Plagiarism

1. Plagiarism Have you ever played a game during which someone cheated? How did that make you feel? Plagiarism is a kind of cheating. It involves taking someone else’s work or ideas and using them as your own.

2. What is plagiarism? Plagiarism carries real consequences—receiving a low grade, failing a class, being expelled from school, even losing a job! Learning how to use other writers’ words and ideas correctly will help you avoid plagiarism.

3. Identifying plagiarism • Plagiarism occurs when you copy information from a source word for word. Habitat for Humanity has grown into a successful international organization since it was founded in 1976. Habitat effectively demonstrates the power of a grassroots movement. ATLANTA — Habitat for Humanity International had barely hung out its shingle in 1976 when Faith Lytle, the wife of a Presbyterian minister, started its first affiliate in her basement in San Antonio. Since then, more than 1,600 affiliates have sprung up around the country and built or rehabilitated more than 226,000 houses worldwide, demonstrating the power of a grassroots movement. nytimes.com

4. Identifying plagiarism If you use an author’s original ideas, credit that author. Otherwise, it’s like claiming you came up with those ideas on your own. President Carter Lends a Hand In 1984 Fuller traveled . . . to nearby Plains to pay a visit to former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Carter had earlier made donations to Habitat . . . but Fuller solicited Carter to do more. Carter agreed to serve on the organization’s board, lend his celebrity to fundraising efforts, and work on a construction crew. As Fuller had hoped, the event received national media attention. According to Edward A. Hatfield, in 1984 Fuller enlisted former president Jimmy Carter to serve on the organization’s board. His celebrity helped raise Habitat’s profile. Sean’s summary acknowledges the author whose ideas he used.

5. Introduction Drafting your research paper is like preparing a recipe. You’ve gathered all your ingredients together—your sources, notes, and outline. Now it’s time to add them in a logical order so the final product is exactly what you want.

6. Introduction Like a recipe, your formal outline lists the elements that go into your research project. Even if your final research project won’t be in the form of a paper, you start by moving information from your notes and outline to a written draft.

7. Writing your first draft • Introduction Begin by capturing your audience’s attention. One method is to make an ironic statement, as in this example. Imagine traveling to the rain forest only to discover that your trip harms the fragile place you sought to appreciate and protect. The popularity of ecotourism is threatening its very existence. Imagine traveling to the rain forest only to discover that your trip harms the fragile place you sought to appreciate and protect. Then add your thesis statement. Make sure it is logically connected to the first part of your introduction.

8. Writing your first draft Note B Note A Ecotourism is showing a 20-30% growth each year. Ecotourism is growing at a much faster rate than is regular tourism. Note C Ecotourism is growing in popularity worldwide. Main body of paper Your information is in your notes, and the order in which you will use the information is in your outline. Create a flow in your paper by weaving summaries, paraphrases, and quotations into a unified whole so that each idea leads to the next. Ecotourism is showing a 20-30% growth rate each year, which is much higher than the growth of regular tourism. This rate is even more impressive because it reflects worldwide growth. Ecotourism is showing a 20-30% growth each year, which is much higher than the growth of regular tourism. If you connect your ideas throughout the paper, your statements and explanations will flow naturally.

9. Writing your first draft Main body of paper • Each main point from your outline (the A, B, C levels) will become the topicof one or more paragraphs. • Ecotourism description • A. Enjoy and protect environment • B. Benefit community • C. Vacation examples Ecotourism focuses on protecting and enjoying the environment and on benefiting local communities. The Andean Inns in Venezuela exemplify this blending of leisure and service. As they marvel at the natural beauty of the Andes Mountains, visitors to the Andean Inns help conserve the fragile ecosystem of the Andes and support the economy of the villages that run the inns and hiking trails. Ecotourism focuses on protecting and enjoying the environment and on benefiting local communities. Then add supporting details such as summaries, paraphrases, or quotations from your notes.

10. Writing your first draft Well-chosen direct quotations can capture your reader’s attention and add credibility to your work. Do use transitions to integrate quotations into the flow of your ideas. Do use quotations sparingly and keep them to a reasonable length. Don’t use quotations just to fill out your paper, or it will look like a cut-and-paste version of others’ works.

11. Writing your first draft Integrate direct quotations into your writing by editing them for length and adding transitions. The quotation in this paragraph repeats language in the previous sentence: Editing the quotation and adding the transition because preserves the flow of ideas. Visitors to ecotourism destinations are different from regular tourists. “Visitors to ecotourism destinations participate in the improvement of the living conditions of the communities visited.” Visitors to ecotourism destinations are different from regular tourists because they ”participate in the improvement of the living conditions of the communities visited.” Edit cautiously so as not to alter the author’s meaning.

