Plagiarism and Correct Borrowing
Plagiarism means writing facts, quotations, or opinions that are not your own and not giving credit to
the person(s) or organization where you got this information. This is stealing. Rule of thumb: if the
information or idea you present did not come out of your head, then cite it.
So what, exactly, is plagiarism?
There are some actions that can almost unquestionably be labeled plagiarism. Some of these
include
 buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper (including, of course, copying an entire paper or article
from the Web)
 hiring someone to write your paper for you
 copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or proper citation
When and How to Cite
MLA style requires you to use parenthetical citation and signal phrases to cite when you quote,
paraphrase, or summarize another author’s work.
 For MLA style quotations, paraphrases, and summaries: place the author’s last name and the
page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence, for example (Karim 1).
Definitions: Quoting
Quoting is writing down an author’s words exactly. Even if the words you want to quote are
misspelled or a sentence has grammatical mistakes, you must copy it so that it looks the same as the
original text. You may, however, make minor adjustments to the above:
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You do not have to quote an entire sentence; you may simply quote a phrase.
You may change the first letter in the quotation from capital to lowercase or from lowercase
to capital to fit in with your own writing.
You may change the final punctuation at the end of a quotation.
Example of quotation: “Nobody called him Abe--at least not to his face--because he loathed
the nickname. It did not befit a respected professional who'd struggled hard to overcome the
limitations of his frontier background. Frankly Lincoln enjoyed his status as a lawyer and
politician, and he liked money, too, and used it to measure his worth. By the 1850's, thanks to a
combination of talent and sheer hard work, Lincoln was a man of substantial wealth. He had
an annual income of around $5,000--the equivalent of many times that today--and large
financial and real-estate investments” (Oates 65).
Information from:
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Oates, Stephen B. Our Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, and the Civil War Era. Amherst,
MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1979. Print.
A direct quotation requires:
 Word-for-word (correct spelling and punctuation) repeating of the original
 Quotation marks
 Parenthetical reference (within the paper)
 Bibliographic entry on the Works Cited page
How to Quote Properly:
 Put double quotation marks “ “ around all of the words you copy from the text.
 If the original sentence contains errors, write [sic] next to the error.
o For example, the original states: He done me wrong
o Revise to: “He done me wrong [sic]”
 If you change part of a quotation to make it fit better into the surrounding sentence, enclose
the changed words in square brackets [ ].
o For example, the original quotation states: He is president
o But you need to change it to past tense, so revise to: “He [was] president”
 If you quote words already in quotation marks, change the original, double quotation marks to
single quotation marks.
 For example, the original states: “I felt annoyed,” she stated.
 Revise to: “’I felt annoyed,’ she stated”
 Do not insert a quotation as a separate sentence, which can confuse your readers. This is
called a dumped quote. Instead, integrate into the sentences which come before and after.
Confusing: how does the
quoted sentence relate to the
ideas before and after it?
Clear: the signal phrase “One
witness later said that he”
connects the quote of one
witness to the thousands of
refugees.
By the time the battle ended there were thousands of refugees. “I
couldn’t see the ground through all the feet around mine” (Numa 274).
Within hours, water problems began.
By the time the battle ended there were thousands of refugees. One
witness later recalled how he “couldn’t see the ground through all the
feet around [his own]” (Numa 274). Within hours, water problems began.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing involves taking the author’s writing and rewriting the same idea in your own words and
phrasing. Simply replacing the author’s words with synonyms or changing the order of the words is not
paraphrasing.
Example of paraphrase: By the middle of the century, Lincoln enjoyed life as a well-respected
lawyer and politician, having acquired a position of status and wealth that was well removed
from his modest childhood. He now was bringing in $5,000 a year and had substantial
investments. As a consequence, he disliked being called Abe because of its association with
his rural heritage (Oates 65).
A paraphrase requires:
 Radical alteration of vocabulary and sentence structure
 Parenthetical reference (within the paper)
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
Bibliographic entry on the Works Cited page
How to Paraphrase Properly:
Original Quotation
Plagiarism: The writer uses the
same words, only changing the
verb tense, so the new
sentence is too similar to the
original.
Plagiarism: The writer only
replaces certain words with
synonyms but keeps the same
sentence structure, so the
news sentence is too similar to
the original.
Proper Paraphrases: These
sentences use a new sentence
structure with new words, while
keeping the original ideas of
the writer.
“If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling for linguists, it was also
startling news for animal behaviorists” (Davis 26).
The existence of a signing ape unsettled linguists and startled animal
behaviorists (Davis 26).
If the presence of a sign-language-using chimp was disturbing for scientists
who study language, it was also surprising to scientists who study animal
behavior (Davis 26).
When they learned of an ape’s ability to use sign language, both linguists and
animal behaviorists were taken by surprise (Davis 26).
According to Flora Davis, linguists and animal behaviorists were unprepared
for the news that a chimp could communicate with its trainers through sign
language (26).
Summarizing
Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s).
Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are
significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.
Example of summary: The stereotypical image of President Lincoln as a man who worked hard,
struggled, and came from a modest background is an incomplete portrait because Mr.
Lincoln was successful both professionally and financially, even by today's standards (Oates
65).
A summary requires:
 Parenthetical reference (within the paper)
 Bibliographic entry on the Works Cited page
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Examples of Correct Borrowing
Original
The character and mentality of the keepers may be of more importance in understanding prisons
than the character and mentality of the kept.
Citation:
Mitford, Jessica. Kind and Usual Punishment. New York: Random House, 1973. 9. Print.
Correct Quotation
“The character and mentality of the keepers,” states Mitford, “may be of more importance in
understanding prisons than the character and mentality of the kept” (9).
Correct Paraphrase
Jessica Mitford maintains that we may be able to learn more about prisons from the psychology of
prison officials than from the mentality of the prisoners (9).
Correct Summary
One writer suggests studying guards as well as prisoners (Mitford 9).
Correct Paraphrase with Embedded Quotation
We may be able to learn more about prisoners from the psychology of “the keepers” than from that
of “the kept” (Mitford 9).
Correct Summary with Embedded Quotation
One writer suggests studying “the keepers” as well as “the kept” (Mitford 9).
Information in this handout taken from the following sources:
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
Bellevue College Writing Lab

Podis, Leonard A. and Joanne M. Podis. Writing: Invention, Form, and Style.

Dr. Kathleen McCollough
 Angie Cook
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