Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 12
Using Sources and Managing
Information

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter Outline
What is Plagiarism?
How To Avoid Plagiarism?
What is Meant By Integrating
Resources?
Why Integrate Resources?
Good Practice for Effective
Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is presenting someone else's phrases,
data, images, or ideas as if they were your own
because:
1. You, the writer, did not give proper credit or cite the
original source
2. You, the writer, did not properly integrate the
borrowed phrases, data, or images
University of Toronto: To use words, images, or ideas of others without
proper acknowledgement or credit is plagiarism, or theft of intellectual
property.
Plagiarism is highly unethical and illegal. Your intentions are immaterial:
plagiarism is plagiarism, whether it happens deliberately or accidentally.
Read plagiarism definitions of other international universities such as Duke
and MIT.

How To Avoid Plagiarism?

1. If you use the exact words from published material,
you must use quotation marks around the words
and cite the source.
2. If you use ideas from published material,
you must cite the source.
3. If you use phrases or information from published
material,
you must properly integrate borrowed phrases or
information (by paraphrasing or summarizing)
and cite the source.
4. If you use charts, graphs, data, or numerical
information obtained from published material,
you must cite the source.

How To Avoid Plagiarism?

No need to cite a source for material considered:
1. General common knowledge: facts and information in
public domain, such as current and historical events, famous
people, geographic areas, etc
2. Field-specific common knowledge: information
common only within a particular field, but you must be sure
that it is so widely known within the field that it will be shared
by readers. It may include facts, theories, or methods within
that field.
For example, you may not need to cite a reference about
Newtons second law to engineering audience, but you may
need to cite a reference to non-engineering audience.
If in doubt, be cautious and cite the source. And in case of
both general and field-specific common knowledge, if you
use the exact words of the reference source, you must use
quotation marks and cite the source.

Plagiarism Cases
- Copying word for word from a source without
quotation marks and proper citation is plagiarism
- Using ideas without citing the source is plagiarism
- Using your own words to paraphrase or
summarize someone elses technical writing
without citing the source is plagiarism
- Knitting or stitching together phrases,
sentence fragments, and/or paragraphs from
various sources is plagiarism, even if sources
are cited

Integrating Resources-1

What is Meant By Integrating Resources?

It is the proper documentation of information,
phrases, data, images, and/or ideas of other writers
published sources (secondary sources) into your
own technical report without plagiarizing.
Integrating resources requires giving credit to the
original source by citing it at two places inside
technical report:
1. Back matter of report (reference list)
2. Body of report (in-text citation)

What is Meant By Integrating Resources?

In text
Citatio
n

Johnson(2010) reported the

negative consequences of not
getting sufficient hours of
sleep.

Johnson,R.(2010). Insomnia
Full
citatio among teenagers. Journal of
Experimental Psychology,
n
154(3), 258-273.
Copyright 2011 by Pearson
Education, Inc.

In Text Citation
APA Style (American Psychological Association)

In-Text Citation Style (Authors last name, Year, P

There are integrate sources (Foster, 2002

p. 304).

There are integrate sources (Yanovski &

Yanovski, 2002, p. 594).
Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) explained (p
594).
There are integrate sources (Wilson & Smith, 2009).
There are integrate sources (Wilson et al., 1994).
There are
integrate
(Akl, 1992; Smith,
2006;
listing
is sources
in an alphabetical
order,
Wilson, 2001). and each item is separated by a
semicolon

Why Integrate Resources?

1. To provide background information that is relevant to
the writers topic
2. To provide supporting details
3. To expand the breadth or depth of writers report
4. To give examples of several points of view on writers
ideas
5. To refer to other writers work that leads up to the
ideas presented in the technical report
6. To call attention to the position that the writer agrees
or disagrees with in the technical report (to add
credibility to the technical report)

Techniques to Integrate Borrowed Text:

Information, Phrases, Ideas
1. Quotation (word-by-word match of writing of others)
- Use exact words of the borrowed text.
- Use quotation marks to surround the borrowed text.
- Introduce the quoted text and show its relation with your writing.
- Applied for a short segment of the borrowed text.
2. Paraphrasing (new expression of writing of others)
- Use your own words and structure to re-write the borrowed text.
- Retain message, ideas, details, and sequence of borrowed text.
- Applied for an entire passage.
3. Summarizing (outline of writing of others)
- Use your own words and structure to re-write the borrowed text.
- Retain message and main ideas of borrowed text.
- Applied for one or more passages from one or more resources.

