Citations

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off and one's own". (Citation: plagiarism, n. Third edition, June 2006; online version September 2011. <http://oed.com/view/Entry/144939>; accessed 31 October 2011.)

Examples of Plagiarism:

Paraphrasing without giving credits to the original source
Not using quotations properly
Creating a paper by cutting and pasting text from other publications
Working on an individual assignment with a partner and turning in identical answers
Copying an entire article
Downloading a paper from the Internet
Paying someone to write your paper or using a friend’s old paper
Faking citations

To avoid plagiarism:

Use Citations!!!
Know the difference between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing
Make sure to always have an in-text citation paired with a full citation in your Works Cited/Reference list

Plagiarism Resources

VAIL Tutor
This Virtual Academic Integrity Tutorial developed by the University of Maryland University College is a comprehensive lesson on plagiarism and academic integrity.
Copyright Exposed
A video tutorial series by the Library of Congress that takes the mystery out of copyright.
CopyRight CopyWrong Quiz
This quiz will help you understand the basics of copyright law.

The Basics

Citations are pointers in your writing or work that tell others where you found your information. Citations can be written in several different formats, the most popular formats at Cleveland Community College are the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Where do I cite?

Citations should appear at least twice in your paper:

In text citations are placed after any information taken from an outside source. Information can be quoted, paraphrased, or summarized but it must include a citation. Here's an example in MLA format:

"These results suggest that art therapy may provide an improved ability to cope with symptoms associated with HIV and AIDS” (Paice 67).

Full citations appear in your Works Cited (MLA) or Reference (APA) list at the end of your paper. Here is the full MLA citation for the above article:

Paice, Judith, et al. "Art therapy for relief of symptoms associated with HIV/AIDS." AIDS Care 21.1 (2009): 64-69. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

Common Knowledge

Information that is considered common knowledge doesn't need to be cited. For example, stating that "George Washington was the first president of the United States" is a fact that most people know. This means you don't have to cite it!

Citation Downloads

Citation Resources

KnightCite
This citation builder lets you plug in the information from your source and will then automatically generate a citation. This is the citation builder recommended by the CCC English Department.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
The library's favorite resource for citation information. This page has links to guides for both MLA and APA format that cover citations and other formatting/style rules.
MyCompLab
Students who use MyCompLab will find a great set of tools for citation help and assistance when doing research papers and assignments.
Referencing Tool
This Referencing Tool from Griffin University lets you select your format and then your source type to show you the best way to do both in-text and full citations.