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HOWTO A\fom PLA6IARISM

Plagiarism:
the act of presenting another's
work or ideas as your own.
 Reasons for plagiarism
Plagiarism can happen for many reasons.

1. Deliberate plagiarism.
This is when you make the decision to steal someone else's work. For example, this could be
either:

a. because you do not have the time to do the work yourself;

b. because you do not have the energy to do the work yourself;
c. because you think your lecturer will not notice;
d. because you think your lecturer will not care;
e. or, perhaps, because you are not able to do the work yourself.

It can involve:

a. copying another student's work;

b. copying another person's work from a book or a journal;
c. copying another person's work from a web-site;
d. asking another person to do the work for you;
e. downloading the complete text from the Internet;
f. buying the text from the Internet;
g. or even paying for someone to do the work for you.

In all cases, if you do not do the work yourself, you are unlikely to learn from it. It is therefore not
useful and a waste of your time. Do not do this. There are many ways your lecturer can check
whether or not you have plagiarized. It is not worth the risk.

2. Accidental plagiarism.
This is when you accidentally, through carelessness or lack of skill, use another person's words
without acknowledging it. This can happen for several reasons:

a. you do not know that you must not copy a person's words directly;
b. you do not have the skill for expressing another person's ideas in your own words;
c. you do not know the correct systems for indicating that you are using another person's
words or ideas;
d. when you take notes from a book or journal, you copy out some sections and do not make
this clear in your notes. Later when you re-read the notes, you forget that they are not
your words or ideas;
e. you forget to acknowledge another person's words or ideas;
f. you do not have time to include the acknowledgments and list of references;
g. you feel your written work is not good enough;
h. you borrow your friend's notes, not realizing that some of the words are plagiarized.

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 Advice on plagiarism
Plagiarism is the representation of another person's work as your own.

There are three main reasons why you should not do this:

1. It is not helpful.
If you plagiarize, you are saying that something is your work when it is not. This is not
good, you will not learn much from it and it will not get you good marks. In order to do
well in higher education, you need to be responsible for the ideas and facts that you
use. You need to provide evidence for these ideas and facts. You need to show where
they have come from and what they are based on. You do this by acknowledging the
sources, by citing. This will support your arguments and help you succeed in your
academic writing. It will also show your lecturers that you have read and understood the
required texts.

2. You need to come to your own conclusions.

You need to show that you have understood the material and come to your own
conclusions on the basis of what you have read and heard. Therefore copying from
textbooks, or pasting text from the Internet into your own writing, is not good enough.
Most of what you write will come from the ideas of other people (from the text books you
read, the lectures and the seminars you attend, and your discussions with other
students, etc.). This is what academic study is all about. However, you need to come to
your own conclusions on the basis of what you have read, listened to, and discussed.
The purpose of an essay is for you to say something for yourself using the ideas that
you have studied, for you to present ideas you have learned in your own way. The
emphasis should be on working with other people's ideas, rather than reproducing their
words.

3. It is against the regulations.

You must not use another person's words or ideas as if they were your own. This is
against university regulations and is regarded as a very serious offence. It is also not
helpful for you. If you plagiarize, your lecturer cannot understand how well you
understand the course and cannot therefore give you useful advice and support. In
addition, if you plagiarize, you are not learning. This will become obvious in any written
examination you are required to take.

However, there is a difficult area here because, as a student, when you are doing
assignments, you need to use what you have read or been taught in your lectures. In fact, this
is an essential skill for every student. Spack (1988, p. 42) has pointed out that the most
important skill a student can engage in is "the complex activity to write from other texts", which
is "a major part of their academic experience." It is also difficult as Andrew Northedge points
out in The good study guide (Northedge, 1990, p. 190)

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You have to tread quite a fine line between being accused, on the one hand, of not making
enough use of the writers you have been reading on the course, and, on the other, of
having followed them too slavishly, to the point of plagiarizing them. One of your early tasks
as a student is to get a feel for how to strike the right balance.

