TECHNICAL WRITING

Dr. Nguyen Thu Nga

Department of Communication Engineering
School of Electronics and Telecommunications, HUST
Content:
◦ I. General of Technical Writing
◦ II. Technical Writing Process
◦ III. Structure
◦ IV. Plagiarism
I. GENERAL OF TECHNICAL
WRITING
What is Technical Writing ?
“Technical writing conveys specific information
about a technical subject to a specific audience
for a specific purpose…The words and graphics
of technical writing are meant to be practical:
that is, to communicate a body of factual
information that will help an audience
understand a subject or carry out a task.”
-Michael H. Markel

Boise State University

Writing at Work Basic Concepts to Communicate Technical
Information Effectively

Criteria for writing effective technical documents and

◦ Memos and e-mail know how to find and use sources for help;
◦ Letters
◦ Reports/ Papers/ Thesis
Write reports, data sheets, presentations, etc., to
◦ Proposals technically communicate information;
◦ Brochures
◦ Newsletters
Use written and electronic resources to communicate and
◦ Fliers handle data, e.g., charts, graphics, etc.;
◦ Resumes
◦ Web sites
Utilize computer software to prepare technical
◦ Online help screens presentations;
◦ User manuals
◦ Etc…..
Adhere to the ethics of technical writing and usage of
resources.
 Characteristics of Steps in the Writing Process
Effective Technical
Writing The instructional design model can be
used:
The four C’s:
• Clarity -- it is easily
understood by your intended 1. Analysis
audience 2. Design
• Comprehensiveness -- all of 3. Development
4. Implementation
the necessary information is
5. Evaluation
present
• Conciseness -- it is clear
without excess verbiage
• Correctness -- it is
grammatical and follows
conventions
Theory of Design
Good design is:
1. Visually simple and uncluttered.
2. Highlights structure, hierarchy, and order.
3. Helps readers find information they need.
4. Establishes the organization’s image.
 How to Organize Instructions

Introduction--explains what the

instructions should accomplish, Body--describes steps in a
Title--explains what a reader will
who should follow them, lists sequential order, it may include
do.
any needed tools, knowledge, graphics to clarify instructions.
cautions, or definitions.

Conclusion--describes expected
results.
 Ethics of writing.
Before starting to write your text, report, essay, or
paper do not forget to consider ethics of writing.
HONESTY VS
Ethics is a set of rules and standards for using
communication skills and resources when writing a
technical document.
• before starting to report or analyze your technical
work remember you must be correct and honest
in your work.
PLAGIARIS
M
 Print-on Paper Resources

Sources of Electronic Resources

Information

Non-print Resources
 Put in Quotations everything that directly comes from the text.

Quoting … “
”
Example:
According to Peter S. Pritchard is USA Today, “Public schools need
reform but they’re irreplaceable in teaching all the nation’s young” (cite)

The following should be avoided:

BUT … ◦ Stringing quotes together without discussion

◦ Writing a paragraph that consists only of a quote
◦ Overusing quotations

A good paraphrase finds new words to express the original meaning. It

changes the wording but not the message.

Paraphrasing
What makes writing not effective?
◦ Grammar mistakes.
◦ Vocabulary mistakes.
◦ Spelling mistakes.
◦ Mechanics and punctuation mistakes.
◦ Sentence errors.
◦ Pattern errors.
Check tools
◦ Thankfully, today’s technology makes memo, letter and proposal writing much easier by
providing reliable tools that check and even correct misspelled words and incorrect grammar
use. Unfortunately, these tools are not fail proof and will require your support, making your
knowledge in this area important.
 How to improve your
writing skills?

