PLAGIARISM

CITING, QUOTING AND REFERENCING

 What is Plagiarism?

Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s
original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the
offense:

According to the Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means

1) to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as

one's own
2) to use (another's production) without crediting the source
3) to commit literary theft
4) to present as new and original an idea or product derived
from an existing source.

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and
lying about it afterward.

But can words and ideas really be stolen?

According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. In the United States and many other countries, the
expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and is protected by copyright
laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection
as long as they are recorded in some media (such as a book or a computer file).

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

• turning in someone else’s work as your own

• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving
credit
• copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of
your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on “fair use” rules)

Attention! Changing the words of an original source is not sufficient to prevent plagiarism.
If you have retained the essential idea of an original source, and have not cited it, then no matter
how drastically you may have altered its context or presentation, you have still plagiarized

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging
that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information
necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism.

Document provided by Turnitin.com and Research Resources. Turnitin allows free distribution and non-profit use of
this document in educational settings.

1
Types of Plagiarism
Anyone who has written or graded a paper knows that plagiarism is not always a black-and-
white issue. The boundary between plagiarism and research is often unclear. Learning to
recognize the various forms of plagiarism, especially the more ambiguous ones, is an important
step in the fight to prevent it.

I. SOURCES NOT CITED

1) “The Ghost Writer”

The writer turns in another’s work, word-for-word, as his or her own.

2) “The Photocopy”

The writer copies significant portions of text straight from a single source,
without alteration.

3) “The Potluck Paper”

The writer tries to disguise plagiarism by copying from several different sources,
tweaking the sentences to make them fit together while retaining most of the
original phrasing.

4) “The Poor Disguise”

Although the writer has retained the essential content of the source, he or she has
altered the paper’s appearance slightly by changing key words and phrases.

5) “The Labor of Laziness”

The writer takes the time to paraphrase most of the paper from other sources and
make it all fit together, instead of spending the same effort on original work.

6) “The Self-Stealer”

The writer “borrows” generously from his or her previous work, violating policies
concerning the expectation of originality adopted by most academic institutions.

II. SOURCES CITED (but still plagiarized!)

1) “The Forgotten Footnote”

Document provided by Turnitin.com and Research Resources. Turnitin allows free distribution and non-profit use of
this document in educational settings.

2
 The writer mentions an author’s name for a source, but neglects to include
specific information on the location of the material referenced. This often masks
other forms of plagiarism by obscuring source locations.

2) “The Misinformer”

The writer provides inaccurate information regarding the sources, making it

impossible to find them.

3) “The Too-Perfect Paraphrase”

The writer properly cites a source, but neglects to put in quotation marks text that
has been copied word-for-word, or close to it. Although attributing the basic
ideas to the source, the writer is falsely claiming original presentation and
interpretation of the information.

4) “The Resourceful Citer”

The writer properly cites all sources, paraphrasing and using quotations
appropriately. The catch? The paper contains almost no original work! It is
sometimes difficult to spot this form of plagiarism because it looks like any other
well-researched document.

5) “The Perfect Crime”

Well, we all know it doesn’t exist. In this case, the writer properly quotes and
cites sources in some places, but goes on to paraphrase other arguments from
those sources without citation. This way, the writer tries to pass off the
paraphrased material as his or her own analysis of the cited material.

Document provided by Turnitin.com and Research Resources. Turnitin allows free distribution and non-profit use of
this document in educational settings.

3
 Identifying Academic Sources
The sources of information you can document in university assignments are typically those from an authority.
In an academic setting, an authority is usually someone who has been the author of published material. This
material may come in the form of……

• Books

• Journal articles

• Published reports

This kind of information is useful in that it provides evidence, which may be in the form of –
theoretical ideas,
critical evaluations,
research findings, and
scholarly opinions

- to back up the points you are making. Sometimes, these sources can be grouped into two categories: primary
and secondary sources.

Primary sources relate to publicly available data, like historical documents (e.g. a transcript of oral history,
interview data), raw data from an experiment, or demographic records. Secondary sources draw on these
primary sources of data, but have been produced for public consumption in the form of a journal article or a
chapter in an edited book.

You are more likely to use secondary sources in your assignments. Secondary sources differ from secondary
citations, which occur when you use a reference that was cited in another source and not the original.
Secondary citations are dealt with in a later section (see page 10).

Academic sources of information, or evidence, differ from……

• Your own opinions.

• Conclusions or outcomes of discussions on the issue with friends or relatives.

• A celebrity’s opinion.

• Articles in popular magazines, like the Women’s Weekly.

