Acknowledging Sources
Tarrant County College Libraries Tutorial*
This tutorial will help you learn how to acknowledge sources and avoid plagiarism.
Sections
- Why is acknowledging sources important?
- How do you acknowledge sources?
- Test your knowledge!
Why is acknowledging sources important?
The Point of Class Writing Assignments
Writing assignments are not exercises in assembling a paper from different sources, they are designed to make you think for yourself.
In almost any job, you may be asked to gather information, evaluate and make decisions about the information, and present your conclusions to others. Your class writing assignments give you experience in using other people's work as a starting place for your own ideas and contributions.
By acknowledging your sources, you give your work credibility and identify your ideas and the ideas of others.
Intellectual Property
The concept of ownership of information (also called intellectual property) is important to understand. In the United States, people own the copyright of their content from the moment of creation. In other words, as soon as an author writes an article, the author owns the copyright to that article. Copyright allows the author to control how the work is used.
Copyright ownership also applies to books, databases, Internet pages, computer programs, artwork, music, and even spoken words. The material does not have to be published to be protected by copyright.
Because of this culture of ownership, you must be careful to acknowledge the source of all material that you use. If you do not, you are not only guilty of plagiarism but could face legal charges of copyright infringement.
The Importance of Acknowledging Your Sources
Why is it important to acknowledge your sources?
- When you acknowledge the contributions of others to your work, you act with academic integrity. Academic integrity is a firm adherence to five fundamental values:
- Honesty
- Trust
- Fairness
- Respect
- Responsibility
- By citing your sources you make it easy to verify information that backs up your arguments.
- If you are caught plagiarizing, you will face disciplinary action that could range from a failing grade to expulsion from the college.
What is Plagiarism?
When you take someone's words or ideas and present them as your own, you commit plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the work of others but not acknowledging the source.
Examples
- Copying and pasting text from a website.
- Copying and pasting a chart or image from a website.
- Copying material from books or magazines.
- Copying someone's spoken words.
- Copying a unique or distinctive phrase.
- Changing the wording of an article slightly (for example, changing "TV" to "television") and not citing the source.
- Buying or using a paper written by someone else.
- Taking another person's ideas and presenting them as your own.
- Copying someone's computer program.
- Including artwork or music in a project without getting permission or citing the source.
- Using a translation of someone's work and not referencing the original source.
- Translating someone's work into another language without crediting the author.
The use of a translation engine, such as Google Translate or Babelfish, to complete a graded foreign language assignment is considered cheating and plagiarism in some cases because you are presenting the translation engine's work as your own. It is also considered plagiarism to have a native or advanced speaker of that language assist you in translating English text you have written into the target language.
You can use other people's work in your papers as long as you give credit to the original author.
Plagiarism Can Affect Your Life
- "Nick Simmons, the son of the rock star Gene Simmons, sought to make a name for himself in the comic book industry as the writer and artist of 'Incarnate,' a manga-style series from Radical Publishing. ... [In February 2010] the publisher announced plans to halt production of a collected edition of 'Incarnate' after Internet message boards filled up with accusations that Mr. Simmons had copied layouts, dialogue and character designs from other manga series, including 'Bleach' and 'Hellsing.'" --Gustines, George G. "Comic Book Writer Accused of Plagiarism." The New York Times 3 March 2010: C2. The New York Times. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
- In February 2010, Australian Federal Court ruled that the Australian band Men At Work plagiarized part of a copyrighted children's campfire song, "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree," in its 1983 hit "Down Under." Men At Work may have to pay millions of dollars in royalties to the current copyright holder.
- South African poet Melanie Grobler has relinquished the Eugýne Marais literature prize and offered to pay back the prize money after it emerged that she had presented an unacknowledged translation of a poem by Canadian author Anne Michaels as her own work.
