Paraphrasing, Citing & Quotations

Examining PlagiarismCiting Sources Effectively

Exercise 1EXERCISE ONE:From Michael Ventura's "The Tools of an Animal": Different tools shape words differently, the way different tools build furniture and shoes differently.... Pen and paper are slow and messy, of course. Modernity loves speed and claims to hate mess. But speed is only a value when it's useful, and it isn't always useful. Slowness can be useful too. Using an instrument that doesn't let you go too fast can make you pause where you might not have, and a pause at the right time can change or even save your life, not to mention your work.From a student's essay:Most writers have come to depend on computers, and they can't imagine writing a paper without one. But, in an essay titled "The Tools of an Animal," Michael Ventura reminds us that sometimes computers aren't the right tool for a writer's task, sometimes using an instrument that doesn't let you go too fast can make you pause at a crucial point--and this pause may save your work from failure (5). Works Cited Ventura, Michael. "The Tools of an Animal." The Independent Weekly 20 April 1994: 5.1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay.2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution. 3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is plagiarism in the passage because the student borrows Ventura's exact words without using quotation marks. 2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution. The student uses attribution at the beginning of the second sentence: "in an essay titled 'The Tools of an Animal,' Michael Ventura. . . .3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?MLA.

Exercise 2From William Zinsser's On Writing Well: Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to "personalize” the author. It’s a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest strength and the least clutter.From a student's essay:An important quality of good writing is "aliveness" (Zinsser 6). To achieve aliveness, a writer must avoid gimmicks and instead use the English language to achieve great strength and a minimal amount of clutter. Works Cited Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction. 3rd. ed. New York: Harper, 1985.1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. 2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution. 3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is plagiarism because the student’s second sentence paraphrases from Zinsser without documentation. The student’s paraphrase also borrows too closely from the original. 2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution. The student does not use attribution in this passage. 3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay? MLA

Exercise 3From James L. Kinneavy, William McCleary, and Neil Nakadate'sWriting in the Liberal Arts Tradition:The goal of learning to write "in the liberal arts tradition" is the well-rounded writer-- a person with training and experience in a range of writing tasks, from term papers to poems and stories. From a student's essay:The authors of Writing in the Liberal Arts Tradition believe that "the goal of learning to write 'in the liberal arts tradition' is the well-rounded writer" (xiii). A well-rounded writer, they explain is one with training and practice in a variety of writing tasks (xiii). Works CitedKinneavy, James L., William J. McCleary, and Neil Nakadate. Writing in the Liberal Arts Tradition: A Rhetoric with Readings. New York: Harper, 1985. 1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. 2. Identify where the student uses attribution.

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is no plagiarism in this passage. The student’s paraphrase in the second sentence is appropriately attributed and referenced. 2. Identify where the student uses attribution.The student uses attribution in both the first and second sentences: “The authors of Writing in the Liberal Arts Tradition believe’ and “they explain.”

Exercise 4From a lecture by John C. Bean: Who among us begins writing an article by choosing a topic, narrowing it, and then writing a thesis statement and outline? Rather, most of us begin by being gradually drawn into a conversation about a question in our disciplines that doesn't yet seem resolved. We find something unsatisfying about this conversation; something is missing.... Whatever the source of our puzzlement, our own writing originates in our sense of a conflict or question. From a student's essay: Often, people view the writing process as a rigid series of steps. First, you choose a topic, then you form a thesis. An outline precedes the first draft, revision succeeds the first draft and editing is always the final step. In practice, however, the writing process is not nearly so clear cut. For instance, John C. Bean (1989) argues that writing often begins not with a thesis but with a question. References Bean, John C. (1989, October). Lecture presented at GustavusAdolphus College, St. Peter, MN. 1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. 2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is no plagiarism in the student’s passage because appropriate attribution and documentation are used to acknowledge the ideas borrowed from Bean. (In APA documentation, a page number is not required for summaries or paraphrases, but the date is.)2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?APA

