No one has ever taught me

A: On behalf of all teachers, please accept my apologies—oops, I already did that. (See "My teacher in (subject or school here) taught me to write this way.") The blanket apology is still applicable, but let's consider practical issues. (Now, aren't you very glad that I do not try to determine intent? I do not particularly care whether students are telling the truth when they say they have not been taught. What I care about is what they do.)

What you want to develop is a set of habits that make plagiarism less likely. I do not need students to fear the Almighty Wrath of Professors. Good habits and practice should be enough:

Start writing early.

Give yourself enough time to draft, redraft, and proofread carefully.

Use an "on-off" note system.

Either quotation is on or it is off. If you are copying material word-for-word, use quotation marks!!! Then you know something is an extract. If you are paraphrasing, use the following:

1. Read the relevant passage
2. Write down the publication information necessary to cite it. (You take this step no matter whether quotation is on or off.)
3. Close the source.
4. Write down your paraphrased version.
5. Open the source and compare your version with the source's.
6. If you use more than a few consecutive words that are identical, return to step 3.

Put citation mechanics in your first draft.

If you quote material, insert quotation marks. In all cases, at least put a shorthand for the source—e.g., "... fought for the opening of the new Blake High School in Tampa (Shircliffe)"—in the draft, so you know to flesh it out when revising.

Every university, in addition, has resources (in the library, if no where else) on correct citation methods and often short handouts that provide examples in various styles for the most common types of sources.

  > Next