Before You Write It Down, Know This:

◦ Many people are intimidated by writing. Even

so, there are times when writing is the best way
to communicate, and oftentimes the only way
to get your message across. But for this your
writing has to be effective to be sure that it
carries exactly the message you want to send,
and it should be understood by the receiver this
way.
Content:
◦ I. General of Technical Writing
◦ II. Technical Writing Process
◦ III. Structure
◦ IV. Plagiarism
 II. TECHNICAL
WRITING PROCESS
 Principles of Technical Writing
Make your material attractive to look at and to read

Know - Know the audience you are addressing

Use graphics if they help to convey your meaning

Decide - Decide your purpose

Review, check and edit your work carefully by
asking yourself
- Start by telling your reader what you are
Start by 1) Would I want to read what I have written?
going to tell them

Write - Write simply and concisely 2) What reaction can I expect from my reader?

Avoid - Avoid jargon ASAP 3) Is my main message clear?

- Never use a word without being sure of

Use
its meaning
4) Have I answered the WH question that my readers
might ask?
 An Overview Of the Process

The goal of the writing process is to generate a clear, effective document for an audience.

Experienced writers achieve this goal by performing three types of activities:

Prewriting Writing Post writing

(Planning) (Drafting) (Finishing)
Prewriting Writing Post-writing
Plan Finish
Determining the  Edit for
Draft consistency and
◦ Goals
accuracy.
◦ Audience  Apply strategies of
style, organization
 Understand your
◦ Constraints and interest. method of
◦ Basic Facts producing the
 Apply strategies to
report.
Tentatively Establish help yourself
brainstorm and tree.  Don’t finish too
◦ Outline format and soon.
 Revise to help
◦ Tone reader’s
comprehension.

Usual Forward Path

Path Back to Help Yourself
 In the prewriting stage the writers
discovers the dimensions of their topic.

In this stage writers use number of

1- The techniques to discover everything they
need to know to write clearly.
Prewriting They treat this stage carefully.
Stage
Experienced writers ask and clearly
answer EIGHT important questions.
 Who is my audience?

What is my goal in this writing situation?

What affect this situation?

Eight What are the basic facts?

Important What is the expected final form of the document?

Questions What is an effective outline?

What format and visual aids should I use?

What tone should I use?

 Who is my Audience?

◦ The AUDIENCE is the person or people who will read your document. The more you
clarify who they are, the better you can write to them. You should ask these questions
about your audience:
1. Who will read this document?
2. How much do they know about the topic?
3. Why do they need the document?
4. What will they do with it or because of it?
 What is my goal in this situation?
Decide why you are writing this communication

◦ You actually have two goals: to communicate a

Prepare a “Thesis Statement” in one sentence states
specific message and to achieve a specific your main message
purpose.
◦ Post it in your workspace
◦ In other words, you ask and answer two
questions: Decide to whom you are addressing the message and
1. What is my basic message? assess their needs by asking yourself:
2. What is my purpose?
1) What do they already know?

2) What do they need to know from me?

What Constraints Affect This Situation?
◦ Constraints are physical and psychological factors that affect your ability to write document and your reader’s
ability to read it.
◦ By thinking about constraints, such as time and money, you achieve a clear picture of how you can produce
the document.

Constraints Writer’s Viewpoint Readers Viewpoint

Length of time to read before starting to
Time Time available to complete writing
act
Length How many pages to write? How many pages to read?
Money Cost to produce the document. Cost to purchase the document.
Physical
Place in which to write the document. Place in which to read the document.
Location
Production
Easy to use. Easy to read.
Method
 Determining the basic facts for your
document is a key planning activity.

What are the

Basic Facts? You must spend time collecting these facts by reading ,
interviewing or observing.
Establish an appropriate subject-development to portray your
main message:
- Chronological Approach
- Logical order
-Scientific Method
(Using Big Paper Plan Approach)
 Big Paper Plan Approach
Step 5: Develop
Links Step 6: Fill in
Step 1: Generate idea missing Links
Step 2: Group idea Step 3: Sequence Step 4: Sequence Sub-
Groups groups
Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 6 Idea 6 Idea 6
Idea 2 Idea 5 Idea 7 Idea 7 Idea 7
Idea 3 Idea 9 Idea 1 Idea 10 Idea 10
Idea 4 Idea 3 Idea 4 Idea 1 Idea 1
Idea 5 Idea 8 Idea 10 Idea 4 Idea 4
Idea 6 Idea 6 Idea 3 Idea 8 Idea 8
Idea 7 Idea 7 Idea 8 Idea 3 Idea 3
Idea 8 Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 9 Idea 9
Idea 9 Idea 4 Idea 5 Idea 5 Idea 5
Idea 10 Idea 10 Idea 9 Idea 2 Idea 2
 What is Expected Final Form?