• Opinion columns in newspapers (as opposed to newspaper articles).

You can certainly draw on these materials for ideas to be developed in your assignment, but do not use them
as sources of evidence, unless requested to in the assignment instructions. Having identified acceptable
academic sources, the next section considers how to integrate these sources into your writing.

4
 Integrating the Ideas of Published Authors
One of the primary features of academic writing is using the literature to support your ideas. This requires you
to read widely in order to seek out the different sides of a debate within a particular field of inquiry.

In a sense, university assignments can be considered as vehicles for exploring the literature and finding out
points of difference, agreement, and variability amongst different authors.

What this means is that you need to demonstrate evidence of your literature exploration by including these
authors in your writing and mentioning their points of view. This technique of referring to authors in your writing
is often termed citing, documenting, or in-text referencing.

Citing Authors

Within academia, different disciplines have their own conventions for citing authors. One of the most common
conventions at Massey is the American Psychological Association’s referencing system, otherwise known as
APA. Other referencing systems used to document authors in your assignments, namely MLA, Harvard, and
Chicago, will be outlined in a later section.

APA follows an author-date pattern for citing authors. In the body of your assignment, this involves recording
the author’s surname (or family name) followed by the year in which their work was published. This author-date
pattern can be used in the body of a sentence, or in brackets at the end of the sentence. It is worth noting that
by using the former, the reference becomes part of the sentence, and, therefore, clarity of attribution is often
increased in the mind of the reader.

Example

In the body of a sentence

According to Holmes and Smith (1986), gender is an important feature in language.

The full “and” is used. Year is in brackets, immediately

following authors.

In brackets
Gender is an important feature in language (Holmes & Smith, 1986).

The ampersand “&” A comma separates The full stop goes

is used. authors and year. after the brackets.

You will notice that in the body version, the authors are embedded into the sentence, with the year of publication
in brackets. In contrast, the brackets version involves all the author details placed in brackets. The full reference
details for Holmes and Smith (1986) should be found in the reference list at the end of the assignment. How to
construct reference lists is covered in a later section.

Author Citation Tips

• There is no rule concerning which citation method – whether citing authors in the body of a sentence or in
brackets – is best. Either method is fine. However, it is always useful for the reader to provide variety when
citing authors in your assignment. So, try to alternate between these two methods.

5
• To avoid relying on the same verbs when introducing authors into your sentence, as in the case of “McDonald
(1992) says…” or “Anderson (2003) states…”, a list of verbs is provided to add variety to your sentence-
embedded citations.

agrees
asserts
believes
claims
comments; concedes that
challenges; concludes; compares
defines; delves deeper
describes
examines; explains; explores; echoes
feels; felt that
focuses on
goes further
holds that
insists; includes; identifies
is clear that; was clear on
maintains; mentions
notes
observes
points out; points to
prefers; poses
provides evidence
qualifies
recalls; recounts
refers to
reminds; responds
reports; reveals
says; sees
shows
speaks of
states; suggests
summarises; supports
tells; tells of
touches on
verifies
writes that

• If there are two or more authors with the same surname, regardless of year of publication, include their first
initials to distinguish the publications.

Example
In the body of a sentence
According to R. B. Holmes (1995) and J. S. Holmes (1995), management principles underlie many organisational
practices.

In brackets
Management principles underlie many organisational practices (R. B. Holmes, 1995; J. S. Holmes, 1995).

NB: When listing two or more authors in brackets, use a semi-colon to separate each reference.

6
• If there are two or more publications written by the same author in the same year, then add the letter “a”
immediately after the year of the first publication mentioned in the text, and add the letter “b” after the
second, and so on. Ensure the same detail is reflected in your Reference List.

Example
McMillan (1992a) illustrates cross-cultural awareness in organisations, while
McMillan (1992b) argues for the significance of gender in cross-cultural awareness.

• When stating the same author twice in a single paragraph, the year only needs mentioning the first time
in the paragraph (unless it could be confused with another reference, such as in the case of publications
written by the same author in the same year).

Example
The notion of anger has been debated for centuries (Wilkinson, 1976). Indeed, Wilkinson points out that….

• For works with no identifiable date, include n.d. in brackets.

Example
The notion of anger has been debated for centuries (Wilkinson, n.d.).

• When citing a publication written by three to five authors, for the first text citation, include all names. On
subsequent citations, state the first author followed by “et al.”, which is a Latin abbreviation for “et als”,
meaning “and others”.

Example
In the body of a sentence
According to Slater et al. (1978, p. 120), it is important to establish the grounds of the argument.

