Effective Writing and Avoiding Plagiarism

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EFFECTIVE WRITING

Finding Appropriate Resources

Giving Credit to Sources

Avoiding Plagiarism

April Aultman Becker

Education Coordinator

Research Medical Library

MD Anderson Cancer Center

avaultman@mdanderson.org

WHY WORRY ABOUT WRITING WELL?

•Reputation•Professional achievement•Liability issues•Lack of clarity can lead to lawsuit•Critical thinking skills•Communication skills

CHOOSING APPROPRIATE RESOURCES

•Timely or historically significant•Internet references should be chosen carefully and used sparingly•Use scholarly sources

CRITERIA FOR SCHOLARLY RESOURCES

•Peer Reviewed•Audience•Author affiliation

HOW TO FIND SCHOLARLY RESOURCES

•SCOPUS•CINAHL•EBooks

All databases, journals, and eBooks can be found on the Research Medical Library homepage or in the Sakai Library Portal

EXERCISE

Scholarly resource?

Historically significant?

Peer reviewed?Intended

audience?Author

affiliation?

http://www.scopus.com/home.url

PURPOSES OF REFERENCES•Documentation•Acknowledgment•Integrated•Directions•Avoid plagiarism

EXERCISE

Scholarly resource?

Historically significant?

Peer reviewed?Intended

audience?Author

affiliation?Good resource??

http://www.differencebetween.net/science/health/disease-health/difference-between-antiseptic-and-disinfectant/

EXERCISEhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC88911/

Scholarly resource?

Historically significant?

Peer reviewed?Intended

audience?Author

affiliation?Good resource??

DAY 2

EFFECTIVE WRITING

Finding Appropriate Resources

Giving Credit to Sources

Avoiding Plagiarism

April Aultman Becker

Education Coordinator

Research Medical Library

MD Anderson Cancer Center

avaultman@mdanderson.org

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

“The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.” -American Heritage Dictionary

OBVIOUSPLAGIARISM

•Buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper. •Hiring someone to write your paper for you•Copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or proper citation.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF PLAGIARISM?

•Fear failure•Poor time-management skills•View the assignment as unimportant•Failed enforcement of appropriate penalties

ACCIDENTAL PLAGIARISM

•Using the words of a source too closely when paraphrasing•Building on someone's ideas without citing their work.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF PLAGIARISM?

•Students may not know how to cite sources•Plagiarism defined differently or more stringently than in students’ earlier education•Students from other cultures may not be familiar with the conventions

SELF PLAGIARISM

•Copying your own previously-published work without citation•Submitting the same article to a different publication

EXERCISEhttp://www.lib.utexas.edu/services/instruction/learningmodules/plagiarism/index.html

WHEN TO CITE

•When in doubt•Someone else’s idea •Your interpretation of their idea•Your reaction to their idea•Making a factual claim

WHAT NEEDS TO BE CITED

•Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium•Information you gain through interviewing•When you copy the exact words•Reprinted visual materials•Reposted electronically-available media

WHAT NOT TO CITE

•Your own experiences, observations, and thoughts•Your own results obtained through lab or field experiments•Your own artwork•Common knowledge

EXERCISEhttp://www.lib.utexas.edu/services/instruction/learningmodules/plagiarism/avoid.html

Common knowledge:

http://ed.oc.edu/writersblock/avoidplag/media/b.htm

CITING REFERENCES WITHIN TEXT

References within the text should be listed in the order of citation, using superscript numerals. For more information, see the AMA Manual of Style.

CITING REFERENCES AT THE END OF TEXTReferences should be listed in the order of citation in a separate section at the end of the paper. For more information, see the AMA Manual of Style.

DAY 3

EFFECTIVE WRITING

Finding Appropriate Resources

Giving Credit to Sources

Avoiding Plagiarism

April Aultman Becker

Education Coordinator

Research Medical Library

MD Anderson Cancer Center

avaultman@mdanderson.org

HOW TO AVOID PLAGIARISM

Use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries to incorporate other writers' work into your own writing, and always make sure to cite it appropriately.

QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASES, AND SUMMARIES CAN:•Provide support•Add credibility•Refer to work •Points of view•Call attention to a position•Highlight•Expand

QUOTES

•Identical to the original•Cited•Don’t over quote

SHORT AND LONG QUOTES

•Run On: less than 4 typed lines, it is included in the normal text•Block: 4 or more typed lines, it is set off in block style

from http://www.docstyles.com/amastat.htm

QUOTING INDIRECT SOURCES

•Indirect source is a source that someone else used in a paper.•Be clear about your second hand source.

Image from http://westlibrary.txwes.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/ama_citation_style.pdf

GUIDELINES FOR QUOTING

•Keep the source author's name•Quotation marks•Use ellipsis points•To give context to a quote, place added words in brackets

http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/acceptuse1.php

EXERCISE

CITING TABLES

•Only for crucial data•Placed close to text•Numbered •Titled•Cited

Image from https://www.asrt.org/media/pdf/pubs/AG08_all.pdf

PARAPHRASE

•Putting a passage into your own words •Cited•Usually shorter

PARAPHRASING IS A VALUABLE SKILL

•Controls the temptation to quote too much.•Understand the original text.

http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/acceptuse2.php

EXERCISE

SUMMARIZE

•Main idea into your own words•Cited or attributed•Broad overview of the source material.

EXERCISEhttp://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072873469/student_view0/avoiding_plagiarism_tutorial/summarize_paraphrase/summary_paraphrase_quiz.html

EXERCISEhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC88911/

Quote

Paraphrase

Summary

EXERCISEhttp://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/posttest.php

HOW CAN THE RESEARCH MEDICAL LIBRARY HELP YOU?

•Classes•Study rooms•ILLIAD•Librarians •Phone: 713-792-2282 •Email: RML-Help@mdanderson.org •Chat: http://www3.mdanderson.org/library/

SOURCESAMA Manual of Style

http://www.amamanualofstyle.com/oso/public/index.html

ASRT Guide for Authors with AMA Citation Stylehttps://www.asrt.org/media/pdf/pubs/AG08_all.pdf

Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statementhttp://wpacouncil.org/node/9

Kresge Library, Oakland University Plagiarism Tutorialhttp://library.oakland.edu/tutorials/plagiarism/

The Plagiarism Policy of the American Journal of Nursinghttp://www.nursingcenter.com/library/JournalArticle.asp?Article_ID=727942

Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/1/

University of the Rockies Writing Center http://www.rockies.edu/docs/Hoffman_Effective_Writing.pdf

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