Techniques to Integrate Borrowed Text:

Information, Phrases, Ideas
Guidelines
- Proper paraphrasing is a genuinely new expression, not merely a
trivial rewording of the original passage. Thus, it is vital that the
structure and the vocabulary are not too similar to the original.
- Unacceptable paraphrase is usually caused by making only
superficial changes to the borrowed text, such as replacing some
of the words with synonyms or changing the sentence order (the
paraphrase remains so close to borrowed text). It shows the
student does not understand the borrowed text.
- Summaries are significantly shorter than the borrowed text and
take a broad overview.
- Avoid interjecting your own analysis or opinions when
paraphrasing or summarizing. Your analysis or opinion can be
followed after that.

Good Practice for Effective Paraphrasing

and Summarizing
1. Read passage several times until you understand it as a whole.
- Do not pause to write down specific ideas or phrases
- Do not copy slabs of text or phrases from passage
- Without understanding, you will only end up copying passage
2. Put passage aside so you can not read it, and then rewrite the
borrowed text in your own words as if you are restating original
passage to someone else who is unfamiliar with it.
- Paraphrasing: focus on ideas, details, and sequence
- Summarizing: focus on ideas only
3. Check your version of writing against original passage
- Your writing captures the full meaning of passage
- Your writing accurately includes all vital information in a new form.
- Your writing does not contain exact phrases from passage

Original resource:

Wagner, A. (2008). New Developments in Robotics.

Computer Simulations, 112, 210-219. Retrieved May 6, 2010, from http://www.comsim.com

Integrating Resources

The Big Dog, which is the size of a large dog, can walk,
run or climb on rough terrain while carrying large
loads of equipment, according to manufacturer
Boston Dynamics, a robotics and human simulations
developer. It has an on-board computer that controls its
legs, keeps it balanced to steer and navigate and
manages a suite of sensors.
1. Quotation (word-by-word match of writing of others)

Recent advances in robot engineering has significantly improved

the performance of robots, as stated by Wagner in describing a
new robot that it can walk, run or climb on rough terrain
while carrying large loads of equipment (Wagner, 2008).
Introduce
Quote

Quotation
marks

In-text
Citation

Original resource:

Wagner, A. (2008). New Developments in Robotics.

Computer Simulations, 112, 210-219. Retrieved May 6, 2010, from http://www.comsim.com

Integrating Resources

The Big Dog, which is the size of a large dog, can walk,
run or climb on rough terrain while carrying large loads
of equipment, according to manufacturer Boston
Dynamics, a robotics and human simulations developer.
It has an on-board computer that controls its legs, keeps
it balanced to steer and navigate and manages a suite
of sensors.
2. Paraphrasing (new expression of writing of others)
Idea(s): Big dog is a new robot
Details: Uses of big dog, and features of big dog

The Big Dog is a new robot which can be used to carry

equipment in all regions. It uses its computer for balance while
moving and for controlling its on-board sensors (Wagner, 2008).

Original resource:

Wagner, A. (2008). New Developments in Robotics.

Computer Simulations, 112, 210-219. Retrieved May 6, 2010, from http://www.comsim.com

Integrating Resources

The Big Dog, which is the size of a large dog, can walk,
run or climb on rough terrain while carrying large loads
of equipment, according to manufacturer Boston
Dynamics, a robotics and human simulations developer.
It has an on-board computer that controls its legs, keeps
it balanced to steer and navigate and manages a suite
of sensors.
3. Summarizing (outline of writing of others)
Idea(s): Big dog is a new robot
Details: Uses of big dog, and features of big dog

A new robot, the Big Dog, with advanced feature has been
developed for several applications (Wagner, 2008).