In brackets
It is important to establish the grounds of the argument (Slater et al. 1978, p. 120).

• For works of six or more authors, for all citations, including the first, include the first author’s surname
followed by “et al.”

• In the case of secondary citations, that is when a source you are using cites someone else’s work – which
is the work you want to include, but you do not have access to the original document – it is important to
acknowledge both the original source and the source you have access to. When documenting both sources
in brackets, use “as cited in” before the secondary source.

Example
Riechter’s (1984, as cited in Smith, 2003) study highlights how business models offer a framework for
understanding commercial mechanisms.

In the reference list at the back of the assignment, only list details for the source that you have been able to
access, which is the source by Smith in the example above.

• On occasion, you may be in a situation where an expert, such as a lecturer, or a consultant working within
an organisation, communicates a point, which happens to be relevant to your assignment. This point may
have been communicated in an email, in face-to-face communication, or via a telephone conversation.
In such cases, the information can still be included in your assignment as a personal communication –
although only include these in your assignments if absolutely necessary.

7
 Example
The legal firm, Cole and More, also practise criminal law (R. J. More, personal communication, December
14, 2005), which...

It is important not to rely on personal communications in your writing, as these do not demonstrate your
interpretation of the literature. Personal communications are mentioned in the body of an assignment only.
Consequently, they are not included in your Reference List at the end of the assignment.

Having explained the techniques involved in citing authors in the body of your assignment, the following section
illustrates two different approaches to embedding authors’ ideas in your writing: putting their ideas into your
own words, or quoting their ideas verbatim.

Putting Authors’ Ideas into Your Own Words

It is important to be able to explain the ideas of authors in your own words because this shows you understand
the concepts and opinions. It does take some skill to alter the form in which information appears without
significantly changing the meaning of that information. You may find though that, with practice, it becomes
easier. Dictionaries and thesauruses are useful starting points for putting authors’ ideas into your words.
Indeed, the more word resources you have at your fingertips, the greater flexibility you have in reshaping the
words of others, while still retaining as much of the original meaning as possible. There are two approaches
to putting authors’ ideas into your own words: summarising and paraphrasing. Summarising will be dealt with
first, followed by paraphrasing.

Summarising

Summarising involves selecting out some key features and then using those to create a shortened version of
the author’s prose. Of course, in your assignment, you need to ensure that there is enough difference in form
between the original version and your own summarised version. This may be achieved by simplifying the ideas,
as well as using a different sentence structure or sentence order to present those ideas.

Examples
“Children spend a very large proportion of their daily lives in school. They go there to learn, not only in a
narrow academic sense, but in the widest possible interpretation of the word – about themselves, about
being a person within a group of others, about the community in which they live, and about the world
around them. Schools provide the setting in which such learning takes place.”

Leyden, S. (1985). Helping the child of exceptional ability. London: Croom Helm, page 38.

Summaries
Author citation in the body of the sentence
As Leyden (1985) points out, schools are places for children to learn about life, themselves, other people,
as well as academic information.

Author citation in brackets

Schools are places for children to learn about life, themselves, other people, as well as academic
information (Leyden, 1985).

You will notice that in the examples above I have relied on some of the same key words that were used in the
original version from Leyden, such as schools, children, learn, other(s), themselves, and academic. This is often
the case when you are creating your own version of the author’s words because many concepts and ideas
cannot be broken down to a more basic level, without losing a sense of their original meaning. However, the
difference between my summary and the author’s version has been created through the arrangement of these
key words in combination with other words which I have selected.

8
Secondly, the very selection of ideas from the total pool available within the original version has also contributed
to the difference between my version and the author’s version. For instance, you will notice that I have not
focused on the meaning contained in the first sentence about children spending much of their “daily lives in
school.” Instead I have summarised the ideas contained in the last two sentences. Yet, at the same time, I have
omitted specific details within the second sentence, such as “the community”, and interpreting academic in
the “widest possible” sense. Further, instead of allocating a whole sentence to the point that “schools provide
the setting in which such learning takes place”, I have condensed this idea and merged it with the ideas in the
second sentence, as evident in “schools are places for children to…”

Thirdly, difference from the original version has also been created through the order in which the ideas are
presented. For example, in Leyden’s version, she mentions the academic focus of learning first, followed by
a broader context of issues which children also learn about while they are at school. In contrast, my version
presents the broader context of issues first followed by the academic focus of learning.