01 02 03
Many Technical Writing If you know what is Knowing what is expected to
documents require a expected, you have a place to write makes document easier
particular final form. start. to write because you know
which information to include
and where to place it.
 As you begin to think about drafting,
you should first construct a preliminary
outline.

What is the The intended outline is very common.

Effective It is an informal list of major and minor
points you want to make.
Outline?
You arrange your material into an order
that will guide you as you write.
 You need to decide how your page
will look.

What Format
and Visual It is important to select a format
and choose visual aids that will
Aids shall I help and not hinder your message.

Use?
The two basic format elements are
margins and heads. (Headings)
 Unfortunately,
As you begin to tone isn’t a very
draft, you must objective term. It
consider the tone means what the
of your document. writing sound

What tone
like?

should I use? Should you give

Should it sound silly examples or
funny or serious? in joke form
work?
 Determine Determine the possible sources of information

Obtain Obtain facts relevant to your purpose

Summarize Analyze Analyze your information

Sift through your analysis and discard any information that does
Sift through not address your purpose

Prepare rough tables, graphs, and other analyses that aid the
Prepare development of your purpose
 2- The Writing: Stage
WRITE as
continuously as Drafting and Revising
possible in
comfortable In the writing stage you produce draft.
surroundings

You already have done careful planning and produced

an outline and now you start actual writing.

You try to put on paper the words that explain the ideas
in your outline.

Theoretically, if you have planned thoroughly, all you

need to do is flesh out the outline and describe the
visual aids.
Checklist for Drafting
Consider the following while drafting:
1. Follow your initial plan and outline.
2. Be aware that writing occur in burst.
3. Write a first draft in which you express your main ideas.
4. Be prepared to change your outline if you discover a new
way to present the material.
 5. Develop a sense of:
◦ Style strategies – try to use the voice and parallelism.
◦ Organization strategies – use a structure that sets up each section.
◦ Reader-interest strategies – add comparisons, examples, or brief
narratives.
6. If you are stuck, brainstorm or construct trees.
Checklist for 7. Write second and further draft, revising the first.

Drafting (con’t)
◦ Revise sentences so they are clear to reader (Read out loud) .
◦ Revise paragraphs so they are clear, concise, correct and reliable.
◦ Reorganize sentences if needed.
◦ Rework for deductive order – definitions and overviews first, details
second.
 3 – The ◦ In Postwriting, the last stage in the process, you craft the
document into a product that effectively guides your reader

Postwriting through the topic.

◦ This stage consists of two types of activities:
Stage: Finishing 1. Editing
2. Producing the document.
 Editing

◦ Editing means to develop a consistent, accurate text.

◦ In this stage you change the document until it is right.
◦ You check spelling, grammar, punctuation, basic grammar, format of the page, and accuracy
of fact.
◦ When you edit, ask yourself:
Is this Correct?
Is this consistent?
 ◦ Producing a document has two dimensions:
a) The physical completion of a document
b) The psychological completion of it.