Original resource (adapted from the OWL at Purdue):

Integrating Resources

Lezley, D., and Sam, K. (1986). Documenting Resources. New York: Vintage Books.

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking

notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the
final technical report. Probably only about 10% of your
final report should appear as directly quoted matter to
ensure its readability. Therefore, you should strive to
limit the amount of exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.
1. Quotation (word-by-word match of writing of others)
Paraphrasing and summarizing are valuable skills because
they help writers control the temptation to quote too much
information and, thus, improve the quality of writing. Quoting
should be limited and there should be good reasons to quote
borrowed text, as some writers recommended that only
about 10% of your final report should appear as directly
quoted matter (Lezley & Sam, 1986).

Original resource (adapted from the OWL at Purdue):

Integrating Resources

Lezley, D., and Sam, K. (1986). Documenting Resources. New York: Vintage Books.

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking

notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the
final technical report. Probably only about 10% of your
final report should appear as directly quoted matter to
ensure its readability. Therefore, you should strive to
limit the amount of exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.
2. Paraphrasing (new expression of writing of others)
Idea(s): Overuse of quotations in technical reports
Details: reason, limit quotes to 10%, recommended practice

In technical reports, some students often quote excessively.

Thus, they fail to keep quoted material down to an acceptable
level of about 10% of their report for clarity. Since the problem
usually originates during note taking, it is vital to minimize the
material recorded verbatim (Lezley & Sam, 1986).

Original resource (adapted from the OWL at Purdue):

Integrating Resources

Lezley, D., and Sam, K. (1986). Documenting Resources. New York: Vintage Books.

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking

notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the
final technical report. Probably only about 10% of your
final report should appear as directly quoted matter to
ensure its readability. Therefore, you should strive to
limit the amount of exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.
3. Summarizing (outline of writing of others)
Idea(s): Overuse of quotations in technical reports
Details: reason, limit quotes to 10%, recommended practice

Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from

sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a
technical report (Lezley & Sam, 1986).

Original resource (adapted from the OWL at Purdue):

Integrating Resources

Lezley, D., and Sam, K. (1986). Documenting Resources. New York: Vintage Books.

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking

notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the
final technical report. Probably only about 10% of your
final report should appear as directly quoted matter to
ensure its readability. Therefore, you should strive to
limit the amount of exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.
Word-for-word Plagairism
Students often use too many direct quotations when they
take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final technical
report. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final report
should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to
limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.
(Lezley & Sam, 1986).

Original resource (adapted from Cal State San Marcos

Integrating Resources
Library):

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
the nature
of expression
a particularofproblem
orothers)
an aspect of
2.about
Paraphrasing
(new
writing of
some
phenomenon.
Idea(s):
Intellectual honesty
Details: definition, contributions and understanding of other
researchers, acknowledgment of peers
Learning is not an individual activity and researchers should
acknowledge the efforts of their peers. Most of the new discoveries
take advantage of the work done by other researchers and their
findings. The learning process is a long tradition passed on from
generation to the next. Acknowledging the source of ideas gives
recognition to the intellect of others and shows a well-deserved
appreciation of their contributions (source) .

Original resource (adapted from Cal State San Marcos

Integrating Resources
Library):

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.
Word-for-word Plagairism
Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is linked together
in a kind of joint learning process. Not very 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 (source) .

Which of the following

explains the appropriate
action for the dates of a
scientific discovery?
A. Include an in-text citation and a
full-text citation
B. Include an in-text citation only
C. Include a full-text citation in the
references page only
D. No citation is necessary

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

Which of the following

explains the appropriate
action for the dates of a
scientific discovery?
A. Include an in-text citation and a
full-text citation
B. Include an in-text citation only
C. Include a full-text citation in the
references page only
D. No citation is necessary

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

Which of the following

statements is untrue?
A. You should include many direct
quotes in technical writing
B. You should include in-text
citations for paraphrased
information
C. You should put summaries into
your own words
D. All of the above are true
Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

Which of the following

statements is untrue?
A. You should include many direct
quotes in technical writing
B. You should include in-text
citations for paraphrased
information
C. You should put summaries into
your own words
D. All of the above are true
Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.