GE117 Week Six

GE 117 Composition I Week 6
Plagiarism, Citations, and Note Taking
&
Cause and Effect Writing Models

Let’s Review from Week 5:
- Thesis Statement = A narrow, specific
topic + an attitude, belief, opinion about
the topic.
- Thesis Statements must be debatable in
a sense, or it’s not a Thesis.
- Thesis Statements require Evidence for
support.

Week 5 Review (Continued):
- Evidence can include: Examples, Facts,
Reasons, Experiences, Anecdotes,
Numbers, Statistics, Quotations, Expert
Opinions, etc.
- Evidence should be: Relevant, Unified,
Specific, Adequate, Dramatic, Accurate,
Representative, and Documented (if
borrowed)

Today’s Objectives:
1) Describe strategies to avoid plagiarism.
2) Review how to use the MLA Citation
System in your Research Paper.
3) Know when to cite sources, and how to
cite them properly.
4) Describe and use the Cause-Effect as a
writing model.

Q: What is “plagiarism” ?
A: Plagiarism occurs when a writer
borrows or steals the ideas, thoughts,
facts, or words of another writer without
giving credit to the original source.

Q: Why is plagiarism wrong?
A: 1) It robs someone else of their work.
2) It gives a student an unfair advantage in
grading compared to students who do not
plagiarize.
3) It hurts the student, who doesn’t learn
anything in the process.
4) It devalues the worth of a diploma from the
student’s college or institution.

Q: How does plagiarism occur?
A: While some students intentionally decide to
buy or copy an assignment, others do genuine
research on a topic but they still unintentionally
plagiarize.
Believe it or not, most cases of plagiarism are
unintentional!—crazy, eh?

Q: If most cases of plagiarism are
unintentional, how can I be sure to avoid
it?
A: By doing two things:
1) Taking proper notes carefully
2) Use a method for citations

Taking Notes
- Create a consistent system for taking
and storing notes: Index cards, a
dedicated notebook, a specific file on a
hard drive, etc.
- Write your notes while reading your
original sources, then write your
paper from your notes, not the
sources.

Taking Notes
- When researching your topic, strive to
write notes only when you believe it will
be useful in your paper. Avoid recording
everything and anything.
- Consider taking notes on: Facts, Stats,
Anecdotes, Quotations, Expert opinions,
etc. (anything considered “evidence”).

Writing acceptable notes
- When writing notes, always remember
there are only three types of notes that
are acceptable in a research paper or
academic essay.
- The three types of notes are: Summary,
Paraphrase, and Quotation.

Writing acceptable notes
- If you write down a note, and more importantly,
if you actually use it in your work, it must be
one of the acceptable types, or it will lead to
plagiarism! Bad note taking is like a gateway
drug. The first one’s free, kid.
- Therefore, when you write a note, always
record in shorthand (S, P, Q) what type of note
it is FIRST!!!!!!!!

Writing Summaries
- A summary is written in your own
words.
- It’s shorter and more condensed than
the original source material.
- Summaries focus only on main ideas
and the “big picture.”
- They never go into specifics or details.

Writing Summaries
- Summaries can cover a lot of material in
a little bit of space.
- Summaries are useful in providing
necessary background information or
an overview on a topic.
- Summaries are often found early on in
papers, before the writer goes into detail.

Writing Summaries
- Read the original material thoroughly, put the source
aside, and in your own words, express only the main
ideas.
- Compare your summary to the original and make sure
you aren’t occasionally borrowing exact words and
phrases from the original source.
In-class exercise: Read :
“Why we crave horror movies” by Stephen King, pages
398-399.

Writing Paraphrases
- A paraphrase is also written in your own
words.
- A paraphrase is just as long as the
original source material.
- There is a sentence by sentence
correspondence between the original
and the paraphrase.

Writing Paraphrases
- A paraphrase is as detailed and
specific as the original source material.
- Paraphrases are useful in providing
specifics, details, and ideas beyond the
main ideas.
- Paraphrases are found anywhere a
writer needs to use specifics or details.

Writing Paraphrases
- Read the original source carefully, and then put it
aside.
- Write out your paraphrase in your own words,
creating the same number of sentences as the
original.
- Compare your paraphrase, sentence by sentence, to
the original. Change any exact words or phrases you
use that come from the original source.
The bulk of your citations will either be paraphrases or
direct quotes.
In-class exercise: paraphrase worksheet!

Writing Quotations
- A quotation is the use of someone
else’s exact words.
- A quotation must be indicated through
the use of “quotation marks.”
- A quotation is exactly as long as the
original material.
- Quotations cannot be rewritten or edited

Writing Quotations
- Since paraphrases and summaries
require you to use your own words,
there should be a good reason to use a
quotation instead.
- Quote when a writer’s thoughts are
unusual or controversial to accurately
convey their beliefs.