◦ Physical completion means typing or printing the final

document.
◦ This dimension takes energy and time.
◦ Failure to allow enough time for this stage and its problems
will certainly cause frustration Producing the
Document
◦ Psychological completion means to attend to your emotions as
you near completion and to manage your time properly.
◦ Poor writing is the result of “finishing too soon.”
◦ If you permanently decide that you are finished, you probably
will not listen to other readers’ suggestions.
Technical Style
◦ Style is defined as the way a communicator:
- Put words together in sentences
- Arrange sentences in paragraphs
- Put paragraphs into sections
to ensure that the communication is conveyed in the intended manner

Character of Style:
- Calm, restricted tone, regardless of formality
- Active voice
- Integrated use of illustrations, graphs, charts, tables
- Well-defined abbreviation and symbols
 Coherent Logical connection ideas
Coordinated Ideas in logical order

Technical Style Consistent

Correct
Ideas in same format
Check spelling, punctuation,
grammar
◦ Style reflects both intrinsic and extrinsic qualities of the communication:
Choose words carefully Short
Intrinsic Qualities Extrinsic Qualities
Specific
Objective Clear
Necessary
Impersonal Concise
Restrained Focused
State Problem definition and stick to describing and solving problem
Honest Consequential
Gender ~Neutral

Make sure content is complete, reliable and aimed at appropriate level

Content:
◦ I. General of Technical Writing
◦ II. Technical Writing Process
◦ III. Structure
◦ IV. Plagiarism
III. THE STRUCTURE
Good Technical Writers Practice

◦ •Planning Planning/
Writing
◦ •Clarity Rethinking
◦ •Brevity
◦ •Simplicity
◦ •Word Choice Revising
◦ •Active Voice
◦ •Committing to Writing as a Process
 Clarity: Avoid Jargon
◦ •Jargon: a vocabulary particular to a place
of work (abbreviations, slang)
◦ •Audience familiarity with the topic
determines appropriate use of jargon
◦ Ex. 1: For the first year, the links with
SDPC and the HAC were not connected,
and all required OCS input data were
artificially loaded. Thus CATCH22 and
MERWIN were not available.
◦ Ex. 2: Because some of the links in the
computer system were not connected the
first year, we could not run all the
software codes.
Clarity: Define the Unfamiliar
◦ •If you must abbreviate, define the term in its first occurrence,
and put abbreviations in parentheses
◦ Ex: We know that the use of square-root raised cosine (SRRC)
pulses at transmitter and receiver suppresses inter-symbol
interference (ISI) and maximizes the received signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR) in the presence of white noise
◦ •Italicize first occurrence of unfamiliar terms and define
them right away
◦
◦ Ex: In computing, a datawarehouse, also known as an
enterprise data warehouse, is a system used for reporting and
data analysis, and is considered a core component of business
intelligence
Brevity: Use Words Efficiently
◦ •Never use two words when one word will
do.
◦ Ex. 1: OpenAI’s new algorithm, named GPT-2,
is one of the most exciting examples yet which
excels at a task known as language modeling
that was a kind of training from all resources
including articles, blogs and websites on
network environment.
◦ Ex. 2: The GPT-2 was trained on the task of
language modeling by ingesting huge
numbers of articles, blogs, and websites
Brevity: Less Is More
◦ • Pare your language down to the essential
message you want to get across to your readers:
◦ Ex: The development of the GBSM is assumed
that the scatters are arranged in a geometrical
form. That is, we can describe the AoA and AoD
‘s statistical properties. The physical principles
of reflections, scattering, and diffractions of
waves are used to develop the GBSM.
Brevity: Remove Redundancy
◦ •Combine overlapping sentences when
possible
◦ Ex. 1: Water quality in Hawk River declined
in March. This decline occurred because of
the heavy rainfall that month. All the extra
water overloaded Tomlin county’s water
treatment plant.
◦ Ex. 2: Water quality in Hawk River
declined in March because heavy rainfalls
overloaded Tomlin County water treatment
plant.
Brevity: Most Important First
◦ •Place key information in the main clause
◦ Ex. 1: Wireless operators are being challenged as
never before to add capacity and boost network
performance despite the fast-moving 5G is deployed.
◦ Ex. 2: Capacity and boost network performance
are the challenge as never before to the wireless
operators despite the fast-moving 5G is deployed.
◦ Ex. 3: The challenge as never before is capacity
and boost network performance despite the fast-
moving 5G is deployed.
 Simplicity: Use Details Wisely

