INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CIÊNCIAS DE EDUCAÇÃO

ISCED-HUAMBO
DEPARTAMENTO DE ENSINO E INVESTIGAÇÃO DE LÍNGUAS
SECTOR DE INGLÊS

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY I

Plagiarism and Reference

The Lecturer: Vasconcelos F. Tchitangueleca

ISPOC-HBO 2024/2025
 1. Plagiarism Overview
Plagiarism is using someone else’s ideas or words
without giving them proper credit. Plagiarism can
range from unintentional (forgetting to include a
source in a bibliography) to intentional (buying a
paper online, using another writer’s ideas as your own
to make your work sound smarter). Beginning writers
and expert writers alike can all plagiarize. Understand
that plagiarism is a serious charge in academia, but
also in professional settings.
Please note: It is important to recognize that
standards and conventions for citing sources vary
from the classroom to scholarly publishing to the
professional sphere, sometimes very widely, but in
all situations we must attribute other people’s words
and ideas to their appropriate source.
Intellectual Challenges in American
Academic Writing
There are some intellectual challenges that all
students are faced with when writing. Sometimes
these challenges can almost seem like
contradictions, particularly when addressing them
within a single paper. For example, American
teachers often instruct students to:
Develop a topic based on what has already been said
and written BUT write something new and original.
Rely on experts’ and authorities’ opinions BUT build
upon and/or disagree with those opinions.
Give credit to previous researchers BUT make your
own significant contribution.
Improve your English to fit into a discourse community
by building upon what you hear and read BUT use
your own words and your own voices.
This may sound confusing, however, something
simple to keep in mind when it comes to research is:
You are not reinventing the wheel, you are simply
contributing in a significant way. For beginners, this
can be a challenge, but once you start to see that
there is a pattern that is unique to you, you will find
that plagiarism is not needed. Remember — your
professor or your supervisor want your ideas to what
is already established or familiar and NOT to simply
repurpose someone else’s ideas and calling it
your own.
 Assignment: Part One

1. Safe practices (see appendices)

APA Citations and Reference
Title Page Abstract

Major Paper
Sections

Body References
 Title Page
The title page should contain the title of the paper,
the author's name, and the institutional affiliation.
Type your title in upper and lowercase letters
centered in the upper half of the page. The title
should be centered and written in boldface. APA
recommends that your title be focused and succinct
and that it should not contain abbreviations or words
that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or
two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout
your paper, should be double-spaced.

Beneath the title, type the author's name: first

name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use
titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).
 Abstract
On the first line of the abstract page, center and bold
the word “Abstract” (no italics, underlining, or
quotation marks).
Beginning with the next line, write a concise
summary of the key points of your research. (Do not
indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your
research topic, research questions, participants,
methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions.
You may also include possible implications of your
research and future work you see connected with
your findings. Your abstract should be a single
paragraph, double-spaced. Your abstract should
typically be no more than 250 words.
You may also want to list keywords from your paper
in your abstract. To do this, indent as you would if
you were starting a new paragraph,
type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your
keywords. Listing your keywords will help
researchers find your work in databases.
References

Quotations
 Short Quotations
If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need
to include the author, year of publication, and page
number for the reference (preceded by "p." for a
single page and “pp.” for a span of multiple pages,
with the page numbers separated by an en dash).
You can introduce the quotation with a signal phrase
that includes the author's last name followed by the
date of publication in parentheses.
According to Jones (1998), "students often had
difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first
time" (p. 199).
Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using
APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for
teachers?
If you do not include the author’s name in the text of the
sentence, place the author's last name, the year of
publication, and the page number in parentheses after
the quotation.
She stated, “Students often had difficulty using APA
style” (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an
explanation as to why.
 Long Quotations
Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch
from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would
begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on
the new margin, and indent the first line of any
subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch
from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing
throughout, but do not add an extra blank line before
or after it. The parenthetical citation should come after
the closing punctuation mark.
 Quotations from Sources without
pages
Direct quotations from sources that do not contain
pages should not reference a page number. Instead,
you may reference another logical identifying element:
a paragraph, a chapter number, a section number, a
table number, or something else. Older works (like
religious texts) can also incorporate special location
identifiers like verse numbers. In short: pick a substitute
for page numbers that makes sense for your source.
Jones (1998) found a variety of causes for student
dissatisfaction with prevailing citation practices
(paras. 4–5).

