Unit 2: Plagiarism

Read over each of the following passages, and respond on your own or as a class as to whether or not it uses citations accurately. If it doesn't, what would you do to improve the passage so it's properly cited? 1. Last summer, my family and I traveled to Chicago, which was quite different from the rural area I grew up in. We saw the dinosaur Sue at the Field Museum, and ate pizza at Gino's East. This person did cite the places correctly because all you need to do is capitalize the names of the places which was done. 2. Americans want to create a more perfect union; they also want to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for everybody. If this is a direct quote it is not cited correctly. It would need quotation marks and then in parenthesis cited the name of the author in it right after the quote is finished. 3. I find it ridiculous that 57% of high school students think their teachers assign too much homework. This is presented as a fact, so the information source should be documented after stating the information. Do not quote the exact information unless you are going to use quotations. Numbers 4, 5, and 6 all refer to the following passage from Martin Luther King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail": You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative. 4. Martin Luther King was certain that nobody would want to be contented with a feigning type of social analysis that concerns itself only with effects and doesn't deal with root causes. This person did not plagiarize they got the same meaning across using there own words. 5. Martin Luther King wrote that the city of Birmingham's "white power structure" left African-Americans there "no alternative" but to demonstrate ("Letter from the Birmingham Jail" para. 5). I believe this person cited this correctly as well, they state the parts in parenthesis they took directly and then cited where they got those citations and where to find them. 6. In "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," King writes to fellow clergy saying that although they "deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, your statement fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations." This person did not cite correctly, though they state the document they get the quote from in their statement it is not cited correctly. The person needed to do as the following person did at the end with parenthesis. 7. My friend Kara told me that she loves living so close to the ocean. I think that this is a different sort of citing, she gives credit in the beginning saying that it is her friends opinion and states her name, in something such as this the citing should be fine. 8. Americans are guaranteed the right to freely gather for peaceful meetings. This is a hard one for me. To me this falls into the common knowledge area, therefor should require no more citation. Then again it may make the argument stronger if some statutes were quoted or referred too and then cited. Finally I have had a nice re cap on plagiarism through the iris site. Some important things that always stick out in my head for starters is the rule that anything considered common knowledge does not need to be cited. It is also important to get the correct type of citation depending on the style format you are writing in. Referring to special books to help with those styles is great. You must always acknowledge statistics, charts, graphs and tables that others have made that you use. Saying all of that I plan to avoid plagiarism the biggest way by making sure that I put things into my own words. Other then that I will try to minimally use quotes for this will make it easier. I will also cite my sources when necessary.