◦ •Specific details are desirable, but be careful to balance detail with audience needs for clarity—
significance is more important.
◦ Ex. 1: This paper presents an approach to the evaluation of the reverse link capacity of a CDMA cellular voice in
Erlang.
◦ Ex. 2: This paper presents an approach to the evaluation of the reverse link capacity of a CDMA cellular voice
in Erlang, which is a dimensionless unit used in telephony as a measure of offered load or carried load on
service-providing elements [Roger L., 2005]. A single cord circuit has the capacity to be used for 60 minutes in
one hour, full utilization of that capacity, 60 minutes of traffic, constitutes 1 Erlang.

◦ •Many engineers want to provide as much specific detail as possible, but this can come at the
expense of readers understanding and their main point
◦ Ex. 1: The global volume of SMS are increasing enormously. It was 997,668,775,324 messages in 2005
and it is expected to grow three times as much by 2012.
◦ Ex. 2: The global volume of SMS is grown enormously. It was nearly 1 trillion messages in 2005
and it is expected to grow three times as much by 2012.
Language:
Needless Complexity Abstraction
◦ •Avoid too many abstract nouns

◦ Ex. 1: A computational algorithms rely on repeated

random sampling to solve physical and mathematical
problems mainly in classes: optimization, numerical
integration from a probability distribution.

◦ Ex. 2: With Monte Carlo method, we modeled a

probability distribution of physical and
mathematical problems
Language:

Needless Words Ambiguity

(already) existing never (before) ◦ •Choose words whose meanings are clear
at(the) present (time) none(at all)
(basic) fundamentals now(at this time)
◦ Ex. 1: Each node in routing by forwarding data
(completely) eliminate period(of time)
for other participates as ad hoc network does
(continue to) remain (private) industry not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure
currently(being) (separate) entities
◦ Ex. 2: Each node in routing by forwarding
(currently) underway start(out) data for other participates because ad hoc
(empty) space write(out) network does not rely on a pre-existing
had done(previously) (still) persists infrastructure
introduced(a new)
mix(together)
 Language: Ambiguity
◦ •Order the words in your sentences carefully

◦ Ex. 1: As AI greatly enhances work flow, processes, and accelerates the smart workplace investments, we see particularly
substantial impacts in the Medical and Bioinformatics as well as Financial Services segments.
◦ Ex. 2: We see particularly substantial impacts in the Medical and Bioinformatics as well as Financial Services
segments as AI greatly enhances work flow, processes, and accelerates the smart workplace investments.

◦ •Do not overuse pronouns —particularly “it” and “this”— because it is often difficult to identify the antecedent

◦ Ex.1: The PSM does not describe the channel as in the GBSM but it uses the channel parameters described the
transmission paths
◦ Ex.2: The PSM does not describe the channel as in the GBSM. Instead, the PSM uses the channel parameters
described the transmission paths
 Language: Weak vs. Strong
•Avoid too many “to be”verbs: “is”,“was”, “were”,“has been”,“have been”

•Avoid excess words, which slow comprehension of the main point

made arrangements for arranged

made the decision decided
made the measurement of measured
performed the development of developed
is working as expected works as expected
 Active Voice:
Strong Verbs
◦ •Technical writers want to communicate as
efficiently as possible, and active voice is more
straightforward and is stronger than passive
voice
◦ Ex 1: The feedthrough was composed of a
sapphire optical fiber, which was pressed against
the pyrotechnic that was used to confine the
charge.
◦ Ex 2: The feedthrough contained a sapphire
optical fiber, which pressed against the
pyrotechnic that contained the charge.
Natural Sound
◦ •When in doubt, read passages out loud to determine the
natural sound*
◦ Ex 1: AI may speed up the ability to predict accessible
alternatives. A large amount of data used to create a model
involves in. A user is recommended to avoid an inaccessible
access point.
◦ Ex 2: AI may speed up the ability to predict accessible
alternatives. The process usually involves a large amount
of data used to create a model. This application provides
the recommendations for a user to avoid an inaccessible
access point.
◦ *always defer to your professor, your journal, or your company style guide
for use of “I” and “we” in technical paper
Effective paragraphs
A paragraph is a group Unity: focuses on the topic.
Structure: A topic
of sentences tied by one
statement that ties all
main idea. A paragraph
sentences.
has:
Coherence: continuity of the thought.