-
Although her poem Stad (Die Waterbreker, 2004) reads as an almost direct translation of Michaels's There Is No City That Does Not Dream (Skin Divers, 1999), without any reference to Michaels, Grobler denies allegations of plagiarism. She told the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, who gave her the prestigious award, that the resemblance was due to ‘pure negligence’ and the ‘absorption that takes place naturally when one is an avid reader.’” --Breytenback, Karen. “Prize-winning Poet Accused of Plagiarism.” IOL News. Independent Online, 12 Aug 2005. Web. 12 Aug 2014.
- "Harvard University sophomore Kaavya Viswanathan's debut novel 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life' was compared to 'Can You Keep a Secret' by Sophie Kinsella and two novels - 'Sloppy Firsts' and 'Second Helpings' - by Megan McCafferty. In the case of the McCafferty books, the works' publisher, Crown, said that more than 40 passages had been copied by Viswanathan. As a result, all copies of 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed' were recalled by its publisher, which also cancelled Viswanathan's two-book contract. A planned film version of the book was also canceled." --Kehe, Marjorie. "Beyond 'Harry Potter': 5 Interesting Tales of Plagiarism." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Feb. 2010. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
Cite Your Sources
When you are in doubt about whether or not you should acknowledge something, use caution and cite the source.
Avoiding plagiarism is easy. Simply acknowledge your sources with a citation. A citation contains information that helps others find the information you are referring to.
To learn how to cite material correctly, continue to the next section.
How Do You Acknowledge Sources?
Acknowledging Sources with a Citation
To acknowledge sources, use a citation. A citation is a reference to specific material that you used to support your work. The information in a citation helps others find the work you are referring to and usually includes some of the following information:
- Author's name
- Title of the work
- Date of work
- Page number
Example Citations
Book (MLA 7th ed.)
Deiss, Joseph Jay. Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure. New York: Harper & Row, 1985. Print.
Journal Article from a Database (MLA 7th ed.)
Chernew, Michael. "Research and Reform: Toward a High-Value Health System." Health Services Research 44.5p1 (2009): 1445-48. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Sept. 2009.
About Citations
You should acknowledge the source of all information in your paper unless the material is your own ideas and research or the information is common knowledge.
When in doubt, acknowledge the source of the information.
In your paper you will likely have one or all of the following:
- Quotations
- Paraphrases
- Other materials such as graphics, charts, or tables
- Information that is common knowledge
- Your own original ideas
- Your own original research like surveys or experiments
The next few screens will help you decide when you should acknowledge the source of the information.
Quoting and Paraphrasing Correctly
To include other people's words in your work, you can either quote the original material or paraphrase it.
Quoting
You are quoting material when you copy it word for word into your paper. Use quotation marks around the quote when you want the speaker to speak in their own words or when the speaker's words are especially distinctive.
When using quotes, you usually indicate the source of the quotation (who said it) and acknowledge the source of the quotation (where you found it).
Paraphrasing
When you paraphrase something, you restate it in your own words. You do not use quotation marks, but you must acknowledge the source of the paraphrase.
Quote Correctly
Quotations can be short or long. For short quotations, use quotation marks around the quotation.
Examples of Short Quotes
When Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., the town of Herculaneum was buried in "Paleozoic amber" and thus was preserved for posterity (Deiss 23).
After Vesuvius erupted, "the dead cities were erased from human memory. Not only the sites but their very names were totally forgotten" (Deiss 24).
Deiss, Joseph Jay. Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure. New York: Harper & Row, 1985. Print.
Introducing a Quote
You may introduce a quote to your reader by using a phrase like:
- According to US President Barack Obama, "..."
- As Professor Smith said, "..."
- "..." wrote author William Shakespeare.
Quote Correctly
Quotations are considered long if they take up more than four typed lines. For long quotes, set off the quotation by indenting it from the left. Quotation marks are not needed for long quotes, but you must still cite the quote.
Example of a Long Quote
At the time of the eruption that buried Herculaneum, few people guessed that Vesuvius was a volcano.
