For Tuesday, February 14, please read Chapter VI of the Rampolla "Pocket
Guide to Writing History" (pp. 103-110). his is a short chapter, but very important. Rampolla talks about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Note that plagiarism has serious consequences: one might become president someday or have a national holiday named for you.
Please comment here on Rampolla's advice: what do you see here that is particularly worth remembering?
I like when the author states that we need to make sure to cite everything and not just quotes. If you don't use common knowledge that mostly everyone will know you'll want to cite the information you got that isn't common knowledge. Finding that line between common knowledge and not common knowledge can be difficult though.
ReplyDeleteThe author also gives us tips on how to best avoid plagiarism by separately filing rough drafts and research notes in order to help us formulate our final draft easier and more fluently. With the rough drafts and notes you can go back and see if the phrase you are using has been used before and if so you'll need to quote it.
I also like when the author goes over how to best paraphrase a paragraph that has information on it that you might want to us. You'll still want to cite the paraphrased work because it's still not your information you found yourself. For a proper paraphrase you'll want to absorb what the information is saying and put it into your own words. Your paraphrase needs to make it so you understand the information and not just memorizing it in order to get the information to others.
Overall, a good chapter to know even if we have learned about this process of how not to plagiarize many times in high school and college. I definitely learned some tips today.
One thing I thought was important is when the author gives four examples of what is plagiarism. Especially borrowing a friends essay, even if they give permission it still can be plagiarism. Submitting it as your own work is plagiarism. One thing that I never thought of which is important is not having to cite common knowledge. Because common knowledge is just well known facts that can be found in many sources it does not need to be cited. As well, that they can not be a debatable topic which also leads them to not be cited.
ReplyDeleteI like how the author explains what plagiarism entails, going into detail about things we may not have even realized. Even paraphrasing can become plagiarism if you are not careful. It is important to cite sources, and the author provides a good list for citing any source in a paper. The end of the chapter goes into detail about websites that can lead a student to plagiarism, discussing that many .com extensions and URLs are not as trustworthy for finding or citing information.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I find worth remembering is the part in which it describes how to properly paraphrase a passage. I find it difficult to paraphrase because I’m always worried that I’m not changing the text up enough. Another important fact worth remembering is that if you adopt someone else’s interpretation as your own, you need to cite that as well.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found that was worth remembering from this chapter was how to properly paraphrase. I've never been taught how to do it properly, but Rampolla goes into great detail about paraphrasing and gives a lot of good tips and tricks. One tip that stuck with me is that when you're paraphrasing you need to think about what the source says and absorb it. Then you can rewrite it in your own words and style.
ReplyDeleteI thought the most helpful thing Rampolla does is list examples of plagiarism, so we know what each kind of plagiarism looks like. I also thought it was helpful when Rampolla talked about paraphrasing because even doing that wrong can result in plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteI like how the chapter gives you an example of an acceptable and unacceptable form of paraphrasing. I have often struggled to think of anything new to say when I feel I have written everything already. So, I just use quotes and comment on those in order to fill the pages. However, the chapter explains that paraphrasing is a great way to get both of your points across!
ReplyDeleteSomething in this chapter that I really thought was worth remembering was when you find a source online, make sure they are paraphrased and cited properly because if not, you can find yourself in plagiarism trouble.
ReplyDeleteSomething I really liked and want to remember and make note of from this chapter is the Tips for Writers box on page 108. It makes very clear what is and isn't plagiarism and when to use and not use citations.
ReplyDeleteRampolla does a great job of explaining just how important it is to cite EVERYTHING that isn't yours, whether that be quotes, paraphrases, or whatever else it may be. I enjoyed the examples that were provided of what is considered acceptable and unacceptable. That will definitely prove to be useful while writing.
ReplyDeleteI think Rampolla did a fantastic job by demonstrating in this chapter on what is plagiarism and HOW to AVOID it. This chapter in particular Rampolla gives us ways on what we need to cite as well as make sure that we are not taking anyone else's credit. I think more people need to understand how to cite properly because in today's world lots of students take from others and do not source it and it hurts their grade overall.
ReplyDelete