Plagiarism and How to Avoid it: Avoiding Plagiarism

You should provide citations when:

1) You use an idea that has already been expressed by someone else (even ideas transmitted informally).

2) You refer to the work of another person.

3) You quote the work of someone else.

You need not cite:

1) When discussing your own experiences, observations, or reactions.

2) When compiling the results of original research, experiments, etc.

3) Facts or information that are widely known, or common knowledge.

In-text citations:

Maclean (2006) asserts that business communication has experienced major changes caused by the expansion of companies across the globe.

Business communication has changed as a result of companies expanding globally (Maclean, 2006).

Direct quotations:

Maclean (2006) states that “far from simplifying the linguistic environment, the rise of English has lent it a whole new dimension of complexity” (p.1385).

There is a certain amount of risk involved, and “managing such language problems can no longer be left to chance” (Maclean, 2006, p.1385).

Reference List:

Maclean, D. (2006).  Beyond English: Transnational corporations and the strategic management of language in a complex multilingual business environment.  Management Decision, 44(10), 1377 - 1390.

What is paraphrasing?

1) Presenting someone else’s ideas in a new form and your own version

2) A valid way to use information from a source if cited correctly

3) A restatement of a single idea, rather than a summary of a general concept

1) Avoids direct quotation from passages that are not notable

2) Reduces temptation to over-quote

3) Process of paraphrasing helps you to fully understand a passage’s original meaning

Source: Purdue OWL

This online tutorial by Harvard Graduate School of Education covers the basics of paraphrasing, rules for paraphrasing, summarising, and quoting, as well as some tips and strategies for successful paraphrasing.

You can also check out  Examples of paraphrasing: Good and Bad by the Office of Research Integrity of the US Department of Health and Human Services.