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SEMESTER 1, 2017/2018
LECTURE NOTES 2 (WEEK 3 – WEEK 4)
Topics:
1. Plagiarism in academic writing
2. Using and citing sources
3. Reporting verbs
4. Reference list
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1. PLAGIARISM IN ACADEMIC WRITING
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism refers to an act where you take ideas, words or data from a source
without giving full acknowledgement to the author. In academic work, ideas, words
or data are seen as private property belonging to the person who first thought or
wrote them. Published text such as books and journals as well as unpublished text
such as lectures, thesis or students’ essays must be acknowledged. The necessity
to acknowledge others’ ideas applies not only to text, but also to other work such as
graphs, illustrations and resources downloaded from websites.
Plagiarism is seen as a kind of theft and is considered as an academic crime. It is
easily detected by lecturers with the use of text-matching software like Turnitin.
When plagiarism is identified, students may risk failing the assignment, course or
even be expelled from the university, depending on the seriousness of the
occurrence. Therefore, it is important for all students to understand the meaning of
plagiarism and learn how to prevent it. Avoiding plagiarism is not simply a matter of
providing references or changing enough words. It is about employing the academic
skills to ensure your writing adheres to the academic convention. You will learn
these academic skills in the following topics.
EXERCISE 1
Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional.The first step to avoid plagiarism is to
identify the acts which are considered plagiarism. Work with a partner to evaluate the
following acts and decide if plagiarism occurs.
Acts Plagiarism
Yes/No
1. Copying a paragraph but changing a few words and giving a
citation.
2. Cutting and pasting a short article from a website, with no
citation.
3. Taking two paragraphs from a classmate’s essay, without
citation.
4. Taking a graph from a textbook, giving the source.
5. Taking a quotation from a source, giving a citation but not using
quotation marks.
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6. Using something that you think of as general knowledge, e.g.
large areas of rainforest have been cut down in recent years.
7. Using a paragraph from an essay you wrote and had marked
the previous semester, without citation.
8. Using the results of your own research. E.g. from a survey,
without citation.
9. Discussing an essay topic with a group of classmates and using
some of their work in your own work.
10 Giving a citation for some information but mis-spelling the
. author’s name.
EXERCISE 2
Compare the five paragraphs below which consist of the same ideas from the
following paragraph. Decide which paragraphs are plagiarised and which are not.
Railway Manias
In 1830 there were a few dozen miles of railways in the entire world, mainly
consisting of the line from Liverpool to Manchester. By 1840 there were over 4,500
miles and by 1850 over 23,500 miles. Most of them were projected in a few bursts
of speculative frenzy known as the ‘railway manias’ of 1835-1837 and especially in
1844-1847. Most of them were built in large part with British capital, British iron
and machines. These investment booms appeared irrational because only few
railways were much more profitable to the investor than other forms of enterprise.
Most yielded quite modest profits and many none at all. In 1855, the average
interest on capital sunk in the British railways was a mere 3.7 per cent.
Paragraphs Acceptable/
Plagiarised
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intense growth were 1835-1837 and 1844-1847. It is hard to
understand the reason for this intense activity, since railways
were not particularly profitable investments and some
produced no return at all (Hobsbawm, 1995).
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I. Using proper citation and referencing convention
II. Using direct quotation
III. Using indirect quotation (Paraphrase and Summary)
Selecting Sources
Depending on the types of academic writing and disciplines, you will need to select
and use different types of sources to support the points you are making in your
writing. When you select sources to be included in your writing, the sources should
not only be relevant, but also be credible.
EXERCISE 3
Which of the following types of sources are academically acceptable and credible for
inclusion in your writing?
Evaluating sources
Once you have selected the sources to be included in your writing, you need to
check whether the sources are reliable. You may use the following list as a guide.
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4. What is
2. Check the 3. Check the the purpose 7. Check the
1. Check the 5. Check the 6. Check the
reputation of reputation of of the quality of the
date content language
the author the publisher publication presentation
or website?
When the words or ideas you are using are taken from another source, you have to
acknowledge them in the form of citation and referencing. There are several reasons
as to why this is necessary:
I. in-text citations
II. a reference list
In-Text Citations
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An in- text citation is a reference incorporated within the body of an academic text.
The exact format of an in-text citation will depend on the style you need to use, for
example, APA. APA style of in-text citation consists of the following:
Example:
Bellafonte (1992) argues that genetic factors play a role in people’s need to take
risks.