Consequently, when summarising the ideas of authors, you can use several techniques. Firstly, you can identify
some key words and link these with other words to create a different combination. Secondly, you can be
selective about the specific ideas you choose to adopt, while leaving out others. In this way, you are actively
summarising the information. Finally, by reordering the ideas in your own framework, you are also creating a
distinction between your version and the author’s. All this can be achieved without significantly altering the
meaning of the information. Many of these techniques can also be applied to the strategy of paraphrasing
authors’ ideas.

Paraphrasing

Before you begin to paraphrase, it is REALLY IMPORTANT to build-up your OWN IDEA of the information or try
to develop a picture in your mind, and then use this as a model to help FRAME or GUIDE your paraphrase of the
author’s idea.

Paraphrasing means to restate information using different words. Unlike summarising though, paraphrasing
focuses less on shortening and condensing the information. Paraphrasing aims to rewrite the information by
drawing on different words and phrases.

Examples
“Children spend a very large proportion of their daily lives in school. They go there to learn, not only in a
narrow academic sense, but in the widest possible interpretation of the word – about themselves, about
being a person within a group of others, about the community in which they live, and about the world
around them. Schools provide the setting in which such learning takes place.”

Leyden, S. (1985). Helping the child of exceptional ability. London: Croom Helm, page 38.

Paraphrasing
Author citation in the body of the sentence
As Leyden (1985) points out, schools are places where children spend a significant amount of time.
Beyond merely going to school to learn academic information, Leyden argues that learning occurs within
a far wider context as children also learn about who they are, by being in groups, their local community,
as well as the wider world which surrounds them. Hence, schools offer the settings to facilitate children’s
learning about a great many things.

9
 Author citation in brackets
Schools are places where children spend a significant amount of time (Leyden, 1985). Beyond merely
going to school to learn academic information, learning occurs within a far wider context as children
also learn about who they are, by being in groups, their local community, as well as the wider world
which surrounds them (Leyden). Hence, schools offer the settings to facilitate children’s learning about
a great many things.

You will notice that in the paraphrased examples above, the version I have created is very detailed, compared
to the one-sentence, summarised version. The paraphrased version rewrites each of the three sentences that
make up the original version from Leyden. Further, it relies on a few more of the key words Leyden uses, such
as schools, children, academic, learn, spend, groups, community, world, them, setting(s), and learning.

A second difference between the summarised version and the paraphrased one is that the same order of
ideas is retained in the paraphrased version. For instance, unlike the summarised version, the paraphrased one
mentions the academic focus of learning first, followed by a broader context of issues which children also learn
about while they are at school. Moreover, the paraphrased version also represents more closely the specific
points addressed by Leyden. In contrast, the summarised version presents a very general representation of the
ideas, while leaving out specific aspects.

However, the paraphrased version does have at least one thing in common with the summarised version.
Indeed, the paraphrased example integrates many other words and phrases not used by Leyden to get across
Leyden’s message. Further, even though the order, in which these ideas are presented, is the same as Leyden’s
order, the choice of phrases is significantly different. For example, while Leyden refers to learning “not only
in a narrow academic sense, but in the widest possible interpretation of the word – about themselves…”,
the paraphrased version refers to the same idea in terms of the following: “beyond merely going to school to
learn academic information, learning occurs within a far wider context as children also learn about who they
are…”

Copying and Changing a Few Words – Not Paraphrasing

As already highlighted, it is vital that you create enough distinction between your paraphrased version and the
author’s version. Commonly, however, many students do not make enough of a difference between their words
and the author’s. In some cases, for instance, they may copy large phrases from the original, and only change
a few words.

Example
“Capital represents human creations that are used in the production of goods and services. We often
distinguish between human capital and physical capital. Human capital consists of the knowledge and
skills people develop (through education and formal or on-the-job training) that enhance their ability
to produce, such as the taxi driver’s knowledge of the city’s streets or the surgeon’s knowledge of the
human body. Physical capital consists of buildings, machinery, tools, and other manufactured items that
are used to produce goods and services. Physical capital includes the driver’s cab, the surgeon’s scalpel,
the ten-ton press used to print Newsweek, and the building where your economics class meets.”

McEachern, W.A. (1991). Economics: A contemporary introduction (2nd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: South-
Western, page 3.

Copying and changing a few words – Unacceptable paraphrasing

Capital signifies human products that are utilised in the creation of goods and services (McEachern,
1991). Human capital comprises knowledge and skills that people develop (through education and on-
the-job training) to enhance their capacity to produce. In contrast, physical capital comprises buildings,
machinery, tools, and other manufactured items that are utilised to produce goods and services
(McEachern).

