How to Use Sources in a Research Paper and Avoid Plagiarism - 3 Easy Steps

{Music} Academic integrity. You know, one of your key goals as a student and in life is to be seen as a person with integrity. Having integrity means behaving honestly. And just as professionals in the workplace must follow certain standards of behavior, so must students, instructors and staff at a school. In this video, we're going to review two key skills you need to uphold standards of academic integrity. These skills are central to every course you take. They guide how you interact with classroom material, outside sources, and each other. In those interactions, we depend upon each other to act with integrity, and therefore we are accountable to each other. This accountability extends to how we use the work of others. It's our responsibility to give proper attribution, credit where credit is due, to the websites, articles, books, podcast, films, etc. that influence what we create. When we fail to do so, we breach the trust of the community we're working in. And that's a type of academic dishonesty called plagiarism. But whether in school or the workplace, if others lose trust in you, you can forfeit a job, an education, even future opportunities. So let's talk about the first skill, which is paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is a key part of using sources responsibly. Paraphrasing helps you synthesize the work of others with your own words, while maintaining your authorial voice. Paraphrasing lets you create something that is uniquely yours, but at the same time, show how your work has been shaped by others. Notice how in the following paragraph, the ideas of one author (Graham) are built upon by the student. "Another negative effect of mass media on women's health has been the spread of medical misinformation. A clear example is breast cancer. Graham (2004) asserts that the public has been led to believe that breast cancer is the number one cancer killer of women. Yet, lung cancer takes the top spot by a wide margin." So, as you see, the student is building an argument about mass media's negative impact on women's health. And in doing so, the student integrates information from an outside source (Graham) about breast and lung cancer. This responsible use of Graham actually gives authority and integrity to the student's work. Paraphrasing also maintains the student's authorial voice, further enriching that writer's integrity. But a common misconception about paraphrasing is that the original passage must be put entirely quote, "in your own words." That is not possible. We know that articles, prepositions, and key words must be repeated. Responsible paraphrasing actually means rewriting the original into your own phrasing, knowing that you will need to repeat key words. So compare the original Graham text with a good paraphrase of it. Here's the original: "Breast cancer is the type of cancer most closely linked with women in the public consciousness, but lung cancer has now surpassed it as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women." That's the original. Here's the paraphrase of it. "The public has been led to believe that breast cancer is the number one cancer killer of women. Yet, lung cancer now takes the top spot by a wide margin." Notice how in that paraphrase, we repeat key words like "breast cancer," "lung cancer," "public," "women," yet the passage has been successfully rewritten in the student's own voice, a student's own phrasing. In addition to paraphrasing, another element in the responsible use of sources is the clear attribution of the source and that requires in-text citations coupled with corresponding reference citations. Now when it comes to in text citations, you have to two options, narrative and parenthetical. In a narrative in text citation, the author's name and date of publication actually function as part of the sentence. Let's look at this example. "Graham (2004) points out that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of women." However, in the parenthetical citation, the same information (Graham, 2004) appears separately at the end of the sentence inside the parentheses. "Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of women (Graham, 2004). Both methods, narrative and parenthetical, are correct. And you really should use them together in order to vary how your in text citations appear. Okay, our next big skill is quotations. Now, we know that in academic writing, the preference is for paraphrases, not quotations. However, it's important to use direct quotations at least these three times. One, to provide accurate definitions of concepts. Two, to respond to how something is worded. And, three, to preserve an author or authors memorable or succinct phrasing. In other words, there should be clear justification for using direct quotations in academic writing. When quoting, it's important to avoid what is called hanging quotations. The problem of hanging quotations occurs when the quote is not adequately connected with your own ideas. And one technique to avoid a hanging quotation is signal phrases. These are phrases like "The author points out" and "According to the author." What they do, they alert the reader that a quotation, which is a shift away from an authorial voice, is about to occur. Signal phrases also kind of smooth the flow of sentences in your paragraph as you transition from your own thoughts to the thoughts of others. But, like paraphrases, quotations must also be clearly attributed. For example, this is a narrative in text citation: "Graham (2004) believes, "Mass media are killing women with misinformation (para.1). Now, here's a parenthetical citation of the same source. "Some have stated bluntly that the outcomes are "Mass media are killing women with misinformation" And then comes the information in parentheses, (Graham, 2004, para. 1). So, both in-text citations would refer, whether they're narrative or parenthetical, to that corresponding reference citation at the end of the work. Now, often, your teachers or a publication will limit the number of quotations that can be used. This happens you know, because of the importance of your thoughts about a topic, and those thoughts being expressed in your words. So what others have written is important as evidence and support. But one who writes with integrity always focuses on your individual analysis as you add paraphrases and quotations in a responsible way.

Channel: David Taylor

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Keywords: How to use sources in a research paper, research paper, term paper apa format example, research paper apa format example, research paper writing, how to write a good paper in college, academic writing tips, academic writing skills, how to write research paper faster, academic writing, research paper writing tips, research paper format, research paper presentation in conference, ielts writing task 2 academic tips and tricks, academic writing tutorial

Id: R6b51ii0rIQ

Length: 8min 45sec (525 seconds)

Published: Tue May 17 2022