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IN-TEXT CITATIONAvoiding Plagiarism

Academic writing often involves quotation. We cite what others have said on topics of interest to us, either to elucidate a point, or to corroborate a claim that we have made.

It is, of course, our ethical responsibility to give credit where credit is due. It is not fair to use the original ideas of others without crediting the source.

When we present information derived from a source other than our own mind, it is our responsibility to say where that information came from. Unless the information can reasonably be deemed common knowledge, scholars must acknowledge their sources.

The question, of course, is, “What constitutes common knowledge?”

Common knowledge is information which can be located in five or more places (i.e., in any number of encyclopedia, in a reference text, in a book, on-line, etc.).

No matter how quoted material is presented, it must be acknowledged. Please be aware that there are three specific methods of quotation:

Three Types of Quotation:

1. Direct quotation

2. Paraphrase

3. Summary

- copying word for word.

- putting into your own words.

- briefly restating the writer’s thought.

Naturally, the goal of in-text citation is to avoid plagiarism, which is the unethical use of another’s words or ideas.

Plagiarism amounts to academic theft and those who practice it sometimes face unintended consequences.

• Copying word for word from another source without acknowledging it.

• Paraphrasing or summarizing another source without acknowledging it.

• Adopting a particularly apt turn of phrase as if it were your own.

• Using an image or a copy of an image without crediting the source.

• Paraphrasing another’s line of thinking as if it were your own.

• Receiving excessive help from a friend (or, indeed, from any source).

• Using another’s project as if it were your own.

According to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, all of the following constitute plagiarism:

The seventh edition of the Handbook suggests that using a project of your own from another class also constitutes plagiarism.

Plagiarism is of two types:

1. Deliberate

2. Inadvertent

Clearly, the former is worse than the latter. However, inadvertent plagiarism is a matter of neglect on the part of the researcher and must be avoided.

In an effort to guard against plagiarism, the Modern Language Association has devised a simple but effective method of signal phrases and parentheses to show where quotations begin and end.

Signal Phrases

+

Parentheses

The goal, of course, is that readers should know when quoted material of any type is present.

• A signal phrase is more or less an “on” switch.

• The parenthesis is the “off” switch.

• When a reader sees the signal phrase, she is instantly alerted that the material which follows is a quotation and does not originate with the writer.

• She also knows, as soon as she reaches the parenthesis, that the quotation is over.

“[c]ritical opinion has been unanimous in terming the poetry of Shelley ‘abstract’”

In-text Citations: The Pattern

Signal Phrase + Quotation+ Parenthetic Documentation

According to Richard Fogle, (13).

Signal PhrasesSignal phrases are introductory phrases which clue the reader in to the fact that a quotation is coming.

Here are some examples, although the variants are limitless:

• According to Bruno Bettelheim . . . • In the words of Bruno Bettelheim . . . • Dr. Bruno Bettelheim has claimed that . . . • The research of Dr. Bruno Bettelheim suggests that . . . • To cite Bruno Bettelheim, . . . • Dr. Bruno Bettelheim once said, . . . • Bruno Bettelheim observed that . . . • Dr. Bettelheim explains that . . . • Bruno Bettelheim contends that . . . • etc.

Now that you have used a signal phrase to set your reader up for a quotation, it’s time to move on to the quotation itself:

1. Direct quotation – Copying word-for-word.

2. Paraphrase – Expressing the writer’s intent in your own words.

3. Summary – Briefly restating the writer’s ideas.

Remember, there are three kinds of quotation:

Direct QuotationsDirect quotations cite the text directly—in other words, you copy the original text word-for-word, with no variation.

Of course, direct quotation is as near to plagiarism as you can come.

For that reason, direct quotation should be used SPARINGLY.

Direct quotation should only be used to cite (a) poetry, (b) literary passages of exceptional quality, or (c) prose where the author’s words are so memorable as to deserve no other form of expression.

Direct Quotations

In general, direct quotations are introduced by a signal phrase and a comma:

According to Humphrey House, “For thousands now alive a passionate love of Shelley was a major experience in their young development” (47).

However, there is no comma required after the word that:

Humphrey House insists that “[f]or thousands now alive a passionate love of Shelley was a major experience in their young development” (47).

Types of Direct Quotation:

There are essentially two types of direct quotation—short and long.

2. A long quotation consists of four lines or more.

1. A short quotation consists of no more than three lines.

Short Quotations

House says of Shelley that “his poetry enthralls boys (girls rather less, I fancy) as no other poetry enthralls them” (47-8).

Short quotations are placed inside quotation marks:

Frost considered the path that lay before him, “Then took the other, as just as fair / And having perhaps the better claim / Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (5). In other words, he chose the path because it wasn’t quite so popular as the other and would give him more leeway as an individual.

Short Quotations: Poetry

Quoting poetry or song has some special requirements all of its own. When quoting a short selection of poetry, the line divisions must be shown as follows:

*Note that the slash has a space on each side.

Long Quotations

Long quotations are blocked, i.e., they are typographically set apart from the rest of the text by being indented ten spaces. Blocked quotations do not require quotation marks.

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Spalding 2

assumption merely, both Kreon and Teiresias of political ambition,

asserting his assumed superiority over rivals, seers, and the gods

themselves in those reckless words:

Has your mystic mummery ever approached the truth?

When that hellcat the sphinx was performing here,

What help were you to these people?

Her magic was not for the first man who came along:

It demanded a real exorcist. Your birds—

What good were they? Or the gods, for the matter of that?

But I came by,

Oedipus, the simple man, who knows nothing—

I thought it out for myself, no birds helped me!

And this is the man you think you can destroy,

That you may be close to Kreon when he’s king! (759-60)

And there we have it. Hubris, overweening pride, is the great

flaw that Oedipus has harbored in his heart these many years. Wrath

is his downfall now, just as it was all those years earlier when he

unwittingly slaughtered his own father and married his mother. It is

arrogance, always, which destroys greatness and humbles the mighty.

Caesar’s elevation to the rank of a god could not protect him from the

knives of those he called his friends. Hitler’s belief in the supremacy of

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Please note that the period includes the parenthetic documentation.

Parenthetic DocumentationIf you were paying attention, you would have noticed the presence, at the end of each quotation, of a number in parentheses. The moment you see this parenthetic notation, you know that the quotation is over.

The number, of course, is the page number on which the quotation is found. This number is tied to the Works Cited page at the end of the paper. The signal phrase usually provides the information which the reader needs to locate the appropriate Works Cited entry (either the author’s last name, or the title of the book or article). When a signal phrase is not used, then more information may need to be included in the parenthesis.

House says of Shelley that “his poetry enthralls boys (girls rather less, I fancy) as no other poetry enthralls them” (47-8).

Apparently, Shelley’s poetry “enthralls boys . . . as no other poetry enthralls them” (House 47-8).

Apparently, Shelley’s poetry “enthralls boys . . . as no other poetry enthralls them” (Shelley 47-8).

CongratulationsYou now have the basic pattern established for proper in-text citation and we will move on to the proper format for the Works Cited page. But that is another lesson altogether.

PowerPoint Presentation by Mark A. Spalding, BA, MEd, MA, 2007.

The End