Much of what you write will come from the ideas of other people (from the text books you
read, the lectures and the seminars you attend, and your discussions with other students,
etc.). This is what academic study is all about. However, the ideas and people that you
refer to need to be made explicit by a system of referencing - if you use another person's
ideas or words, you must say where they are from. This will prevent you being accused of
plagiarism and, furthermore, it will add support to your ideas and points of view.
You need to acknowledge the source of an idea unless it is common knowledge. It may be
difficult to decide exactly what is common knowledge within your subject, but if your
lecturer, in lectures or handouts, or your textbooks, do not acknowledge the source you can
assume that it is common knowledge within your subject. For concepts and ideas which are
generally accepted as valid within your specialism, there is no need to provide a reference.
If in doubt, cite.

• Take notes in your own words. A good strategy is: read, put away your books and think,
and then write your notes.
• Acknowledge quotations, even in your own notes. This will help you avoid accidental
plagiarism when you copy from your own notes, not realizing the words were copied
from a textbook.
• If you use ideas of other people, be explicit about it. That is to say, cite the relevant
author at the relevant point in your writing. It is then not possible for anyone to accuse
you of cheating or stealing someone else's work. It will also help you by showing that
you know the background.

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 Types of Plagiarism
Hamp-Lyons & Courter (1984, pp. 161-166) distinguish between four types of plagiarism: outright copying,
paraphrase plagiarism, patchwork plagiarism, and stealing an apt term.

Outright copying is when a student uses exactly the same words as the original author without using
quotation marks or saying where the words are from.

For example:
While the Education Act of 1870 laid the groundwork for the provision of
elementary or primary education for all children in England and Wales, it was
not until the implementation of the 1944 Education Act that all girls and boys
Student's were entitled to a secondary education. Indeed, the decades immediately
text following the Second World War saw such a rapid increase in educational
provision - in the USA, and many countries of Western and Eastern Europe,
as well as in Britain - that some writers refer to the 'educational explosion' of
the 1950s and 1960s.

Paraphrase plagiarism is changing some of the words and grammar but leaving most of the original
text the same.
For example:
The Education Act of 1870 put down the basis for providing primary
Student's education for every child in the United Kingdom. It was not, however, until
text the establishment of the 1944 Education Act that all male and female
children were given the right to education at secondary school.

Patchwork plagiarism is when parts of the original author's words are used and connected together in a
different way.
For instance:
The right to elementary education for every child in England and Wales was
established in the 1870 Education Act. However, the right to secondary
Student's education had to wait until the implementation of the 1944 Education Act.
text Following that act, in many countries of the world, there was such a rapid
increase in educational provision that it was called the 'educational
explosion' of the 1950s and 1960s.

Stealing an apt term is when a short phrase from the original text has been used in the students’ work,
possibly because it is so good.
For example:
In England and Wales, all 5 year all children have had the right to an
education since 1870. This has not, however, been the case for 11 year olds,
Student's
who had to wait until 1944 for a national system of secondary education.
text
Once this system was established, though, secondary education expanded
rapidly in the decades immediately following the Second World War.

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 Avoiding Plagiarism Practice:

Read the following text (Flower, 1990. p. 5)

Original Text:
The study presented here takes an unusually comprehensive look at one critical point of entry into academic
performance. It shows a group of freshmen in the transition into the academic discourse of college, looking at
the ways in which they interpret and negotiate an assignment that calls for reading-to-write. On such tasks,
students are reading to create a text of their own, trying to integrate information from sources with ideas of
their own, and attempting to do so under the guidance of a purpose they must themselves create. Because
these reading-to-write tasks ask students to integrate reading, writing, and rhetorical purpose, they open a
door to critical literacy. Yet this same interaction often makes reading-to-write a difficult process for students
to learn and to manage.