Its heights were silvery with the leaves of gnarled old olive trees, and its terraces grew fruit and grapes of enormous size. No one could have believed that this pacific mountain of groves and goatherds was in reality a slumbering volcano (Deiss 8).
Deiss, Joseph Jay. Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure. New York: Harper & Row, 1985. Print.
Paraphrase Correctly
When paraphrasing, do not follow the structure or language of the original material too closely. Paraphrase from memory rather than looking at the source.
Tips for Paraphrasing
- Read the original material and take notes of the main ideas.
- Write your paraphrase from memory and from your notes rather than looking at the original material.
- Change the order of the ideas on your notes.
- Make sure you change the wording from the original or put quotation marks around distinctive phrases.
- Making minor changes like writing out abbreviations ("TV" to "television") or making a word plural ("computer" to "computers") is not changing the wording of the original. To paraphrase, you must state the information in your own words and acknowledge the source of the information.
Plagiarism Examples
Look at the following examples to see how plagiarism can occur.
Original
Higher education is getting less, not more public financial support ... To stay alive, these schools are firing personnel, increasing class size, snuffing courses, limiting enrollment and cutting out some majors. But most of all, they're hiking their tuition and fees ... The cost crisis is resegregating higher education, not by color but by class.
Quinn, Jane Bryant. "Colleges' New Tuition Crisis." Newsweek 2 Feb. 2004: 49.
Plagiarism By Copying
To stay in business, schools are firing personnel, increasing class size, cutting courses, limiting enrollment and dropping some majors. But most of all, they're raising their tuition and fees. The result is that higher education is being resegregated, not by color but by class.
Passages in red are copied directly from the original without attribution or quotation marks.
Correctly Quoted
As public funding for higher education has decreased, colleges and universities have been forced to increase tuition and fees. According to Newsweek columnist Jane Bryant Quinn, "The cost crisis is resegregating higher education, not by color but by class (49)."
Quotation marks are used around the material and the quotation is signaled by naming the original author. Also, the quotation contains a citation to the original article.
Plagiarism Examples
Look at the following examples to see how plagiarism can occur.
Original
Higher education is getting less, not more public financial support ... To stay alive, these schools are firing personnel, increasing class size, snuffing courses, limiting enrollment and cutting out some majors. But most of all, they're hiking their tuition and fees ... The cost crisis is resegregating higher education, not by color but by class.
Quinn, Jane Bryant. "Colleges' New Tuition Crisis." Newsweek 2 Feb. 2004: 49.
Plagiarism By Incorrect Paraphrasing
Colleges and universities are getting less government money. To make up losses, they are reducing staff, classes, enrollment, and degree offerings while increasing tuition and fees. The result is that economic class now determines who can afford a college education.
Though the words have been changed, the overall order of the ideas in the passage is the same as the original.
Correctly Paraphrased
Newsweek columnist Jane Bryant Quinn asserts that economic status now influences who can attain a college education. This is important because as public funding for higher education has decreased, schools have raised tuition and fees. This discourages lower-income students from attending (Quinn 49).
The structure of the original has been changed, as have the words. Attribution of the idea of economic status is properly given. Also, the paraphrase contains a citation.
Plagiarism Examples
Look at the following examples to see how plagiarism can occur.
Original
Higher education is getting less, not more public financial support ... To stay alive, these schools are firing personnel, increasing class size, snuffing courses, limiting enrollment and cutting out some majors. But most of all, they're hiking their tuition and fees ... The cost crisis is resegregating higher education, not by color but by class.
Quinn, Jane Bryant. "Colleges' New Tuition Crisis." Newsweek 2 Feb. 2004: 49.
Plagiarism of an Idea
Enrollment on college campuses used to be influenced by race. Now because of increased tuition rates, it is a person's economic status that determines who can go to college.
The writer presents the idea of economic status determining college enrollment as their own, rather than attributing it to the original author.