Exercise 5From Edward Abbey's "Come on In": The canyon country of southern Utah and northern Arizona is something special. Something else. Something strange, marvelous, full of wonders. So far as I know there is no other region on earth much like it, or even remotely like it. Nowhere else have we had this lucky combination of vast sedimentary rock formations exposed to a desert climate, of a great plateau carved by major rivers--the Green, the San Juan, the Colorado-into such a wonderland of form and color.From a student's essay:In a short essay titled "Come on In," Edward Abbey introduces his readers to the wonders of the canyon country in the American Southwest. This area has a fortunate combination of extensive sedimentary rocks exposed to a desert environment and a great plateau shaped by important rivers. For Abbey, it is "a wonderland of form and color" (3). Works CitedAbbey, Edward. "Come on In." Plateau 49.1 (1976): 3-5. 1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. 2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution. 3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is plagiarism because the student’s second sentence borrows from the source but does not acknowledge the borrowing with documentation or attribution. The student’s paraphrase in this sentence is also too close to the original. She should use her own sentence structure.2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution. The student uses attribution in the first sentence, “In a short essay titled ‘Come on In,’ Edward Abbey introduces” and in the last sentence, “For Abbey.” 3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay? MLA

Exercise 6From Peter G. Rowlands' "Climatic Factors and the Distribution of Woodland Vegetation in the Southwest":In conclusion, there is a latitudinal, phytogeographic anomaly in the Southwest taking the form of declining woodland vegetation zones along a decreasing latitudinal and longitudinal gradient. This anomaly can be associated with the decline of the AHB [arid-humid boundary] from the northwest to the southeast between approximately 38'N and 31'20'N latitude. This decline in the AHB is a function of increasing summer precipitation along the same gradient.From a student's essay: An unusual relationship exists between the distribution of vegetation and latitude in Arizona and New Mexico: The lower limit of tree growth drops with decreasing latitude rather than rising, as one would expect. Rowlands (1) demonstrated that this anomaly can be associated with the decline of the arid humid boundary. References 1. Rowlands P. G. Climatic factors and the distribution of woodland vegetation in the Southwest. Southwestern Nat 38:135-1 97; 1993.1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. 2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay? 3. Explain why this documentation style is or is not appropriate for the student's essay.

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is plagiarism because the student quotes directly from the source in her second sentence and does not use quotation marks.2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay? CBE 3. Explain why this documentation style is or is not appropriate for the student's essay. CBE is appropriate because the student is writing about a biological topic.

Exercise 7From Steven D. Emslie, Robert C. Euler, and Jim 1. Mead's "A Desert Culture Shrine in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and the Role of Split-twig Figurines":Most of the known figurine sites in Grand Canyon share an apparent correlation with the caves containing remains of the extinct mountain goat (though these remains are considerably older than the artifacts) and remains of bighorn sheep, . . . The authors think the correlation of figurines with Oreamnos or Ovis remains is not accidental, and that the presence of these remains in a cave was the reason a site was selected for the deposition of figurines.From a student' essay: Since the 1933 discovery of split-willow figurines in the Grand Canyon archaeologists have been speculating about the function these simple figures played in the cultures of early Canyon dwellers. Emslie, Euler, and Mead (1987), for instance, have observed that the figurines we often found in caves with fossils from mountain goats and bighorn sheep. They believe that this correlation is not an accident.References Emslie, S. D., Euler, R. C., & Mead, J. 1. (1987). A desert culture shrine in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and the role of split-twig figurines. National Geographic Research, 3, 511-516.1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay.2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution.3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is no plagiarism in this passage because the student uses attribution and documentation to acknowledge appropriately the information borrowed from the source.2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution.The student uses attribution in the second sentence: “Emslie, Euler, and Mead….have observed.”3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay? APA.

Exercise 8From Ann H. Zwinger's forward to The Grand Canyon: Intimate Views:I first went down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in May of 1976, just after writing a book on the Green River, during which tune I had studiously avoided run-ning the Colorado River because I didn't want to lose focus, didn't want to be over-whelmed by this massive canyon, this overpowering river. When that book was over- and published, I wanted to complete my time of river running with the ultimate: the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, sure that I would write no more river books, do no more river trips, and this rowing trip would be the grand finale (so to speak), the ne plus ultra.From a student's essay:Though writer Ann Zwinger devoted much of her adult life to studying and writing about rivers, she carefully avoided the Colorado River for many years. Zwinger didn't want to be overcome by this magnificent river. Instead, she wanted to save the Colorado River until the end of her career as a river runner, believing that it "would be the grand finale" (ix).Works CitedZwinger, Ann H. Forward. The Grand Canyon: Intimate Views. Ed. Robert C. Euler and Frank Tikalsky. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1992. 1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay.2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?3. Explain why this documentation style is or is not appropriate for the student's essay.

Answers1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay. There is no plagiarism in this passage.2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?MLA 3. Explain why this documentation style is or is not appropriate for the student's essay.MLA is appropriate because the essay deals with a literary topic.

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