The following texts have used Flower's ideas and words. Which of them do you consider to be
acceptable?
A On such tasks, students are reading to create a text of their own, trying to integrate information from
sources with ideas of their own, and attempting to do so under the guidance of a purpose they must
themselves create. Because these reading-to-write tasks ask students to integrate reading, writing, and
rhetorical purpose, they open a door to critical literacy. Yet this same interaction often makes reading-to-
write a difficult process for students to learn and to manage.
B The study presented here (Flower, 1990) takes an unusually comprehensive look at one critical point of
entry into academic performance. It shows a group of freshmen in the transition into the academic
discourse of college, looking at the ways in which they interpret and negotiate an assignment that calls for
reading-to-write. On such tasks, students are reading to create a text of their own, trying to integrate
information from sources with ideas of their own, and attempting to do so under the guidance of a
purpose they must themselves create. Because these reading-to-write tasks ask students to integrate
reading, writing, and rhetorical purpose, they open a door to critical literacy. Yet this same interaction
often makes reading-to-write a difficult process for students to learn and to manage.
C According to Flower (1990), on such tasks, students are reading to create a text of their own, trying to
integrate information from sources with ideas of their own, and attempting to do so under the guidance of
a purpose they must themselves create. Because these reading-to-write tasks ask students to integrate
reading, writing, and rhetorical purpose, they open a door to critical literacy. Yet this same interaction
often makes reading-to-write a difficult process for students to learn and to manage.
D In English, an essay is a piece of argumentative writing several paragraphs long written about one topic,
usually based on your reading. The purpose of an essay is for you to say something for yourself using the
ideas of the subject, for you to create a text of your own by integrating information from sources with
ideas of your own. The emphasis should be on working with other people's ideas, rather than reproducing
their words, but your own voice should show clearly. The ideas and people that you refer to need to made
explicit by a system of referencing.
E In English, an essay is a piece of argumentative writing several paragraphs long written about one topic,
usually based on your reading. The purpose of an essay is for you to say something for yourself using the
ideas of the subject, for you to create a text of your own by integrating information from sources with

5
 ideas of your own (Flower, 1990). The emphasis should be on working with other people's ideas, rather
than reproducing their words, but your own voice should show clearly. The ideas and people that you refer
to need to made explicit by a system of referencing.
F On these tasks, students are reading in order to make a text of their own, trying to integrate facts from
texts with their own ideas, and trying to do this with a purpose they must make themselves. As these
reading-to-write tasks require students to combine reading, writing, and purpose, they provide a route to
critical literacy. However, this same combination can make reading-to-write a complicated process for
students to learn and to carry out.
G In English, an essay is a piece of argumentative writing several paragraphs long written about one topic,
usually based on the student's reading. The purpose of an essay is for the student to say something for
themselves using the ideas of the subject, for them to present ideas they have learned in their own way.
The emphasis should be on working with other people's ideas, rather than reproducing their words, but
the student's own voice should show clearly. This is a very difficult task for students in the transition into
the academic discourse of college.
H When students start higher education, they have a great deal to learn about academic writing. In school
academic writing usually consists of writing about things they have already learned about with no
reference to how this was learned. In higher education, however, students will need to learn to negotiate
an assignment that calls for reading-to-write. This involves reading sources and then trying to understand
information from them. They then need to create their own texts by integrating this information with ideas
of their own. All this must be done under the guidance of a purpose they must themselves create.
I In English, an essay is a piece of argumentative writing several paragraphs long written about one topic,
usually based on the student's reading. The purpose of an essay is for the student to say something for
themselves using the ideas of the subject, for them to present ideas they have learned in their own way.
The emphasis should be on working with other people's ideas, rather than reproducing their words, but
the student's own voice should show clearly. Students should be, as Flower (1990) points out: "reading to
create a text of their own, trying to integrate information from sources with ideas of their own, and
attempting to do so under the guidance of a purpose they must themselves create.”(p. 5).
J When students start higher education, they have a great deal to learn about academic writing. In school
academic writing usually consists of writing about aspects they have already learned about with no
reference to how this was obtained. In higher education, however, students will need to learn to read and
explicitly use the results of their reading to carry out the writing task. They will need to "negotiate an
assignment that calls for reading-to-write" (Flower, 1990, p. 5). This involves reading sources and trying to
understand information from them, and then, according to Flower (1990) “create a text of their own" by
“integrating information ... with ideas of their own" (p. 5).
K According to Flower (1990) "On such tasks, students are reading to create a text of their own, trying to
integrate information from sources with ideas of their own, and attempting to do so under the guidance of
a purpose they must themselves create. Because these reading-to-write tasks ask students to integrate
reading, writing, and rhetorical purpose, they open a door to critical literacy. Yet this same interaction
often makes reading-to-write a difficult process for students to learn and to manage" (p. 5).

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Answers to Avoiding Plagiarism Book activity

Most people would agree that the only really acceptable ones are I & J.