Idea Correctly Cited
Enrollment on college campuses used to be influenced by race. But now, as Newsweek columnist Jane Bryant Quinn writes, economic status influences who can attain a college education (Quinn 49).
The idea of economic status determining college enrollment is properly attributed to Jane Bryant Quinn and includes a citation to the original article.
Including Other Elements
Other elements that you may include in your work are:
- Artwork
- Cartoons
- Charts
- Graphs
- Tables
- Music
All of these elements must have their source acknowledged with a citation, even if the image or music was downloaded or copied from the web.
Freely distributable clipart does not generally need to be cited for non-commercial purposes, but check your end user license agreement for confirmation.
If you are not sure if it is freely distributable, cite the source.
Example (MLA 7th ed.)
Fig. 1. Vincent van Gogh, Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
About Common Knowledge
Common knowledge is information that is commonly accepted or found in multiple general reference sources.
You do not need to cite information that is common knowledge. Examples of common knowledge are:
- Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.
- George Washington was America's first president.
- The book Animal Farm was written by George Orwell.
What is Not Common Knowledge
If you add an interpretation or idea to the fact, that addition is not common knowledge and the source of the interpretation or idea must be cited.
- New evidence suggests that Mars could have underground water (Feffer, Paradise, and Armstrong 43).
- George Washington, America's first president, set the precedent of serving a maximum of two terms in office (Mahoney 2741).
- In Animal Farm, George Orwell shows how language can be used to manipulate the public ("Animal Farm" 7).
Feffer, Loren Butler, Lee A. Paradise, and John Armstrong. "Did water once flow on the surface of Mars?" Science in Dispute. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2002. 41-47. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
Mahoney, Dennis J. "Twenty-Second Amendment." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Ed. Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst. 2nd ed. Vol. 6. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. 2741-2742. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
"Animal Farm." Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen and Kevin Hile. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 1-23. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
Original Ideas
As mentioned before, the point of class assignments is to develop and share your own ideas, not just assemble what you have read.
Your original work is the ideas and conclusions you have developed after conducting research. When you share your original work, you do not need to cite yourself as the author.
Examples
Examples of your original work that do not require a citation may include:
- Your opinions about a topic
- Your unique solution to a problem
- Results of an experiment or survey that you conducted
- Illustrations that you created
- Graphs or table that you prepared
Citation Chart
| What is it? | Do you cite it? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Quotations. A word-for-word copy of the original material. | Yes | Use quotation marks around short quotations, indent long quotations. |
| Paraphrase. Restating the original material in your own words. | Yes | Don't use quotation marks around paraphrasing unless you are including a distinct word or phrase from the original. |
| Graphs, images, or ideas from other people. | Yes | Also acknowledge music or even computer code created by others. |
| Common Knowledge. Information that can be found in multiple sources like encyclopedias. | No | If you are not sure if something is common knowledge, acknowledge the source. |
| Your own original ideas and work. | No | Your interpretation of data, original compositions, or new hypotheses do not need to be cited. |
Citation Style
When acknowledging your sources, there are many citation styles. A citation style tells you what information you need to correctly acknowledge your source and how the information should be presented. A few common examples of citation styles are MLA, APA, and Turabian. Your professor will tell you which format to use.
Example of MLA Style, 7th Ed.
Quirantes, Deborah. "Collaborative Approach to Autism: A Parent's Perspective." Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing 14.3 (2009): 203-205. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
Example of APA Style, 6th Ed.
Quirantes, D. (2009). Collaborative approach to autism: A parent's perspective. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 14(3), 203-205. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6155.2009.00199.x
Example of Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Ed., Bibliographic Entry
Quirantes, Deborah. "Collaborative Approach to Autism: A Parent's Perspective." Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing 14, no. 3 (July 2009), http://search.ebscohost.com/ (accessed March 3, 2010).
Acknowledging Sources Quiz
The following quiz has 13 questions designed to test your understanding about how to avoid plagiarism.