Occasionally you may want to quote the exact words of another author. You quote
when:
The danger of using too many direct quotation in your writing is that at the end, your
work contains nothing more than other people’s idea. It is important to have your
own opinion and ideas in your writing. Therefore, use direct quotation sparingly and
only if necessary.
Citing within the Souza (1997) writes that “these spiralling human demands for
sentence: resources are beginning to outgrow the earth’s natural
resources” (p. 31).
Citing at the end “These spiralling human demands for resources are beginning
of the sentence: to outgrow the earth’s natural resources” (Souza, 1997, p. 31).
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If a source is written by two or more authors, you will need to use slightly different
citation formats.
Source with two List the authors in the order they appear in the source.
authors: Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text
and use the ampersand (&) when using the end-of-sentence
citation.
Citing within the Blackburn and Little (2005) note that exposure to second-hand
sentence: smoke can increase the risk of lung cancer by 30 percent.
Citing at the end Exposure to second-hand smoke can increase the risk of lung
of the sentence: cancer by 30 percent (Blackburn & Little, 2005).
Source with three List the authors in the order they appear in the source.
to five authors: Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text
and use the ampersand (&) when using the end-of-sentence
citation.
In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name
followed by "et al."
Citing within the Kapline, South and Findel (2003) discover that dark chocolate
sentence: contains four times more antioxidants than green tea.
Citing at the end Dark chocolate contains four times more antioxidants than
of the sentence: green tea (Kapline, South & Findel, 2003).
Subsequent Eating chocolate may also help lowering the risk for both
citation: stroke and heart disease (Kapline et al., 2003).
Source with six or Include only the surname of the first author followed by "et al."
more authors:
Citing within the Hancock et al. (2001) found that participants in an online task-
sentence: focused discussion of limited duration tended to make fewer
judgements about the personalities of their partners.
3. Unknown Author
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Sometimes the author’s name is not given. In this case, you will need to use the
title of the source instead.
Use the source title in place of the author with quotation marks
Include the year
Use the full title in the first citation. In later citations, use only the first two to
four words of the title
Citing within the “Choosing Your Friends Wisely: Developing Lasting Friendship”
sentence: (2004) describes three common mistakes that occur in new
relationships.
Citing at the end There are three common mistakes that occur in new
of the sentence: relationships (“Choosing Your Friends Wisely: Developing
Lasting Friendship”, 2004).
4. Groups as Authors
Citing within the The World Wildlife Federation (2015) reported in Kivalo and
sentence: elsewhere in Madagascar, trees are the number one source of
fuel for cooking and warmth and also the main source of
building material.
Citing at the end In Kivalo and elsewhere in Madagascar, trees are the number
of the sentence: one source of fuel for cooking and warmth and also the main
source of building material (World Wildlife Federation, 2015).
Subsequent The WWF explained that the mangroves are being cut to build
citation: houses and cook food at a rate faster than new trees can grow.
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In situation when no date is given for the publication of a text, often is the case with
many websites, insert the abbreviation n.d. in place of the year of publication.
Petterson (n.d.) claims that the chances of adopted children to develop normally is
highly
Two dependant
sources on the
by the sameattitude
authorof their parents.
Citing within the Petterson (n.d.) claims that the chances of adopted children to
sentence: develop normally is highly dependant on the attitude of their
parents.
Citing at the end The chances of adopted children to develop normally is highly
of the sentence: dependant on the attitude of their parents (Petterson, n.d.).
This applies when you are making comments such as “Several studies found” or
“Many researchers have found that”.
If you have referred to a number of studies from the same author(s) that have
suggested the same thing, arrange the citations chronologically, according to earliest
date of publication.
Same author(s): Several studies (Adams, 2003; 2005) also found that remedial
courses prepared students for subsequent college work.
Additionally, if the information is taken from more than one source published by
different authors:
7. Indirect Source
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Often sources include paraphrases and quotes from experts on the topic. You may
want to use this information that is included in the source but comes from someone
other than the author.
Include background information about the person whose idea you are using
Use an end of sentence format
Write “cited in” and then the last name of the author(s) of your source
Joan Sinker, a San Francisco psychologist, argues that increasing wealth does not
result in greater happiness (cited in Hamblen, 2001).