None of the others would be acceptable without acknowledgement.

A is clear plagiarism. All the words are Flower's and no attempt has been made to
acknowledge this. This is clearly outright copying.

B does acknowledge Flower's work but still uses Flower's words without explicit
acknowledgement. This is again clearly outright copying.

C again acknowledges Flower's work but still uses Flower's words without explicit
acknowledgement. Again this is clearly outright copying.

D includes some of the author's words and ideas but still uses Flower's words without
explicit acknowledgement. There are examples of Hamp-Lyons & Couter's patchwork
plagiarism

E includes some of the author's words and ideas and does acknowledge Flower's work
but still uses Flower's words without explicit acknowledgement. There is a certain
amount of outright copying here.

F is an example of what Hamp-Lyons and Courter call paraphrase plagiarism.

G contains examples of Hamp-Lyons & Coutrer's "stealing an apt term".

H is a good example of what Hamp-Lyons and Courter call paraphrase plagiarism.

I is acceptable. It includes the author's words and ideas and uses a clear quotation from
Flower to support these ideas.

J is acceptable. It clearly integrates Flower's ideas with the author's words and ideas and
uses clear quotations from Flower to support these ideas.

K is not plagiarism, but it is certainly not what is expected of a student in Higher

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT PLAGIARISM:
The Paraphrase:
Paraphrase is a re-expression of someone else's ideas in your own words. While it is true that you do not
have to enclose paraphrased information in quotes, you are still responsible for giving proper credit to
the original source of the information and for making sufficiently substantial changes that the paraphrase
is a genuinely new expression of the idea, not merely a slight rewording of the original passage.
Incorrect paraphrase is perhaps the most common type of 'accidental' plagiarism.

Unacceptable Paraphrase:
Unacceptable paraphrase is usually caused by making only superficial (minor) changes to the original
text such as replacing some of the words with synonyms or changing the sentence order. The paraphrase
is so close to the original that it is considered essentially a direct quote without acknowledgment.
Unacceptable paraphrase, particularly close paraphrase, usually shows the student does not have a
significant understanding of the subject and opens the possibility of misrepresenting the original author's
ideas.

Acceptable Paraphrase:
When you have achieved an acceptable paraphrase, it feels dramatically different. It sounds like an
entirely new way of expressing the idea even though every effort has been made to capture the original
meaning.

Paraphrasing Samples:

The original passage :

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in
the final research paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly
quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials
while taking notes.
Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (2016): p. 46

A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the
final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted
material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

A legitimate paraphrase:
Parenthetical citation sample (APA citation style):
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable
level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material
recorded verbatim (Lester, 2016).

Narrative citation sample (APA citation style):

Lester (2016), an expert on writing, stated that in research papers students often quote excessively,
failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during
note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim.
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An acceptable summary:
Parenthetical citation sample (APA citation style):
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of
quoted material in a research paper (Lester, 2016).

Narrative citation sample (APA citation style):

According to Lester (2016), students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to
help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper.

A legitimate Quote: remember, you must include your own words within the same sentence as your
quote because a quote cannot be a sentence alone in your essay—also called a plop quotation).

Parenthetical citation sample (APA citation style):

Many experts agree that “students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result
they overuse quotations in the final research paper" (Lester, 2016, p. 46).

Narrative citation sample (APA citation style):

Many experts agree that students should be careful while note-taking during their research. For
example, Lester (2016) stated, “students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a
result they overuse quotations in the final research paper" (p. 46).

When to use quotations

While it’s important to support your argument with evidence from a variety of sources, and to properly
acknowledge and cite those sources, not all evidence needs to be presented in the form of direct quotation. Often,
you can convey information more efficiently and integrate it more smoothly into your own writing by
paraphrasing, rather than using direct quotation (for more on paraphrasing, see the “Paraphrasing” handout).
Whether you decide to paraphrase or quote a source, remember that you must give your source credit for any of
their ideas or significant wording that you incorporate into your writing. Attribution (giving your source credit)
is an important scholarly practice, and failing to attribute information can constitute academic dishonesty.

