One way to prevent yourself from accidentally plagiarizing is to make sure you know how to create proper citations. Check out the NECC Citation Guide for tips and examples of how to use and create MLA and APA citations.
Searched the databases and still coming up empty? Found a source but aren't sure if it's scholarly or popular?
Librarians are always here to help! Never hesitate to ask a question, whether you:
Here's an example:
Original source:
The incidence of acquired hearing loss has risen in recent years, according to the study. Dr. Seth Schwartz, director at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle said greater hearing loss in younger people could be because of exposure to loud noises for extended periods.
Your sentence:
More young people are experiencing hearing loss recently, possibly "because of exposure to loud noises for extended periods."
Notice the words in the quotation marks are exactly the same as the original.
Sometimes the original author says it best. The author may use specific language that is clever or hard to reword.
Using quotations is perfectly acceptable, but don't overdo it. Remember, you need to include your own voice, so having a paper full of quotations will not reflect your conclusions very well.
The video below demonstrates how to incorporate quotations into your paper. You need to be sure to provide context and introduce your quotes so that your paper flows well.
Paraphrasing is when you read a source and then write it into your paper in your own words.
Paraphrasing, however, usually rewrites a small part of a source (such as a passage or paragraph) and provides more than just the main ideas. When you paraphrase, you are rewriting the passage or paragraph in your own words and providing a connection to your own conclusions.
Paraphrasing can be challenging to do. You need to rewrite the passage in your own words completely. Look at the Types of Plagiarism page of the Plagiarism Research Guide for detailed examples to help you avoid common mistakes.
Paraphrasing is a good alternative to quoting when you want to focus more on the idea than the actual words the author used.
Paraphrasing lets you show that you understand what the author was saying enough to explain it yourself using your own words.
Summaries explain and connect the main ideas of a source or multiple sources.
A summary takes a large source (such as a book, book chapter, article, etc.) and digests it down into a short discussion of the important parts. In other words, a good summary just gives the highlights.
Even though you may be just taking one main idea from a source, it is still not your original idea, so you must provide a citation.
When you are writing a research paper, you need to include your original ideas that are supported by other sources. You may wish to summarize a source that you know supports your ideas in your paper. Often, knowing a central idea of a source is enough to support your idea. You don't have to provide all the details of a source to make it clear that the main idea supports your conclusions. Including a citation for the source allows your professor, or whoever else is reading your paper, to consult the original source if they want to know more.
To cite this LibGuide use the following templates:
APA: Northern Essex Community College Library. (Date updated). Title of page. Title of LibGuide. URL
MLA: Northern Essex Community College Library. "Title of Page." Title of LibGuide, Date updated, URL.