10
The above example demonstrates what NOT to do when paraphrasing an author’s ideas. Although
acknowledgement of the author is made in the bracketed citations, this is not enough to distinguish the
author’s version from your own version. You also need to ensure that the phrasing is sufficiently different. The
paraphrased version has only substituted individual words, as follows:

represents = signifies
creations = products
production = creation
ability = capacity
used = utilised
consist of = comprises

This leaves the structure of the original version intact. Although most of the examples have been excluded, the
sentence structure is exactly the same as the author’s. Including linking phrases, like “In contrast”, on their
own do not adequately restate the author’s idea. The whole passage needs to be restated in different words to
meet the requirements of paraphrasing. The example below demonstrates this.

Example
“Capital represents human creations that are used in the production of goods and services. We often
distinguish between human capital and physical capital. Human capital consists of the knowledge and
skills people develop (through education and formal or on-the-job training) that enhance their ability
to produce, such as the taxi driver’s knowledge of the city’s streets or the surgeon’s knowledge of the
human body. Physical capital consists of buildings, machinery, tools, and other manufactured items that
are used to produce goods and services. Physical capital includes the driver’s cab, the surgeon’s scalpel,
the ten-ton press used to print Newsweek, and the building where your economics class meets.”

McEachern, W.A. (1991). Economics: A contemporary introduction (2nd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: South-
Western, page 3.

Acceptable Paraphrasing
Capital is an economic concept referring to the things humans make, which are then used “in the
production of goods and services” (McEachern, 1991, p. 3). This broad concept can be divided into human
as well as physical capital, as McEachern illsutrates. Indeed, human capital focuses on the products
pertaining to individuals’ skills and expertise, which function to improve individuals’ production capacity.
This type of capital can be gained through some form of education and/or training. In contrast, physical
capital involves the kinds of tools and equipment, including buildings that are central to providing goods
and services.

Things to Note about Acceptable Paraphrasing

You will notice that in the example above I have constructed a number of things to create some difference
between the original and my paraphrased version.

1. I have crafted capital as “an economic concept”. Hence – even at the basic word level – I have drawn on
my own understanding to help guide the process of rewriting the author’s idea.

2. Instead of distinguishing between two types of capital, as the original version does, I have talked about this
in terms of dividing the “broad concept” of capital into two. Similarly, as in the point above, I have reframed
the author’s words within my own framework of understanding to help guide my rewriting of the author’s
idea.

3. Linking words at the beginning of sentences have been used to help with my flow of writing, such as
“Indeed”, and “In contrast”.

11
4. Rather than defining human and physical capital in terms of “consists of…”, “human capital focuses on…”
and “physical capital involves...” have been applied. Similarly, instead of talking about human capital as
enhancing people’s ability, I have rephrased this as “function[ing] to improve…” Likewise, “central to the
production of…” has replaced “used to produce”. Hence, I have tried to draw on phrases I am more familiar
with to express the author’s ideas.

5. Individual words have also been replaced by other words, such as “things humans make” for “human
creations”, and “individuals” instead of “people”. Again, at the level of individual words, I have repackaged
the information within my own framework of understanding.

6. Acknowledgement of the author’s ideas are made with two references provided in the paraphrase – one in
brackets and another embedded in the body of a sentence.

When to Retain SOME of the Original Features

Sometimes with paraphrasing, there may be a need to retain some of the features of the original. For instance,
you will notice that I relied on the author’s phrasing for “in the production of goods and services” because it
was difficult to restate this in different words. However, the author’s words are acknowledged, as evident by
the quotation marks around the quoted material, in addition to the author’s name, year of publication, and page
number where the quote is located. Specific details about quoting authors’ ideas are provided in a later section
(see page 23).

In addition to using a quotation, a few phrases have been retained from the original, including “physical capital”
and “human capital”. This is because these phrases are recognised terms used within the economics field, and
are not specific to the author’s usage. More importantly, “physical capital” and “human capital” are the names
of concepts, which cannot be changed. Similarly, I have retained the phrase “goods and services” because it
is a recognised term, commonly applied in many other contexts beyond an academic setting. Consequently, I
felt it was not necessary to use quotation marks around such terms. However, if you are in doubt, it is always
best to exercise caution by acknowledging the source and applying quotation marks. Better still, try to restate
the idea in your own words.

Putting authors’ ideas in YOUR WORDS is likely to be the SKILL

you will use MOST when writing university assignments.
It’s worth investing time to develop this SKILL.