Adequate content:
Form: marked by using Length 50 to 250
indentations. words, 2-16 sentence.
Adequate development.

An effective paragraph Adequate pattern of organization.

In technical writing
should have some
these paragraphs need
characteristics as
to be effective. Paragraphs fall into four types; Beginning, Body,
follows:
Concluding, and transitional.
 How to write effective TYPES OF PARAGRAPHS
paragraphs?

BEGINNING BODY (NORMAL

(INTRODUCTORY, PARAGRAPH IN
STARTING) THE TEXT)
THE FIRST A PARAGRAPH PARAGRAPHS
STEP IN IS A GROUP OF HAVE
WRITING A SENTENCES STRUCTURE,
TECHNICAL TIED BY ONE FORM, AND
REPORT, MAIN IDEA. LENGTH.
ESSAY,
ARTICLE, OR CONCLUDING TRANSITIONAL
PRESENTATION (ENDING,
IS TO WRITE A CLOSING)
PARAGRAPH.
Opening Paragraph How to develop
The opening Capture The opening paragraph should have the following structure:
paragraph reader’s Introduce topic + prepare for the thesis.
should: interest. or
Write the thesis + shortly develop it.
Announce the Define the or
topic. problem. Use both techniques for 2 sentences.

Present the
Define the
thesis The closing paragraph:
background.
statement. ◦ Restates thesis + conclusion.
or
State purpose Present the text ◦ Discusses significance + implications.
or scope. contents. or
◦ May call for actions or recommendations.
Transitional paragraphs Body paragraphs
Body paragraphs carry the message of the
text which is usually called a thesis
statement.

The transitional paragraph is

usually a short paragraph The thesis statement is developed
consisting of one sentence. through the whole text. The text
consists of a number of paragraphs.

It sums up previous topic and

shows where to go next. Each paragraph consists of a topic
sentence and a number of related
sentences developed so that they are
logically tied to the topic sentence.
 TOPIC SENTENCE is the core.

The other sentences are developed to stress

the topic sentence.
How to develop
The topic sentence may be place at the
an effective beginning, end or middle of the paragraph.
paragraph?
The topic sentence controls other sentences.

These other sentences should follow a certain

pattern.
 ◦ Narration.
◦ Description.
◦ Classification/division.
◦ Definition.
Commonly ◦ Process.
used patterns ◦ Analysis (cause and effect).

for developing ◦ Comparison/contrast/analogy.

◦ Listing, illustrating.
paragraphs ◦ General-to-particular.
◦ Background.
A combination of more than one method is
possible.
 Do not forget that after developing the
paragraph it should:

Show Emphasize Show Include Show Show Show

Show unity. Emphasize Show Include Show Show Show

the right cohesion. variety in adequate adequate adequate
topic. the sentence content. develop-ment pattern of
form and technique. organiza-tion.
structure.
 Writing Is a Process

•Good writing •Learning and •There are no First •Plan your •Understand •Good
doesn’t happen improvement shortcuts; Draft/Revised project before basic qualities writing is a
overnight; it requires self- Draft/Final Draft you begin of good habit that
requires review, peer- drafting. technical takes time to
planning, review, subject- writing; use the develop;
drafting, matter expert examples practice
rereading, feedback, and presented to makes
revising, and practice. guide you in perfect.
editing. your writing
and revising
process.

