Avoiding Plagiarism and Integrating Sources

Avoiding Plagiarism and Integrating Sources Citation Resources

Plagiarism is a serious offence in writing and can lead to failing assignments. This page will teach you all about avoiding plagiarism and how to integrate sources to ensure you are properly giving credit where credit is due.

Avoiding Plagiarism 

Plagiarism – pley-juh-riz-uhm – is “an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own” (Dictionary.com). This means that any time you use someone else words or ideas and claim them as your own, even if unintentionally, it is plagiarism.

To avoid being accused of plagiarism as a student writer, you must do the following: 

  • Acknowledge all your sources both in the body of your paper and at the end of your document (see our Citation Guides for more information on this). This includes not only words and ideas that are not your own, but also tables, graphs, photographs, and any other material that does not belong to you. 
  • Enclose the exact wording of an author in quotation marks or, if the passage is lengthy, format it as a block quote. 
  • Paraphrase and summarize ideas legitimately.  
  • Seek permission from your instructor if you plan to reuse any part of an assignment that you have previously submitted, either to the same or a different professor. (Yes, you can plagiarize yourself!!) 

Whether intentional or unintentional, the consequences for plagiarism can be serious. (To learn more, please refer to the Tyndale University policy on academic integrity at Academic Integrity). 

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Introducing Integrating Sources 

Proper integration of sources is key to avoiding plagiarism and ensuring academic integrity in your writing. Besides giving credit where it is owed to the author, effective source integration (and citation) serves the following purposes: 

  • Lends credibility to your work 
  • Does a service to your readers, enabling them to conduct further research on your topic 
  • Contributes to better cohesion in your work and helps to ensure that you avoid “patchworking” your sources 

Consider these sample quotations and paraphrases derived from: 

Heifetz, Ronald A. and Martin Linsky. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Change. Harvard Business Review Press, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentralproquestcom.ezproxy.mytyndale.ca:2443/lib/tyndale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5182629. 

ORIGINAL SOURCE 

CORRECTLY QUOTED 
Habits, values, and attitudes (even dysfunctional ones) are part of one’s identity. To change the way people see and do things is to challenge how they define themselves.  Heifetz and Linsky claim that, “Habits, values, and attitudes... are part of one’s identity. To change the way people see and do things is to challenge how they define themselves” (27). 

ILLEGITMATE PARAPHRASE * 

LEGITIMATE PARAPHRASE 
Heifetz and Linsky claim that one’s habits, values, and beliefs, are part of someone’s identity. Furthermore, they argue that to change the way people see and do things is to challenge their self-awareness.  According to Heifetz and Linsky, it is our everyday beliefs and behaviours that determine who we are, which, when challenged, affects how we understand ourselves (27).  

* This paraphrase is illegitimate for two reasons: it is too close to the original source’s wording, and it does not include an in-text citation to the original source. 

Careful notetaking will help you to paraphrase and summarize properly. Understand the material and try to jot your notes without looking at the source. Then, perform a cross-check to ensure that you have captured the essence of the source without following the wording too closely.  

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How to Properly Integrate Sources

  • Quotations: When you take the wording of an author directly (even just a few words), you must enclose them with quotation marks or, if the passage is long, format the words in a block quote and follow up with in-text citations or footnotes (see citation tip sheets for specifications).  
  • Paraphrases involve the use of your own words to communicate a source’s ideas in detail. Even though you are using your own words, you are still borrowing ideas, so you must cite using the style specified by your discipline or instructor. 
  • Summaries are similar to paraphrases, except that they use fewer words to convey only the most essential components of a passage. Anything summarized from a source must also be followed by complete citation.  

Both paraphrases and summaries require you to rephrase the ideas in your own words. This involves more than replacing key words with synonyms; it requires you to truly grasp the meaning of a passage and rewrite the message using an entirely different sentence structure.

When do I use which method for integrating a source? 

  • Paraphrases and summaries are often preferred to quotations since they help to communicate ideas succinctly and demonstrate depth of understanding. 
  • Under certain circumstances, however, a direct quote may be more appropriate or effective: 
    • When you intend to analyze the text in greater detail 
    • When the author has used strong or memorable language 
    • When the source’s wording adds credibility to your claim or clearly illustrates your point 
    • When you want to emphasize the opinions of an author 

When you do use a quote, remember to... 

  • Connect the quotation to your argument 
  • Explain how it illustrates your ideas 
  • Adequately discuss it 
  • Try to keep the quotation and your analysis within the same paragraph 
  • Avoid ending a paragraph with a quote 

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How to Introduce a Source 

When introducing a source, try to use signal phrases to introduce the author’s ideas or words and situate them within the context of your paper. Choose accurate verbs of attribution (such as claim, demonstrate, add observe, suggest, dispute, explain, insist, argue, and agree). As a general rule, use the present tense for MLA and the past or present perfect tense for APA (stated or has stated). Which tense to use in Chicago depends on the discipline. 

Examples 

  • According to [author] in [title], “...” 
  • [Author] argues that “...” 
  • In [title], [author] reports, “...” 
  • “...,” explains [author], “...” 
  • “...,” [author/expert/scholar] insists. 
  • [Author] offers a logical explanation: “..” 
  • Piper claims that “[t]he strength of patience hangs on our capacity to believe that God is up to something good for us all our delays and detours” (294). MLA 
  • “I believe in God like I believe in the sun,” explains Lewis (1962), “not because I can see it, but because by it all things are seen” (p. 48). APA 

Type of Citation 

Example

(Examples shown here in MLA-style   documentation)

Exact word-for-word quotation 

 

Put quotation marks around the sentence and use an introductory phrase... 

 Consider the words of the apostle Paul: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (New International Version, Heb. 11.1).

Close to exact words, but changing some words forms to correct the sentence or clarify meaning (changing the verb tense, moving from lower- to uppercase letters, inserting a word for clarification) ... 

 

Use quotation marks as usual and put square brackets around the altered letter(s) or word(s). Use an ellipsis (...) to mark omitted words. 

 In describing the writing process, Bacon asserts the importance of proofreading by explaining that the editor may find a sentence “contradict[ing] itself or... [a] sentence be[ing] misinterpreted” (7). 

Paraphrasing or summarizing by using ideas and putting them in your own words... 

 

Do not use quotation marks. Simply use an introductory phrase to introduce the thought and at the end cite accordingly. 

 In describing the writing process, Bacon asserts the importance of proofreading by offering numerous examples of mistakes that writers easily make without editing first (7).  

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