A passing score is considered 70% or above. If you pass, a certificate appears in which you can enter your name before printing it for your records. You may also email your score to a teacher or professor.
You may retake the quiz as often as you like.
Select the best definition of plagiarism
Question 1 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
You are fabricating sources when you make them up, but you are not plagiarizing. When you collaborate with someone without the instructor's permission, you are committing collusion. Both fabrication and collusion violate academic integrity, but they have separate definitions from plagiarism.
For a marketing class, you conduct a survey of students on campus. You include the results in your paper. Do you cite the source?
Question 2 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
You do not cite your own work, previously unpublished work.
Plagiarism does NOT apply to which of the following?
Question 3 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
Plagiarism does not just apply to words, it can even apply to ideas!
In class, your professor talks about a study she conducted. The results of the study have not been published, but you get permission to use the results in your paper. Do you cite the source?
Question 4 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
Even though the work has not been published, you cite the source since you did not conduct the study yourself.
Which sentence about citing is NOT true?
Question 5 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
A good explanation of common knowledge comes from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab: "Generally speaking, you can regard something as common knowledge if you find the same information undocumented in at least five credible sources. Additionally, it might be common knowledge if you think the information you're presenting is something your readers will already know, or something that a person could easily find in general reference sources. But when in doubt, cite; if the citation turns out to be unnecessary, your teacher or editor will tell you."
In making a determination of plagiarism, does it matter how much of the paper is copied?
Question 6 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
Even a few words or paragraphs with improper citation can be considered an act of plagiarism, but the consequences of the plagiarism may change in response to the amount copied.
Susan comes from a country whose educational culture does not emphasize the importance of citing sources. Because of this unawareness, she fails to cite major portions of her paper. When the professor charges her with plagiarism, she tells him about her country's expectations. Can Susan still get in trouble with the College?
Question 7 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
International students must abide by the same standards for academic integrity as U.S. students. If you need help with citing your sources, visit the campus Writing Center or the Libraries for help.
Which sentence about quoting is NOT true?
Question 8 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
Quoting is, by definition, a word for word recreation of the original; however, you may need to add information for clarity, omit parts of long quotes, or indicate that a peculiar spelling or construction is accurate. Your style manual can show you how to make these changes to quotes correctly.
Since a Wikipedia article can be written and changed by anyone, and it does not have an author listed, do you need to cite it as a source?
Question 9 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
If you are quoting or paraphrasing information from the Web-- even if it's Wikipedia, YouTube, or Facebook- you must cite the source.
Where can you go for help with citing sources?
Question 10 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
Your instructor should be the first place you go for help citing sources, but the Writing Center and the Libraries also provide help.
You start your persuasive essay on college football with these words adapted from Shakespeare:
"Friends, students, Mavericks, lend me your ears! I come to bury football, not to praise it."
Do you need to cite the original source of the quote?
Question 11 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
Generally, you do not need to cite something that is common knowledge like a famous Shakespeare quote; however, if you are unsure how well known the quote or saying is, check with your professor or err on the side of caution and cite the source.
To illustrate your paper on Hollywood entertainment, you use this well-known photo of Marilyn Monroe from Art.com. Do you cite the source?
Question 12 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
You should always cite the source for the artwork you use in your research. Citing art copied from the Web can be tricky- sometimes the site hosting the art is not the actual copyright holder to that work. Using a database like Oxford Art Online, available through the TCC Libraries, can help you find and cite images correctly.
Select the best definition of paraphrasing.
Question 13 of 13
Correct
Incorrect
When you quote a passage, you duplicate the passage word for word and surround it with quotation marks. When you paraphrase, you are taking a portion of the work, like a paragraph from an article, and restating that paragraph in your own words. If you were to write an abstract of the whole article, that would be considered a summary. Put simply, paraphrasing involves a small part of the work while summaries involve the whole work.