Techniques for Putting Authors’ Ideas into Your Own Words

Verb List for Academic Writing

The key to developing the skill of restating other people’s ideas in your own words is to develop your own
repertoire of words that can be used in academic writing. What follows is a list of verbs organised in different
groups, because of their similarity in meaning, which can be integrated into your writing. These words may
assist when summarising authors’ ideas. They may also be helpful when paraphrasing appropriately the words
of other authors. There is room to add your own words to each group.

articulate, comment, mention, maintain, note, point out, say, state, suggest, indicate, refer,…
hypothesise, predict, theorise, conceptualise, understand, demonstrate, show, convey, portray, support,
substantiate, corroborate, verify, confirm…..
investigate, research, experiment, conduct, administer, observe, ……..
acknowledge, assert, claim, …
argue, challenge, compare, contradict, contrast, counteract, debate, defend, refute, hold, ….
comprise, consist, constitute, embody, characterise, define, identify, recognise, diagnose, …
create, construct, develop, generate, produce, evolve, manufacture, ….…….

12
synthesise, coordinate, cooperate, correspond, collaborate, contribute, share, …
reveal, conceal, ….
analyse, examine, evaluate, scrutinise, criticise, …
report, record, collect, collate, categorise, document, …
differentiate, deviate, distinguish, divide, separate, …
access, utilise, deploy, adopt, practise, …
strengthen, increase, expand, weaken, reduce, decrease, contract, condense, ….
convince, compel, justify, explain, clarify, reason, account, …
signify, highlight, specify, specialise, symbolise, …
accumulate, calculate, maximise, minimise, formulate, …
relate, connect, link, associate, correlate, …
exclude, include, situate, locate, place, …
condemn, deny, decline, negate, …
dominate, segregate, subordinate, …
affect, influence, transform, …
conclude, summarise, …

Changing the Sentence Structure and Form

In addition to building up your repertoire of academic words, another method for creating difference between
the author’s version and your version is by altering the structure in which information is presented. The following
strategies identify a variety of techniques for altering sentence structures.

1. Restate the information by referring to the author. EG: McDonald (1992) highlights; According to McDonald
(1992); As highlighted by McDonald (1992).

2. Embed the author at the beginning of the sentence, the middle, or at the end. EG: As identified by Smith
(1990), social dynamics involve…; Social dynamics, as identified by Smith (1990), involve…; Social dynamics
involve…, as identified by Smith (1990).

3. Try to repackage the idea using the following sentence starters:

This concept is about…
This idea is organised around…
This issue focuses on / involves / integrates / highlights / illustrates….
This means…
It is comprised of… / constitutes…
A central feature underlying this concept is…
This functions to… / serves to… / works to…

4. Change the order in which the items or events are placed.

5. Consult with a thesaurus for ideas on how to say things differently. As an example, Collins Essential English
Thesaurus may be a useful resource.

6. Draw on different linking words and phrases to begin sentences as well as to link different ideas within the
same sentence, such as the following:

Being specific
In particular…. Regarding… With respect to…
In relation to… More specifically… In terms of…
Especially, …

13
 Giving an example
For instance, … For example, … This can be illustrated by…
…namely, … …such as…

Clarifying
In other words, … Basically, … …namely, …

Introducing parallels
Simultaneously, … At the same time, … Equally, …
Concurrently, …

Mentioning a common point

Traditionally, … Typically, … Conventionally, …
Commonly, … Often, …

Acknowledging something and moving onto a different point

Although… Even though… Despite…
Notwithstanding…

Following a line of reasoning

Therefore, … Hence, … Consequently, …
Subsequently, … As a result, … Accordingly, …
As a corollary, … As a consequence, … To this end, …

7. Can you expand and elaborate on what the author is saying?

8. Alternatively, can you simplify and shorten what the author is saying?

9. Include a value judgement as you put the idea into your own words. EG: Gibson’s (1978) analysis about… is
useful because it takes into account external factors.

10. Can you summarise in one sentence the ideas from several authors. EG: Based on the ideas of Johnson
(1979), McDonald (1988), and Wright (1999), it can be argued that… Similarly, when summarising the findings
from different studies, the same structure can be applied. EG: Based on the findings from Johnson (1979),
McDonald (1988), and Wright (1999), it can be demonstrated / concluded that…

14
Steps for Putting Authors’ Ideas into Your Own Words

1. Write down or paste a photocopy of the passage you wish to put into your own words. Underline the
author’s main points.

2. List some key ideas, concepts, and phrases. Where possible, note down alternative phrases or
synonyms for each of these.

3. Identify the author’s main point(s) in your words.

4. Can you simplify your words further?

(This may not always be possible.)

5. Now, use your words and phrases in steps 3 and 4 to restate the author’s main point, without looking
at the original text.