Framing
When you use a direct quotation, you need to integrate it into the rest of the paragraph and to let your reader know
whose words you are quoting. Framing a quotation supplies your reader with the context of the quotation and
places the quotation into a longer sentence that fits in with the paragraph.
The first time you introduce a quotation and its source you should include some basic contextual information—
an author, speaker, or institution responsible for the words. If you think the information will be helpful for your
reader, you might also include the title of the article, chapter, or book, and/or the place of publication.

Introductions or frames can come before, after, or in the middle of the quotation. The clearest way to frame
quotations is to use speaker tags or verbs of attribution. Don’t worry too much about repeating the same verbs
of attribution throughout your paper. Verbs like “says,” and “claims,” as well as phrases like “according to,” are
great ways to let your reader know that you are presenting someone else’s words or argument. Different words
can imply different attitudes on the part of both speaker and author towards a quotation. For more on how to
select appropriate verbs of attribution, or for help finding a variety of verbs to use with quotations, you can
consult the “Verbs of Attribution” handout.

Some examples include:

• Framing before the quotation:
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 Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, argues, “The history of the twentieth century was dominated
by the struggle against totalitarian systems of state power. The twenty-first will no doubt be marked by a
struggle to curtail excessive corporate power” (15).
• Framing after the quotation:
“Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes,” Henry David Thoreau warned (25).
• Framing in the middle of the quotation:
“This evidence is overwhelming at this point,” journalist and cookbook author Mark Bittman explains.
“You eat more plants, you eat less other stuff, you live longer” (70).

In general, it’s best to avoid “floating” quotations in which you place one or more sentences of quoted material in
a paragraph without integrating, framing, or introducing the quotation.

Block quotes are quotations of more than four lines (about 40 words or more). They should be used deliberately
and only when omitting part of the quote would hurt its power.

Modifying quotations
In order to make direct quotations fit smoothly into your paragraph, you may want to tailor your language so that
the quotation fits into the grammar of your sentence. To do this, you may need to modify the words you use to
introduce a quotation, or to carefully modify the quotation itself.

Ellipses
Sometimes, you may only need to use part of a lengthy quotation. Ellipses (three spaced periods . . .) indicate to
your reader that you have removed part of the original quotation:
Mark Twain’s disdain for Jane Austen is well known. He declared in an 1898 letter, “I haven't any right to
criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Austen. . . . Every
time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”

Brackets
Sometimes you need to change the tense of a verb or clarify or change a pronoun or name. Use square brackets to
indicate any changes you make to the original quotation:
According to John Smith, “They [puppies] are always more trouble than they’re worth.”
Be careful not to modify or excerpt a quotation to the extent that it differs dramatically from the original phrasing,
or worse, becomes unrecognizable when compared to the original. Even if you’re only interested in a single word
or phrase, make sure you provide enough context so that your reader can see the word or phrase’s role in the
sentence or passage.

10
 How can I incorporate evidence into my paper?
There are many ways to present your evidence. Often, your evidence will be included as text in the body of your
paper, as a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. Sometimes you might include graphs, charts, or tables; excerpts
from an interview; or photographs or illustrations with accompanying captions.

Quotations
When you quote, you are reproducing another writer's words exactly as they appear on the page. Here are some
tips to help you decide when to use quotations:
1. Quote if you can't say it any better and the author's words are particularly brilliant, witty, edgy, distinctive,
a good illustration of a point you're making, or otherwise interesting.
2. Quote if you are using a particularly authoritative source and you need the author's expertise to back up
your point.
3. Quote if you are analyzing diction, tone, or a writer's use of a specific word or phrase.
4. Quote if you are taking a position that relies on the reader's understanding exactly what another writer
says about the topic.

Be sure to introduce each quotation you use, and always cite your sources. See our handout on quotations for
more details on when to quote and how to format quotations.
Like all pieces of evidence, a quotation can't speak for itself. If you end a paragraph with a quotation, that may be
a sign that you have neglected to discuss the importance of the quotation in terms of your argument. It's important
to avoid "plop quotations," that is, quotations that are just dropped into your paper without any introduction,
discussion, or follow-up.