In the example above, Hamblen wrote the article, and in her article she included a
quote from the psychologist Joan Sinker. If you want to use Sinker’s idea this is how
you cite her information.
EXERCISE 4
Write in-text citations in APA style using the information below.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
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Date : Not Available
Paraphrase : Green vegetables and liver were not liked by teenagers in
Minnesota public schools.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. Author : Unknown
Title : Social media use and the fear of missing out
Paraphrase : The fear of missing out can also cause alcohol abuse among
college students and lead to risky behaviour. This fear also
affects people’s emotional state and threatens their safety.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
c. Subsequent citation:
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
4. Author : John Anderson, Pepper Ball, Gail Figgins, Richard Madsen,
Phoebe H. Carlton, Olga Dmitri Pines
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Date : May, 2002
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b. Subsequent citation:
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. REPORTING VERBS
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Including verbs in your citation, such as “Jackson wrote” or “Copeland found,” often
helps you integrate source material smoothly. This citation technique also helps to
prove that you are actively engaged with your source material. Unfortunately, during
the process of writing, it is easy to use the same few verbs repeatedly, such as
“Jones said” and “Smith stated”.
Before selecting a verb, it is vital that you carefully read the source and clearly
understand the author’s claim(s). When you have chosen a verb, ask yourself
whether the verb is really what the author intended. You must make sure that you
report others’ work accurately. Below are tables of useful reporting verbs that you
might use in citations.
The APA style emphasises the use of the simple present tense or present perfect
tense when you are discussing an author’s ideas or writing.
Harrison evaluates…
White demonstrates…
Lee has suggested…
There are certain conventions to follow when citing someone’s work. Words, like
“says”, “tells”, “asks” are normally used in oral conversation, and are not appropriate
in formal academic writing. The following table illustrates some appropriate words to
use for reporting the work of others.
When you mention a published work for the first time, you can use the following
basic patterns:
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For the second or subsequent mentions of your sources in your paraphrase of a
linked point, you can use these patterns:
EXERCISE 5
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate reporting verb from the box.
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state suggest claim
3. Alan (2007) _____________ the users of special purpose reports as "users who
have specialised needs and who possess the authority to obtain information to
meet those needs".
4. Armstrong (2004) _____________ that historical cost accounting has "passed its
use-by date".
EXERCISE 6
Write citations within the sentence or at the end of the sentence using the
information below. Use suitable reporting verbs when necessary.
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1. Author: Raymond Banks
Publication Date: August 27, 2003
Paraphrase: Slightly increasing the incline on a treadmill can reduce the
impact on the knee joints for those who suffer from arthritis.
Citation:
Citation:
Citation :
Citation:
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Publication Date: 2000
Paraphrase: Recent studies have eliminated fraud and coincidence as
possible explanations for the success of the mediums
tested.
Citation:
Citation:
4. REFERENCE LIST
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Documenting your sources includes both citing sources and providing a reference
list. The list of your references is the second of the two-part documentation process.
The format of information in the reference list corresponds to the in-text citations
within your paper.
In-text citation: Harper (2001) writes that later-born children are more likely to
pursue non-traditional careers.
Reference list Harper, E. (2001). Birth order and adult personality. New
entry: York: Collins Publication.
EXERCISE 7
Write references for the following sources in APA style.
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a. Source Journal
Title The chief marketing officer matters!
Author Frank Germann, Peter Ebbes, & Rajdeep Grewal
Date of publication 2015
Journal title Journal of Marketing
Issue 79(3)
Page number 1-22
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b.
Source Book
Title Statistics without maths for psychology: Using SPSS
for Windows
Author Christine P. Dancey and John Reidy
Date of publication May 2011
Edition Third
Publisher Harlow, England: Pearson/Prentice Hall
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
c. Source Webpage
Title Information and resources for Cancer: Breast,
Colon, Lung, Prostate, Skin
Author American Cancer Society
Date of publication No date provided
Website http://www.cancer.org/
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
d. Source Journal
Title Remembering differently: Use of memory strategies
among net-generation ESL learners
Author Mardziah Hayati Abdullah, Faiz Sathi Abdullah and
Tan Bee Hoon
Date of publication 2011 21
Journal title Educational Research and Reviews
Issue 6 (4)
Page number 350-357
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EXERCISE 8
Write a reference list in APA style by compiling all the references in Exercise 7.
Arrange them in alphabetical order.
References
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