Unity is disturbed by grammatical and sentence Cohesion is achieved through maintaining a clear
NOTE pattern, and using specific transition elements within
mistakes as well as unrelated thoughts
and between the sentences
Content:
◦ I. General of Technical Writing
◦ II. Technical Writing Process
◦ III. Structure
◦ IV. Plagiarism
IV. PLAGIARISM
 Doing research puts you in a position to present views
relevant to your topic other than your own.

Plagiarism
Steals Ideas You will discover many interesting ideas. But be sure
you keep track of which ideas are your own and which

------- come from other people.

What is You must cite your sources correctly and give credit to

plagiarism?
others where it is due. That honesty in dealings regarding
your coursework is known as academic integrity.

The word plagiarism comes from a Latin word for

kidnapping. You know that kidnapping is stealing a
person. Well, plagiarism is stealing a person's ideas or
writing.
 Why Avoid Plagiarism?

Most schools are pretty strict about plagiarism. If you're caught,

you can wind up suspended or worse. At the very least, you're
going to fail the assignment.

When you're in college, schools will expel, or kick out, students

who plagiarize. When you're kicked out of one college, it can be
difficult to get into another.
 Plagiarism Is Lazy

Though plagiarism can be

But this is a shortcut that will catch
accidental, it's sometimes done on
up with you, even if you don’t get
purpose and that's just being lazy.
caught for plagiarism. It's important
By copying whole paragraphs from
for you to be able to research a
different places, you don't have to
subject, think about it, and then
spend the time thinking about the
come up with something interesting
subject, gathering your own
to say. This skill is important in
thoughts about it, and then putting it
elementary school, middle school,
into original words. Cut, paste, and
high school, college, and beyond.
you're done.
There are two things you can do to avoid being accused of
plagiarism:
•Technique 1: Paraphrasing (re-writing
in your own words)
In the parts of your writing that rely on
sources for information, paraphrasing
should be used the most.
As well as stating the important points
you should also explain the points. By
doing this you go beyond merely
repeating the information which you
have found. This is what makes a good
assignment
•Technique 2:  Follow the rules when
copying directly from a text
There are times when you can quote directly
from your source material. However, you must
follow certain rules. We will discuss APA
citation on the next powerpoint.
Very short parts of a source text (e.g. part of a
sentence) can be copied when needed.
However, the words that you have copied
must be immediately obvious to your reader.
You must also take care not to change any of
the words.
The exact source of your quotation must be
acknowledged
 What if I plagiarize unintentionally?
(I didn’t mean to plagiarize.)
Here are 3 examples of unintentional plagiarism?

1. Forgetting to cite your sources in your paper.

2. Citing sources incorrectly or inaccurately.
3. Second-language writers attempting to avoid grammatical errors by
copying sentences or paragraphs without quoting or citing them.

To be successful at direct quotation (copying) you need to indicate two things:

Exactly WHAT is copied.

Exactly WHERE it is copied from (acknowledging your sources).

Don'ts
Don't cheat.
Don't lie. Don't
steal. Don't Do's
Do share ideas with one another. Do
misrepresent
swap writing. Do edit another's
others work as paper from time to time. Do learn
yours. to like your writing; even when it's
bad, hand it in any way, and know
I'll always find something to like
about it. Do expect to make
mistakes managing and citing
sources. Do expect to correct them.
1. Question: What is the definition of plagiarism?
Answer: Taking someone else's work and claiming it as your own.

2. Question: What if you paraphrased someone else’s work and didn’t give it credit. Is this
plagiarism?
Answer: Yes

3. Question: What if you find a picture on the web that would look good in your paper and copy and
paste it into your paper. Is that plagiarism?
Answer: Yes

4. Question: What is the most obvious type of plagiarism?

Answer: Copy and Paste

5. Question: If you used Thomas Jefferson's exact words from some document he wrote, and didn't
give credit, would that be plagiarism?
Answer: Yes

6. Question: What is one way to not plagiarize?

Answer: Cite your sources