Frequently Asked Questions About Using Sources

Using Source Material Without Plagiarizing

Question: How do I know when I am plagiarizing? What if I already knew the information, but it also appeared in my sources? How do I know when to cite sources? What is the difference between a primary and a secondary source?

ANSWER: Most students do not want to plagiarize on purpose. Most students want to use sources properly, but they just do not know how to do it. Often, when students first learn about direct quotes, they go nuts with them—using far too many. As we have already established, that is not ultimately acceptable. So, how to do you incorporate outside sources successfully and correctly into your work? The following is a summary of information on this topic from various sources.

GATHER SOURCES

After you gather sources on a particular topic, it is time to read those sources. You may need to go back to the research databases to get more appropriate (better) ones after doing initial research. When you decide which sources you are going to use to support your essay, then you need to take notes on those sources. The best way to go about that is to set up a system whereby you can easily go back and take material from your sources to use in the essay to back up the main points that you are making in the paper.

SUMMARIZING, PARAPHRASING, DIRECT QUOTES

There are three acceptable ways to use sources in a research paper. These are: a) summarizing source material, b) paraphrasing source material, c) and taking direct quotes from source material. As you take notes on sources, divide the information from each source into these three categories so that you can easily go back and identify the kind of source note you made.

Summarizing: Taking a long passage of information and making it shorter IN YOUR OWN WORDS.

Paraphrasing: Taking a piece of information and putting into your OWN WORDS in about the same length as the original.

Direct quotes: Taking a direct quote from a source, which will require quote marks. [Note: Use single quote marks for a quote within a quote—single quote marks are on the same keyboard key.]

ALL OF THESE SOURCES MUST BE CITED IN THE PAPER. Even if you are taking source material and putting it in your own words, you must cite the sources.

High school students are usually only taught to cite direct quotes. But, the MLA and APA standards (as well as other acceptable documentation styles) require you to cite all information that you get from sources and put into your papers even when it is in your own words.

WHEN TO CITE SOURCES

So, how do you know when to cite sources? Ask yourself this question: Did the information come from my notes that I made on the source material? If the information did come from the sources, then, cite it—whether you summarized, paraphrased or directly quoted that information in your paper. Even if you already knew some of the information, find a sources that backs up your previous knowledge and cite it. The way that scholarship works is that the work of one scholar is added to, or corrected by, another. You must cite sources to add credibility to your claims, and to notate where a body of knowledge originated.

ORGANIZE AND SYNTHESIZE THE PAPER

After you make your source notes, then it is time to make an outline for your essay. This is when it is time for you to contribute your own thoughts into the process of writing a paper. When you write an outline, the structure is coming from you—you figure out the main points, and you figure out what you want to argue. Then, you use the source material to support the main points that you make in your essay. Again, be sure to cite all source material. This is called synthesis. You have synthesized sources materials with your own ideas.

PAGE NUMBER CITATIONS

YOU MUST ALWAYS USE A PAGE NUMBER CITATION IF YOU KNOW THE PAGE NUMBER. If there are no page numbers in the source, then you might question that origin and quality of the source. Why doesn’t it have page numbers? Is it from an inferior quality source?

Having said that, paragraph citations are useful for Internet sources that may not be clearly marked with page numbers but are good quality sources. For example, a government agency website, a university research site, or a high-quality popular source like the New York Times.

If the paragraphs are not numbered either, just number them yourself. If the source is just one, long paragraph, then use (Author, par. 1). It is, after all, paragraph 1, right? However, most sources that you use should have page numbers. Using page numbers is always the first choice for MLA. If you sources does not have page numbers, it may not be the highest quality source possible.

If a quality source does not have an author name (such as an article from some new agencies), then use the name of the article in the citation, and at the beginning of the works cited entry.

If you cite all of the information that came from your sources, then you have not plagiarized. If you already knew some of the information in your sources, it does not really matter. Cite it, anyway.

Primary sources are original sources of information, and you should always seek out the original whenever possible. Secondary sources discuss and refer to original sources (like in a commentary or a research paper). When you write a paper on a topic, you are creating a secondary source yourself! Clever you!