A meta-analysis of available literature (Jones, 1998)

revealed inconsistency across large-scale studies of
student learning (Table 3).
 Footnotes
Content-Based Footnotes
Utilizing footnotes to provide supplementary detail can
enrich the body text and reinforce the main argument of
the paper. Footnotes may also direct readers to an
alternate source for more detail on a topic. Though
content footnotes can be useful in providing additional
context, it is detrimental to include tangential or
convoluted information. Footnotes should detail a
focused subject; lengthier sections of text are better
suited for the body paragraphs.
 Avoiding Plagiarism
All students have to face the issue of plagiarism.
Plagiarism means taking information or ideas
from another writer and using them in your own
work, without acknowledging the source in an
accepted manner. In academic work plagiarism
can be a serious offence. This unit outlines the
situation, but to fully avoid plagiarism students
need to master appropriated the skills.
Which of the following would be considered as
plagiarism?

a) Not providing a reference when you have used

somebody’s idea.
b) Copying a few sentences from an article on the
internet without giving a reference.
c) Not giving a reference when you use commonly
accepted ideas, e.g. Aids is a growing problem.
d) Giving the reference but not using quotation marks
when you take a sentence from another writer’s
article.
e) Taking a paragraph from a classmate’s essay
without giving a reference.
f) Presenting the results of your own research.
 ANSWER
(a), (b), (d) and (e) are plagiarism.
 Ways to avoid plagiarism
1. Using quotations
Means bringing the original words of a writer into your
work. Quotations are effective in some situations, but
must not be over-used. They can be valuable:
a) when the original words express an idea in a
distinctive way
b) when the original is more concise than your
summary could be
c) when the original version is well-known
All quotations should be introduced by a
phrase that shows the source, and also
explains how this quotation fits into your
argument:
(1) Short quotations (2–3 lines) are shown by single
quotation marks.

According to May (1993: 23) theory can be defined as

‘a conceptual framework that provides an explanation
of certain occurrences or phenomena.’
(b) Page numbers should be given after the date.
(c) Care must be taken to ensure that quotations are
the exact words of the original. If it is necessary to
delete some words that are irrelevant, use points . . .
to show where the missing section was:
‘Few inventions . . . have been as significant as the
mobile phone.’
(d) It may be necessary to insert a word or phrase
into the quotation to clarify a point. This can be done
by using square brackets [ ]:
‘modern ideas [of freedom] differ radically from those
of the ancient world. . .’
(2) Quotations inside quotations (nested
quotations).

As James remarked: ‘Martin’s concept of

“internal space” requires close analysis.’
 (3) Longer quotations
are either indented (given a wider margin) or are
printed in smaller type. In this case quotations marks
are not needed.
According to Hoffman, mobile phone ownership
compensates for the weaknesses of infrastructure in the
developing world: ‘In the poorest countries, with weak
transport networks and unreliable postal services, access
to telecommunications is a vital tool for starting or
developing a business, since it provides access to wider
markets’ (2009: 87).
 2. Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing means changing the
wording of a text so that it is significantly
different from the original source, without
changing the meaning. Effective
paraphrasing is a key academic skill
needed to avoid the risk of plagiarism: it
demonstrates your understanding of a
source.
Paraphrasing and summarising are
normally used together in essay writing,
but while summarising aims to reduce
information to a suitable length,
paraphrasing attempts to restate the
relevant information. For example, the
following sentence:

There has been much debate about the

reasons for the industrial revolution
happening in eighteenth-century Britain,
rather than in France or Germany.

Could be paraphrased:
Why the industrial revolution occurred in
Britain in the eighteenth century, instead
of on the continent, has been the subject
of considerable discussion.
Note that an effective paraphrase
usually:
v has a different structure to the original
v has mainly different vocabulary
v retains the same meaning
v keeps some phrases from the original
that are in common use e.g. ‘industrial
revolution’ or ‘eighteenth century’
 Read the text below and then evaluate the
three paraphrases (1= best), giving reasons.

The causes of the Industrial Revolution

Allen (2009) argues that the best
explanation for the British location of the
industrial revolution is found by studying
demand factors. By the early eighteenth
century high wages and cheap energy
were both features
of the British economy. Consequently, the
mechanisation of industry through such
inventions as the steam engine and
mechanical spinning was profitable
because employers were able to
economise on labour by spending on coal.
At that time, no other country had this
particular combination of expensive labour
and abundant fuel.
(a) A focus on demand may help to
explain the UK origin of the industrial
revolution. At that time workers’ pay was
high, but energy from coal was
inexpensive. This encouraged the
development of mechanical inventions
based on steam power, which enabled
bosses to save money by mechanising
production (Allen, 2009).
(b) The reason why Britain was the
birthplace of the industrial revolution can
be understood by analysing demand in the
early 1700s, according to Allen (2009). He
maintains that, uniquely, Britain had the
critical combination of cheap energy from
coal and high labour costs. This
encouraged the adoption of steam power
to mechanise production, thus saving on
wages and increasing profitability.
(c) Allen (2009) claims that the clearest
explanation for the UK location of the
industrial revolution is seen by examining
demand factors. By the eighteenth
century cheap energy and high wages
were both aspects of the British economy.
As a result, the mechanisation of industry
through inventions such as the steam
engine and mechanical spinning was
profitable because
employers were able to save money on
employees by spending on coal. At that
time, Britain was the only country with
significant deposits of coal.
Thank you very much for your time