Paraphrasing
When you paraphrase, you take a specific section of a text and put it into your own words. Putting it into your
own words doesn't mean just changing or rearranging a few of the author's words: to paraphrase well and avoid
plagiarism, try setting your source aside and restating the sentence or paragraph you have just read, as though you
were describing it to another person. Paraphrasing is different than summary because a paraphrase focuses on a
particular, fairly short bit of text (like a phrase, sentence, or paragraph). You'll need to indicate when you are
paraphrasing someone else's text by citing your source correctly, just as you would with a quotation.

When might you want to paraphrase?

1. Paraphrase when you want to introduce a writer's position, but his or her original words aren't special enough to
quote.
2. Paraphrase when you are supporting a particular point and need to draw on a certain place in a text that supports
your point-for example, when one paragraph in a source is especially relevant.
3. Paraphrase when you want to present a writer's view on a topic that differs from your position or that of another
writer; you can then refute writer's specific points in your own words after you paraphrase.
4. Paraphrase when you want to comment on a particular example that another writer uses.
5. Paraphrase when you need to present information that's unlikely to be questioned.

Summary
When you summarize, you are offering an overview of an entire text, or at least a lengthy section of a text.
Summary is useful when you are providing background information, grounding your own argument, or
mentioning a source as a counter-argument. A summary is less nuanced than paraphrased material. It can be the
most effective way to incorporate a large number of sources when you don't have a lot of space. When you are
summarizing someone else's argument or ideas, be sure this is clear to the reader and cite your source
appropriateIy.

Statistics, data, charts, graphs, photographs, illustrations

 APA Citation Examples
Original passage from page 248 ofAshley Montagu's book The American Way ofLife:

To be human is to weep. The human species is the only one in the whole world of animate nature that
sheds tears. The trained inability of any human being to weep is a lessening of his capacity to be human
- a defect that usually goes deeper than the mere inability to cry. And this, among other things, is what
American parents- with the best intentions in the world- have achieved for the American male. It is
very sad. If we feel like it, let us all have a good cry- and clear our minds of those cobwebs of
confusion, which have for so long prevented us from understanding the ineluctable necessity of crying.

Now, look at the various ways you can use the opinion expressed in the passage.

Montagu (2000) claims that American men have a diminished capacity to be human because they have
been trained by their culture not to cry.

In his book The American Way ofLife, Montagu (2000) writes, "The trained inability ofany human
being to weep is a lessening ofhis capacity to be human- a defect which usually goes deeper than the
mere inability to cry" (p. 248).

According to Montagu (2000), "To be human is to weep" (p. 248).

"Ifwe feel like it," writes Montagu (2000), "let us have a good cry- and clear our minds ofthose
cobwebs of confusion which have for so long prevented us from understanding the intellectual necessity
ofcrying" (p. 248).

One distinguished anthropologist calls the American male's reluctance to cry "a lessening ofhis
capacity to be human" (Montagu, 2000, p. 248).

Montagu (2000) finds it "very sad" that American men have a "trained inability" to shed tears (p. 248).

When my grandfather died, all the members of my family- men and women alike- wept openly. We
have never been ashamed to cry. As Montagu (2000) writes, "to be human is to weep" (p. 248). I am
sure we are more human, and in better mental and physical health, because we are able to express our
feelings without artificial restraints.

Montagu (2000) argues that it is both unnatural and harmful for American males not to cry:

To be human is to weep. The human species is the only one in the whole world of animate nature that
sheds tears. The trained inability of any human being to weep is a lessening of his capacity to be human
- a defect that usually goes deeper than the mere inability to cry .... It is very sad. (p. 248)

Using the words of others can be tricky business. You typically only want to use a direct quotation in the
following situations: ifyou're using that statement as a piece ofevidence for your own argument, if
you're establishing another's position, or if another person has said something better and more clearly
than you can.

The main problem with using quotations happens when writers assume that the meaning of the
quotation is obvious. Writers who make this mistake believe that their job is done when they've chosen
a quotation and inserted it into their text. Quotations need to be taken from their original context and
integrated fully into their new textual surroundings. Every quotation needs to have your own words
appear in the same sentence. Here are some easy to use templates* for doing this type of introduction:

Templates for Introducing Quotations

X (2024) states," "

As the world-famous scholar X (2024) explains it,"____ "

As claimed by X(2024),"___ "

In her article ___, X (2024) suggests that "____ "

X (2024) concurs when she notes,

--- " "

You may have noticed that when the word "that" is used, the comma frequently becomes
unnecessary. This is because the word "that" integrates the quotation with the main clause of your
sentence (instead of creating an independent and dependent clause).

