It's important to give credit for material you borrow from another writer whether you paraphrase or quote directly.
If you don't, you will be guilty of plagiarism.
'The Prentice Hall Handbook for Writers' contains the following discussion of plagiarism:
Plagiarism consists of passing off the ideas, opinions, conclusoins, facts, words-in short, the intellectual work-of another as our own...
* * *
The most obvious kind of plagiarism occurs when you appropriate whole paragraphs or longer passages from another writer for your own paper...
No less dishonest is the use of all or most of a single-sentence or an apt figure of speech appropriated without acknowledgment from another source.
* * *
... even though you acknowledge the source in a citation, you are also plagiarizing when you incorporate in your paper faultily paraphrased or summarized passages from another author in which you follow almost exactly the original's sentence patterns and phrasing.
Paraphrasing and summarizing require that you fully digest an author's ideas and interpretations and restate them in your own words-and you must reference the source.
It is not enough simply to modify the original author's sentences slightly, to change a word here and there.
Plagiarism, therefore, can involve the unacknowledgd (undocumented) use of someone else's idea-not just the use of the person's exact words.
The Key to avoiding plagiarism is to document your sources adequately with either internal documentation or notes.
In actual practice, however, there may be situations when you will not know whether you should identify the source of information you wish to use in your paper.
The difficulty arises because information that is considered common knowledge in a given field need not be documented.
Remember: plagiarism is theft of another person's words or ideas.
In some situations, it is punishable by law.
If you plagiarize at school, the repercussions will be very serious: you may fail the assignment, fail the course, or be expelled, depending on your school's policies.
Plagiarism on the job may lead to termination of employment.
Obviously the problem is to decide what is common knowledge.
One guideline says that if you can find the same information in three different souces, that information is considered common knowledge and therefore need not be documented.
There are many gray areas when it comes to issues of plagiarism.
Perhaps the safest rule is to document your sources whenever there is any question of possible plagiarism.
Source : Effective Writing (A Handbook For Accountants), 6th edition
Author: Claire B. May & Gordon S. May
If you don't, you will be guilty of plagiarism.
'The Prentice Hall Handbook for Writers' contains the following discussion of plagiarism:
Plagiarism consists of passing off the ideas, opinions, conclusoins, facts, words-in short, the intellectual work-of another as our own...
* * *
The most obvious kind of plagiarism occurs when you appropriate whole paragraphs or longer passages from another writer for your own paper...
No less dishonest is the use of all or most of a single-sentence or an apt figure of speech appropriated without acknowledgment from another source.
* * *
... even though you acknowledge the source in a citation, you are also plagiarizing when you incorporate in your paper faultily paraphrased or summarized passages from another author in which you follow almost exactly the original's sentence patterns and phrasing.
Paraphrasing and summarizing require that you fully digest an author's ideas and interpretations and restate them in your own words-and you must reference the source.
It is not enough simply to modify the original author's sentences slightly, to change a word here and there.
Plagiarism, therefore, can involve the unacknowledgd (undocumented) use of someone else's idea-not just the use of the person's exact words.
The Key to avoiding plagiarism is to document your sources adequately with either internal documentation or notes.
In actual practice, however, there may be situations when you will not know whether you should identify the source of information you wish to use in your paper.
The difficulty arises because information that is considered common knowledge in a given field need not be documented.
Remember: plagiarism is theft of another person's words or ideas.
In some situations, it is punishable by law.
If you plagiarize at school, the repercussions will be very serious: you may fail the assignment, fail the course, or be expelled, depending on your school's policies.
Plagiarism on the job may lead to termination of employment.
Obviously the problem is to decide what is common knowledge.
One guideline says that if you can find the same information in three different souces, that information is considered common knowledge and therefore need not be documented.
There are many gray areas when it comes to issues of plagiarism.
Perhaps the safest rule is to document your sources whenever there is any question of possible plagiarism.
Source : Effective Writing (A Handbook For Accountants), 6th edition
Author: Claire B. May & Gordon S. May
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