Writing Quotations
- Quote when a writer’s words are
particularly memorable or eloquent.
- Quote when any attempt to paraphrase
or summarize would make the material
less clear or less eloquent.
- Quote when an expert’s opinion
reinforces your own beliefs (and thesis!)

MLA Citation System
- A Citation System is an artificial but
consistent method to document all
research sources used in a writer’s work.
- Citation Systems were first created in the
1900’s by the University of Chicago.
- Chicago Manual, MLA, APA, etc.

MLA Citation System
- All citation system can be described as
either being Note-based or Parenthetical
- A Note-based system uses sequential
numbers in the text and footnotes or
endnotes to indicate and reveal sources.
- A Parenthetical system cites sources
using parentheses ( ) and a bibliography.

MLA Citation System
- MLA is a Parenthetical Citation System
- MLA requires writers to pay attention to
2 different aspects of the system:
1) In-text, parenthetical attribution
2) A separate and complete bibliography

MLA Citation System
- An in-text attribution is a simple indicator
of the last name of the author of the
original source, followed by a page
number (if no pagination, always use 1)
- The attribution occurs at the end of each
and every note used in a paper. It
doesn’t wait until the end of the
paragraph or page!

MLA Citation System
Ex: A growing number of scientists have become
impatient with the lack of government
involvement regarding global warming
(Thomas 6).
Ex: Researcher Richard Thomas reveals that a
growing number of scientists have become
impatient with the lack of government
involvement regarding global warming (6).
Don’t forget your PGRG—an excellent resource
for MLA documentation styles

MLA Citation Style
- Try to use both forms of in-text citation
for variety’s sake.
- If you’re not sure if you should cite an
idea or not, cite it anyway! When in
doubt, always document!!!!
- Common knowledge does not need to
be cited, even if found in original
sources.

MLA Citation System
- A bibliography is a list of all relevant
information about the original source
cited in a paper.
- Usually includes: Author’s Name, Title,
Publication, Pages, Volume/Issue, Date,
Publisher, Publishing city, etc

MLA Citation System
- MLA is flexible enough that you can cite
anything as an original source.
- Every different type of source or even
variations of the same type have different rules
for formatting the bibliography entry.
- Refer to your textbook and MLA guides for
unique or individual cases.
- Utilize Citation Generators like KnightCite.

Cause and Effect
- Causal analysis is based on the human
need to make connections between
events and make sense of the world.
- It answers natural questions that we all
have about the world: Why?, How
Come? What if?, etc.

Cause and Effect
Causes can also be worded as:
- Reasons
- Factors
- Precipitating events
- Sources
- Motivations

Cause and Effect
Causes are concerned with what
happened or led up to an event or
phenomena occurring. Identifying causes
helps us answer the questions “Why?”
and “How come?”

Cause and Effect
Effects can also be worded as:
- Results
- Impact
- Significance
- Consequences
- Aftermath

Cause and Effect
Effects are concerned with what
happens after an event or phenomena
occurs. Identifying effects answers the
question “What if?”

Cause and Effect
There are three likely objectives or
reasons to use C/E as a writing model.
1) To simply give information
2) To argue or persuade the reader
3) To speculate or predict

Cause and Effect
Some basic strategies for using C/E :
1) Stay focused on your main objective
and don’t lose sight of it.
2) Adapt tone, diction, and content for
your audience, especially for topics
unfamiliar to your readers.

Cause and Effect
3. Think carefully and rigorously about
Cause and Effect relationships.
Understand Causal Chains and avoid
mistaking correlation for causation!!!
(Bell ringing, teacher entering example)
4. In a small essay, focus just on the
causes of a phenomena, or just on the
effects. You won’t have enough room to
do both.

Cause and Effect
5. Use an organization pattern for your
Causes and/or Effects:
A) Chronological (the order they
happen in)
B) Emphatic (the order of importance
they have)
This will help to avoid reader confusion

Cause and Effect
6. Use language appropriate for C/E writing.
Nothing is black or white or guaranteed. Avoid
words such as “clearly”, “definitely”,
“obviously”, “without a doubt” or
“guaranteed.” Try to use words such as
“probably”, “most likely”, or “seems to be”.
They give you room for doubt and show you
understand the complexity of C/E relationships

Cause and Effect
Let’s read a good example of Cause &
Effect writing!
Read :
“Why we crave horror movies” by
Stephen King, pages 398-399.

Now for Homework, PRACTICE!
- Course Project Part two: Selecting and narrowing the topic
 Read assignments 2, 3, and 4 on page 412 of The Longman
Writer. Select one of the situations ("flunking out," the "trash
crisis," or "Turn off the TV") and follow the directions given in the
book. Submit a minimum of three well-developed paragraphs.
Remember that a "well developed” paragraph has a topic
sentence, supporting sentences, and a conclusion sentence.
Submit your work in a Word document.

GE117 Week Six

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