Now that you've successfully used the quotation in your sentence, it's time to explain what that
quotations means-either in a general sense or in the context of your argument. Here are some
templates for explaining quotations:

Templates for Explaining Quotations

In other words, X asserts -----

In arguing this claim, X argues that _____

X is insisting that ____

What X really means is that ------

The basis of X's argument is that _____

 (often used in signal phrases introducing a quote or paraphrase)

... also known as lead-in verbs, signal that the writer is quoting, paraphrasing, or referring to another
source. "Says'' is the most common- and boring if overused -verb of attribution. The following verbs
indicate you are citing someone else's opinions, or information you found elsewhere. Often these verbs
show whether or not the writer or the source author agrees with the cited material. While some verbs
of atb.·ibution are relatively objective, others carry more emotional weight and should be used with care.

More objective: illustrates, indicates, mentions, addresses, states, suggests, cites, writes ...
Use with care: exclaims, insinuates, retorts, mumbles, whines ...

General list of attributive verbs:

accepts assumes contends explains notes reveals
accounts for believes contents expresses objects sees
acknowledges categorizes criticizes finds observes shows
addresses challenges deals with grants offers speculates
adds charges decides hypothesizes opposes states
admits cites declares illustrates points out suggests
advises claims defines implies proposes supports
affirms comments denies indicates questions supposes
agrees compares describes insinuates realizes thinks
alleges complains disagrees insists reasons uses
allows concedes discusses interprets refutes utilizes
analyzes concludes disputes introduces rejects verifies
answers concurs emphasizes lists remarks whines
argues confesses emphasizes maintains replies writes
asks confirms endorses mentions reports purports
asserts considers exclaims mumbles responds ~ignifi~~
Be attentive to each verb's implied meanings.
Be careful not to mislead the reader with inappropriate verbs of attribution. For example, here is a
quotation from bell hooks

Notice how different verbs of attribution are or are not appropriate:

• admits = indicates resistant acceptance; will likely be qualified with a rebuttal.

Bell Hooks (2014) admits that "feminism is essentially a white, middle-class
endeavor" (pg. 2).

• asserts = the writer is presenting the statement as bell hooks' opinion rather than a
fact.
Bell Hooks (2014) asserts that "feminism is essentially a white, middle-class
endeavor" (pg. 2).

• insinuates = indicates that the source author is indirectly suggesting a negative

evaluation.
Bell Hooks (2014) insinuates that "feminism is essentially a white, middle-class
endeavor" (pg. 2).

• believes =the quotation is a belief, not a statement of fact. The writer has the
opportunity to agree or disagree in the following sentences.
Bell Hooks (2014) believes that "feminism is essentially a white, middle-class
endeavor" (pg. 2).

• verifies = the writer is using the source author's statement to support his own claim,
and thereby implying that the source author is an authoritative source. Be sure to use
verifiable facts rather than opinions with this verb. Notice that this verb does not
appropriately introduce bell hooks' opinion.
Bell Hooks (2014) verifies that fl feminism is essentially a white, middle-class
endeavor" (pg. 2).

• confesses =the writer is implying that the source author accepts responsibility or
admits guilt.
Bell Hooks (2014) confesses that "feminism is essentially a white, middle-class
endeavor. (pg. 2).
 s rases hart
Relationship Possible Words and Phrases
beyond that in addition
besides likewise
To add ideas moreover also
furthermore next
finally

for example in other words

even though for instance
To illustrate/ demonstrate that is to illustrate
specifically as proof
a case in point

granted since this is so

To yield a point
of course although true

conversely on the contrary

however on the other hand
To show contrast
nevertheless while this may be true

above all indeed

To emphasize a point more important in fact
surely without a doubt

at the same time likewise

To compare
in the same way similarly

first in conclusion
second last
To show order
in the second place next
finally

in other words in short

To repeat or restate
that is to say

for these reasons all in all

To summarize overall
in conclusion

close by in front of
To show relationships in space nearby behind
next to

before presently
afterward previously
formerly subsequently
To show relationships in time ultimately
later
meanwhile soon after
next