage of work done by researchers who have gone
before us. Therefore, we should acknowledge the
contributions of others in our own work.
 Yes, an acceptable summary!

Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is

linked together in a kind of collective learning process.
Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid
foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and
understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of
appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together
about the nature of a particular problem.
Notice how it is a much shorter restatement of
just the passage’s main idea.
Hoemann says that most of our discoveries take
advantage of work done by researchers who have gone
before us. Therefore, we should acknowledge the
contributions of others in our own work.
You also want to make sure you don’t have
too many direct quotes or long paraphrases
in your paper. Remember that the whole
point of research is to make your own
argument, not just summarize existing
sources.
 True or False?

Most cases of plagiarism are not

intentionally planned.
 True

Most cases of plagiarism are not

intentionally planned.

Although it’s most common to think of

plagiarism as “cheating” or deliberately
stealing someone’s work, it’s actually more
frequent for it to be a mistake! The most
common reasons are sloppy note-taking
and incomplete documentation.
 Strategies to Avoid Unintentional
Plagiarism

• Take detailed notes when researching. (You’ll thank

yourself later!)
 Include: the original sources of ideas and which notes are
quotes, summaries, paraphrases or your own thoughts.

• Paraphrase without looking at the original source

to avoid bad paraphrases.
• Focus on the meaning, not the actual words.
• Proofread and revise to help identify missing
citations or attribution. (The Writing Center can help!)
 True or False?
Plagiarism is only a problem among
students, enforced by teachers.
 False
Plagiarism is only a problem among
students, enforced by teachers.
Many prominent public figures have been caught in
plagiarism scandals, including politicians, journalists
and even professors!
 False
Plagiarism is only a problem among
students, enforced by teachers.
 False
Plagiarism is only a problem among
students, enforced by teachers.
 Writing Your Citations
So now that we know plagiarism can mean a
lot more than just copying and pasting text
and it can affect just about anyone, how can
we be sure we’re using our sources correctly?

For one, the way you actually formulate your

citations depends on the requirements of your
class.
 Writing Your Citations

In general, classes like English or

philosophy (the “humanities”) use a citation
style called MLA, while social sciences
(sociology, psychology, etc.), business and
allied health disciplines at Sinclair use a
style called APA. Hard sciences like biology
and chemistry have many different citation
styles.
Different styles (like MLA and APA) have slightly
different rules for how to format your in-text
citations (or footnotes or endnotes) as well as
your works cited page at the end.

Be sure to ask your

instructor what he or she
requires and consult a
style guide, which lists
exactly how to format
books, articles, websites Find a style guide in print at the
and other materials. library, online in the Citation
LibGuide or possibly in your
textbook or supplementary class
materials.
There are also some tricks for getting your citations done
much quicker. For one, library databases have an option
to automatically generate a citation in many formats.
In LibSearch, look on the right-side Tools menu of an
item record to find the Cite button.
After clicking “Cite,” LibSearch will display the citation
information in a variety of formats, and you can scroll
down to find the one you need. It’s a great idea to copy
and paste the citation of every source you use into a
Word document right away. This way you’ll save a lot of
time when it’s time to make your bibliography!
If you’re searching an individual database
instead of LibSearch, you can still generate
citations but it will look different and the
database might use slightly different wording.

CQ Researcher

Opposing Viewpoints
Always think of the automatically-generated
citations as a sort of rough draft. You still need
to look them over carefully and check them
against a style guide to make sure there are no
errors. (And the databases sometimes do have
mistakes, like all caps or missing italics.)

For the sources you find outside of library

databases, you can type the citations manually
or use a service like EasyBib. If you go this
route, again be sure to double-check that the
citation is correct based on what is required in
your class.
 There’s one final reason why
we cite

1. To help make our argument and show that it

is well-supported by objective evidence.
2. To give credit to those who influenced our
ideas and avoid plagiarism.
3. To make it easy for someone else to
retrace our research process and
see how we arrived at our
conclusions.
It’s important to cite properly so someone reading
your paper is able to scrutinize your claim and see
how you came to choose that particular argument.

In most cases this will be your instructor grading the

paper, but if you ever publish in a journal, magazine
or website, there could be many readers who want to
see if your conclusions are justified. Using citation to
show them which works you consulted makes this
possible.
Next Steps: Look over the
resources in the “further activities”
section to the right and take the
Quiz below it.

Also, please leave any comments or

questions you have below this
presentation.
 Credits
• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Citation_needed%22.jpg
• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sleeping_while_studying.JPG
• http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-jane-goodall-book-postponed-plagiarism-questions-
raised-20130325,0,7749699.story
• http://www.thesandb.com/news/econ-professor-swart-resigned-due-to-plagiarism.html
• http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/06/rand-paul-plagiarism/3451991/
• http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-plagiarism-accusations-against-sen-rand-paul/
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Copyright-_all_rights_reserved.png/1024px-
Copyright-_all_rights_reserved.png
• Passages - Thompson, Sue. “Plagiarism Prevention for Students. CSUSM Library. Aug 23 2012.
https://microsites.csusm.edu/plagiarism-tutorial/
• Definition - Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University. (2004, April 27). Plagiarism: What it is and how to
recognize and avoid it. http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

Key Takeaway: It’s very important to cite all the

sources that you use. Citation allows you to make
your argument more effectively, give credit to
authors who influenced your ideas and avoid
plagiarism. Plagiarism is frequently unintentional,
so be sure to take detailed notes and save the
citations of all sources you consult using the
“cite” button found in library databases.