This is your reconstructed version of the author’s idea.

15
Steps for Putting Authors’ Ideas into Your Own Words

1. Write down or paste a photocopy of the passage you wish to put into your own words. Underline the author’s
main points.

Marriage was a greater influence on the course of many of the women’s lives than choice of job or career,
or even family background. Yet few women talked about choosing to get married (although choice may be
a misnomer) in the same way they talked about career choices. Relationships are generally believed to
belong to the realm of emotion, and ‘we fell in love’ or ‘then I got married’ suffices. The decision to marry is
not usually something to be analysed or explained, nor is the choice of a particular man. Indeed, both getting
married and marrying a particular man often appeared to be inevitabilities rather than choices. Women did
talk about how they met their future husbands, however.

Park, J. (Ed.). (1991). Ladies a plate. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press, page 113. Key
points have been underlined.

2. List some key ideas, concepts, and phrases. Where possible, note down alternative phrases or synonyms
for each of these.
marriage, getting married – selecting a life partner
marriage was a great influence – significant impact, influential factor
decision to marry – choice, marriage options, choice of partner
not usually something to be analysed or explained – typically not talked about, not a topic of discussion
getting married and marrying a particular man often appeared to be inevitabilities rather than choices – the
process of marriage and choice of partner were more a matter of course, something inevitable, compared
to individual choice.

3. Identify the author’s main point(s) in your words.

Marriage was an influential factor in the women’s lives. This was more so than other factors. Yet, at the
same time, marriage options, including choice of partner, were typically not a topic of discussion for most
women. Few women actually discussed the subject. Indeed, the process of marriage and choice of partner
were more a matter of course, something inevitable, compared to individual choice.

4. Can you simplify your words further?

Although marriage impacted the women’s lives significantly, it was not a decision that was analysed. Indeed,
it was more a matter of course compared to individual choice.

5. Now, use your words and phrases in steps 3 and 4 to restate the author’s main point, without looking at the
original text.
Park’s (1991) interviews with women showed that although marriage impacted women’s lives significantly,
it was not typically a decision that was analysed. Few women discussed the topic of marriage, including
choice of partner. Rather, marriage was seen as more a matter of course than individual choice.

16
Quoting Authors’ Ideas

In addition to using authors’ ideas in your writing by putting their ideas into your own words, via summarising
and paraphrasing, you can also embed authors’ ideas using quotations. A quotation is an exact copy of the
words that someone else has written or said. These words are placed within quotation marks “ ”, which are
also referred to as speech marks. In addition to documenting the author’s surname and year of publication,
as with all citations of others’ work in accordance with APA referencing, you also need to include the page
number where the quotation was located.

Example

“Computer game use is likely to remain part of children’s media experiences and may well increase as
new developments in the medium arrive.”

Durkin, K. (1995). Computer games on young people: A review. Sydney, NSW: Office of Film and Literature
Classification, page 70.

Quoting authors
In the body of the sentence
The year and the page number The capital “C” in “Computer” has
appear in brackets, immediately been replaced with a lower case
following the author. “c” to suit the sentence form.

Durkin (1995, p. 70) highlights that “computer game use is likely to remain part of children’s media
experiences and may well increase as new developments in the medium arrive.”

The location of the full stop in the

original has been retained within the
speech marks because the sentence
ends here.

In brackets

The capital “C” has been retained

because the sentence begins here.

“Computer game use is likely to remain part of children’s media experiences and may well increase as
new developments in the medium arrive” (Durkin, 1995, p. 70).

The location of the full stop in the original has been repositioned
after the bracketed information because the sentence ends after
the reference details.

Quotation Tips

1. Type the exact wording, spelling, and punctuation of the original source, including American spelling.

2. If there are errors in the original, put the Latin word ‘sic’ after the errors in square brackets to indicate that
this was how the words appeared in their original location.

17
 Example
Braum (1999, p. 125) argues that “there is no way to determines [sic] moral laws.”

3. For publications without page numbers, such as online documents (excluding those accessed through
Acrobat Reader where page numbers are often specified as they appear on the printed page), use paragraph
numbers, indicated by “para.”

Example
As noted by Handleman and Brown (1995, para. 8), …

4. If you need to add words into a quotation for clarification, place the additional words in square brackets.

Example
“The PBRF [Performance Based Research Fund] ensures that tertiary institutions are able to deliver
robust research portfolios within a team of professional, and internationally reputed, researchers”
(Smith, 2004, p. 501).

