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AvoidingPlagiarism:QuotingandParaphrasing

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THE WRITER'S HANDBOOK

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P L A G I A R I S M

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Academic and
Professional Writing
Job Materials and
Application Essays
ApplicationEssays(and
PersonalStatements)
ResumeWritingTips
CoverLetters

Downloadthishandout

HomeWriter'sHandbook

How to avoid plagiarism

Usethemenubelowto
learnmoreaboutquoting
andparaphrasing.

When using sources in your papers, you can avoid

plagiarism by knowing what must be documented.

Howtoavoidplagiarism
ShouldIparaphraseor
quote?

BusinessLetters
Literary Analysis Papers
ReadingPoetry
AShortGuidetoClose
ReadingforLiterary
Analysis
UsingLiteraryQuotations
PlayReviews
Proposals and Dissertations
ResourcesforProposal
Writers
ResourcesforDissertators
Research Papers
PlanningandWriting
ResearchPapers
Quotingand
Paraphrasing
WritingAnnotated
Bibliographies

source

Ifyouuseanauthor'sspecificwordorwords,youmustplacethosewords
withinquotationmarksandyoumustcreditthesource.

Successfulvs.
unsuccessfulparaphrases
Howtoquoteasource

InformationandIdeas

Additionalresources

Evenifyouuseyourownwords,ifyouobtainedtheinformationorideasyou
arepresentingfromasource,youmustdocumentthesource.
Information:Ifapieceofinformationisn'tcommonknowledge(seebelow),
youneedtoprovideasource.
Ideas:Anauthor'sideasmayincludenotonlypointsmadeandconclusions
drawn,but,forinstance,aspecificmethodortheory,thearrangementof
material,oralistofstepsinaprocessorcharacteristicsofamedicalcondition.If
asourceprovidedanyofthese,youneedtoacknowledgethesource.

Thesematerialswillhelp
youavoidplagiarismby
teachingyouhowto
properlyintegrate
informationfrom
publishedsourcesinto
yourownwriting.

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CreatingPoster
Presentations
Reviews
ReadingforaReview

Howtoparaphrasea

Specificwordsandphrases

CommonKnowledge?
Youdonotneedtociteasourceformaterialconsideredcommonknowledge:

CriticalReviews
WritingaReviewof
Literature
Scientific Reports
ScientificReportFormat
SampleLabAssignment

Writing Process and

Structure
Improving Your Writing
Style
Grammar and
Punctuation
Cite References in Your
Paper
Writing Center Home

Generalcommonknowledgeisfactualinformationconsideredtobeinthe
publicdomain,suchasbirthanddeathdatesofwellknownfigures,and
generallyaccepteddatesofmilitary,political,literary,andotherhistorical
events.Ingeneral,factualinformationcontainedinmultiplestandardreference
workscanusuallybeconsideredtobeinthepublicdomain.
Fieldspecificcommonknowledgeis"common"onlywithinaparticularfield
orspecialty.Itmayincludefacts,theories,ormethodsthatarefamiliarto
readerswithinthatdiscipline.Forinstance,youmaynotneedtocitea
referencetoPiaget'sdevelopmentalstagesinapaperforaneducationclassor
giveasourceforyourdescriptionofacommonlyusedmethodinabiology
reportbutyoumustbesurethatthisinformationissowidelyknownwithin
thatfieldthatitwillbesharedbyyourreaders.
Ifindoubt,becautiousandcitethesource.Andinthecaseofbothgeneral
andfieldspecificcommonknowledge,ifyouusetheexactwordsof
thereferencesource,youmustusequotationmarksandcreditthe
source.
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1/21/2016

AvoidingPlagiarism:QuotingandParaphrasing

Lastupdated:August29,2014
Feedback,questionsoraccessibilityissues
2014BoardofRegentsoftheUniversityofWisconsinSystem

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_plagiarism.html

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