Citation and Avoiding Plagiarism
Use quotation, paraphrase, summary, attribution, and citation to represent source ideas ethically and accurately.
A lesson of English 10, in Research and Synthesis, about 10 minutes.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to cite sources correctly in MLA format, distinguish plagiarism from proper use of sources, and paraphrase effectively.
What Is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is presenting someone else's ideas, words, or work as your own — whether intentionally or accidentally.
Forms of plagiarism:
- Copying text without quotation marks or citation
- Paraphrasing without citation
- Using someone else's ideas without acknowledgment
- Submitting someone else's work as your own
- Patchwriting: changing a few words from the original while keeping the structure
Why plagiarism matters: beyond academic integrity, it prevents you from developing your own thinking. If you're inserting other people's ideas without engaging with them, you're not writing — you're transcribing.
Three Options When Using Sources
Direct quotation: copy exact words; put in quotation marks; cite.
Golding writes, "The conch lay shattered on the rocks" (181).
Paraphrase: restate the idea in your own words; do NOT use quotation marks; still cite.
Golding describes the destruction of the conch — the symbol of democratic order — as the moment civilization finally collapses (181).
Summary: briefly overview a source's main point; cite.
Golding's Lord of the Flies ultimately argues that civilization is a fragile, constructed thing, barely containing the violence beneath it.
How to Paraphrase Effectively
Bad paraphrase (patchwriting): just substituting synonyms from the original.
Original: "The conch lay shattered on the rocks, with the white fragility of a bird's egg."
❌ Patchwriting: "The conch was shattered on the stones, with the white delicacy of a bird's egg."
Good paraphrase: reread the original, close it, write from memory what it said, then check.
✓ "The conch's destruction — described in terms that emphasize its fragility from the start — mirrors the fragility of the order it had come to represent."
MLA Citation Review
In-text citation: (Author page) immediately after the quoted or paraphrased material.
"The conch lay shattered" (Golding 181).
If the author is named in the sentence, only the page number is needed:
"Golding describes the conch as 'shattered' (181)."