How to Conduct Research and Write Your Paper

Tips on how to research and write your papers!
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What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is "the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own" (source: Oxford Languages).  As a student, you have a responsibility to yourself, to your institution, and to the academic community to provide yourself with the best learning experience possible and to contribute meaningfully to the academic community.  Beyond letting yourself down, plagiarism is a punishable offence at most academic institutions, and it will affect how others see your academic integrity.

Types of Plagiarism

Direct Plagiarism: A word-for-word copy of someone else's work, without quotation marks or citations.

Self-Plagiarism: When a student turns in previous work for a current assignment without the permission of both professors.

Mosaic Plagiarism: Borrowing entire phrases (or finding synonyms) from someone else's work without quotation marks or citations.

Accidental Plagiarism: When a person does not cite their sources, misquotes sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source without citation.

Source: Bowdoin

Types of References

There are 3 ways to refer to a source:
1. Direct Quote--use quotation marks, and cite every quote.
2. Paraphrase--put a passage from a source in your own words, and cite it.
3. Summarize--put a main idea from a source in your own words, and cite it.
Source: Purdue University Online Writing Lab (2012). Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing.
 
You do NOT need to cite:
1. Your thoughts and interpretations
2. Common Knowledge
Tip: If you're unsure if a fact is common knowledge, go ahead a cite it.  When in doubt, cite!

How to Avoid Plagiarism

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to take good notes.  Always make note if you're quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, and mark the page where you got your information.  Try to keep your paraphrased notes separate from your thoughts and ideas that you have while reading, so you don't wrongly cite your own ideas.
 
Whenever you paraphrase or summarize, do it when the material is fresh in you mind, but not right in front of you.  You might find yourself directly quoting instead without realizing it.  When you refer to sources, you should also double check your writing against the source to make sure that your language is original, but the meaning remains intact (when not quoting).