Project...Research Paper Option Research Paper Tutorial Giving Credit and Avoiding Plagiarism In the world of academics, knowledge is the commodity...it is what defines us and it is what we "sell". To that end it "belongs" to the person who created it. The "facts" in your paper are based on the work of other people and you have to make sure that you give credit to them for their work...even though they will likely never find out that you used their work in this way. To fail to give credit is the "greatest offense" in academic work. Plagiarism According to www.dictionary.com, Plagiarism is defined as "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and its representation of them as one's own original work". When you copy text from an article or when you do not give credit to a source you are commiting Plagiarism...KVCC has strict rules and regulations about plagiarism that you can review in the Academic Honesty section of the student handbook. Quoting Material One way to use someone else's words is to quote them. In the paper you would write the section in quotation marks. However, this practice is frowned upon by the academic world and should be kept to a minimum. The only times quotations are useful are if they exemplify a wording that is truely unique and really cannot be said any different. Like my favorite quote from Einstein: "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." (How can you say it any better than that?!!) Giving Credit The standard for giving credit we follow in this class is the standard for the Social Sciences. The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes a guide to writing professional papers. You do not have to buy this guide yourself unless you plan on going on to graduate school (where it will become something of a Bible of sorts!) This is DIFFERENT than the format of citing sources that is developed by the Modern Language Association (MLA). The difference has to do with professional affiliation and even though it might seem trivial, it is VERY important in the world of Academics, and thus, it is important here. There are two ways that you are required to give credit to ideas, facts, statistics, etc in your paper.
I'm going to provide you with a link to the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University, thought to be one of the best sources for assistance to writers that is available, however, it may be that you want to seek assistance with your references and in-text citations from the Marden Center at KVCC. I will also be holding writing sessions through the semester and will be announcing those in class or in the Announcements section. The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University APA Formatting and Style Guide (Pay special attention to the "In-text Citations" links and the "Reference List" links) Links for Research Paper Tutorial Introduction | Picking a Topic | Initial Research | Peer-Reviewed Articles | Outlining | Structure of a Paper | Giving Credit and Avoiding Plagiarism | Submitting the Paper |