12. direct quotation paraphrased information Unlike regular tourists, these visitors “participate in the improvement of the living conditions of the communities visited.” The Andean Inns are spread out along a network of trails that meander through the part of the Andes Mountains that lie within Venezuela. Citing sources within your paper • You already know that you must create a Works Cited list to cite the sourcesof information in your paper. Now you will learn how to cite your sources within the body of your paper.

13. First things first: What is a citation? • A citationis a reference to a source used in a research project. Baines, Dudley. Emigration from Europe, 1815-1930. Cambridge: University Press, 1995. Print. Whenever you use another person’s ideas or words in a research paper, you must cite, or give credit, to that person. That’s called citing your source.

14. MLA citation style • Citations must be accurate and standard so that anyone who reads your research can easily find the information you used. MLA styleis a standard way of citing sources. This means each source you use should be formatted in a specific way. MLA style wasdeveloped bythe Modern LanguageAssociation.

15. Why you need to cite your sources There are three important reasons to cite your sources. • to find information • to show that you • understand your topic • to avoid plagiarism

16. Why you need to cite your sources • Citations help you remember where you got your information. • You can return to a source for more information or to clarify facts. • Citations help your readers locate information when they want to do more research.

17. Why you need to cite your sources Citations show that your research was careful and thorough. They also show that other people support what you’ve written about your topic.

18. How to cite your sources • Use two ways to cite your sources. At the end of your paper, add a Works Cited list. Within the paper, use parenthetical citations.

19. How to cite your sources • A Works Cited list is a list of all the sources you used in your research paper. Here are some entries for part of a Works Cited list. Baines, Dudley. Emigration from Europe, 1815-1930. Cambridge: University Press, 1995. Print. Brenner, Reuven. “Land of Opportunity”Forbes 12 Oct. 1998: 66-68. Print. “Chinese and Westward Expansion.”The Chinese in California, 1850-1925. Library of Congress. 28 March 2003. Web. 20 Nov 2008.

20. Parenthetical citations Listing all your sources in the Works Cited list is an important part of your research paper. • In the body of your paper, you also need to tell exactly where you found any information that came from other sources. • You do that using a parenthetical citation.

21. Parenthetical citations • A parenthetical citation appears in the body of your paper wherever you use another person’s ideas, facts, or words. A parenthetical citation always refers to a source in your Works Cited list.

22. Parenthetical citations • To create a parenthetical citation, give the author’s last name and the page number(s) from the source. Put this information in parentheses at the end of the sentence, before the final punctuation. Many letters sent home to families were written with the intent of encouraging further emigration(Baines 32). Readers can now find complete information about the source in your Works Cited list. Baines, Dudley. Emigration from Europe, 1815-1930. Cambridge: University Press, 1994. Print.

23. Parenthetical citations If the author’s name appears in the sentence, you need to cite only the page number(s) in parentheses. Dudley Baines notes that some letters sent home to families were written with the intent of encouraging further emigration (32). Dudley Baines notes that some letters sent home to families were written with the intent of encouraging further emigration (32). For sources without page numbers, like most Web sites, you should include the author’s name or the title of the source within the text instead of using parentheses. According to the Web page “Chinese and Westward Expansion” most Chinese immigrants were not allowed to own land or file mining claims. According to the Web page “Chinese and Westward Expansion” most Chinese immigrants were not allowed to own land or file mining claims.

24. Writing your first draft Conclusion Leave a strong final impression by restating your thesis and providing an insight, question, or thought that’s new to your audience. Ecotourism continues to grow in popularity and profitability, but it is failing to protect environments and communities. If ecotour groups are to succeed in their original intentions, they will have to decide whether their unconstrained growth is sustainable in fragile ecosystems. Perhaps even “regular” tour groups will face this question one day.

25. Tech Tool: Dictionary.com Writers often use dictionaries to define words as they write or to help with spelling as they revise and edit. You might find it easier to use an online dictionary, such as Dictionary.com,than one in book form. To use Dictionary.com, just type the word you want defined into the search box and hit Search.

26. Tech Tool: Dictionary.com Like a traditional dictionary, Dictionary.com gives each word’s part of speech and definition. In fact, it will give several different definitions of the word from different online dictionaries. For an extra fee, Dictionary.com will even allow you to hear words’ pronunciation.

27. Tech Tool: Dictionary.com Dictionary.com also includes a thesaurus to help you find just the right word to communicate your meaning. Always use a thesaurus carefully, though. Make sure the word you choose means exactly what you intend.

28. Your Turn Use these notecards to write a paragraph about problems caused by ecotourism. Focus on creating a logical flow of ideas and on the correct use of citations. “Local workers are laid off during the off-season.” Evaluating Ecotourism by Janice Wong (p. 3) Many animals do not react well to tourists in their territory. Introduction to Ecotourism by Rosa Hernandez (p. 17) The popularity of ecotourism causes the “degradation of formerly pristine ecosystem.” John Smith.

29. The End