5. If you need to remove details from a quotation, replace the words removed with three dots, referred to as
ellipses. This is a useful tool to include when you want to incorporate a quotation into your sentence, but
some of it is irrelevant or too detailed for your assignment.

Example
Jones (2001, p. 115) stated that “the ‘placebo effect’ … disappeared when all the relevant behaviours
were studied.”

6. For quotations of 40 or more words, indent the whole quotation (by about 5 spaces) as a block of text, and
remove the quotation marks.

Example
In respect of social behaviour, there are interesting American findings that computer game play can
promote high levels of family involvement, reviving patterns of family togetherness in leisure that, for
many, seemed to have diminished or died out with the advent of television. (Durkin, 1995, p. 71)

For block quotes, the bracketed

information appears outside the full stop.

7. For secondary quotations, or quotations that are cited in another source, providing that the original is not
available, both sources must be mentioned. When documenting both sources in brackets, use “as cited in”
before the secondary source.

Example
In the body of the sentence
Smith (2003, p. 111), in reporting a study conducted by Reichter (1984, p. 99), highlights how
“commercialisation leads to four major outcomes.”

In brackets
Riechter’s (1984, p. 99, as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 111) study highlights how “commercialisation leads to
four major outcomes.”

18
In the Reference List at the back of the assignment, only list details for the source that you have been able to
access, which is the source by Smith in the examples given above.

When to Use Quotations or Your Own Words?

While quotations indicate to the marker that you have read the literature and have identified points of interest,
quotations can detract the marker’s attention away from your own understanding of the topic. Hence, you are
far better off to demonstrate to the marker, in the word length available, your understanding of the author’s
words, rather than relying on the words of others. The best way to do this is by restating or summarising, in your
own words, the author’s quotation - with acknowledgement of the author. Ensuring frequent use of your own
words, as opposed to the words of others, also helps retain a consistent style of writing within your assignment.
If you decide to use quotations, be selective.

For an estimate of the number of quotations to use per assignment length, four quotations is a fair number
for a 2000 word assignment. This allows enough space for your understanding to shine through beyond
the words of others.

It is important to exercise good judgement when deciding on whether or not to use a quotation. Here are some
criteria to help you judge the relevance of quotations in your assignment:

• Does the quotation express an important idea in a way that you could not write more simply in your own
words?

• Does the quotation express an important idea in an authoritative way, that you could not construct more
dramatically / powerfully?

• Is it necessary to make available the original words for a particular purpose? - such as in the case of literary
analysis, or when displaying legislation.

Integrating Quotations into Your Assignment

Any quotation needs to be integrated into your text. It should never stand alone, unless it introduces the
assignment itself. For instance, it is acceptable to use a quotation to begin your assignment, perhaps, because
the quote is from a well-known author in the research area, or the quote may introduce the problem very clearly
or poignantly. However, in all other cases, you need to show that the quotation relates to the assignment topic.
This will often involve deciding whether the quote supports the points you want to make in some way, supports
with some qualification, or disagrees with whatever points you are making in your assignment. Irrespective
of the direction, you need to introduce and comment on the quotation by linking it back immediately to the
assignment topic. The following examples demonstrate how quotations that support a particular point of view
can be integrated into an assignment.

Example 1

“Social psychologists study behavior because it is behavior that can be observed.”

Vaughan, G., & Hogg, M. (1995). Introduction to social psychology. Sydney, Australia: Prentice Hall, page 2.

19
Essay question: Discuss whether social psychology is a science or an art.

Integrating The topic sentence introduces observable events, which provides

Quotation a lead into the quotation on social psychologists studying
observable behaviour.

One of the central characteristics of science is its method of demonstrating knowledge through clearly
observable events. According to Vaughan and Hogg (1995, p. 2), “social psychologists study behavior [bold
emphasis omitted] because it is behavior that can be observed.” This gives strength to the claim that psychology
is a science rather than an art because the scientific method constructs knowledge from observable data.

This sentence links the quotation back to the essay topic by

including it within the essay context of psychology being a
science versus an art.

Example 2

“Such…change cannot help but have a fundamental, permanent effect upon the world’s industries and the
people who work in them.”

Davidow, W. H., & Malone, M. S. (1992). The virtual corporation: Structuring and revitalizing the corporation
for the 21st century. New York: Harper Collins, page 2.

Essay question: Businesses should embrace the information age. Discuss.

Integrating The topic sentence provides a general statement about the

Quotation issue, which functions to help clarify the change referred to in
the quotation.

The information age is a significant technological force. “Such…change cannot help but have a fundamental,
permanent effect upon the world’s industries and the people who work in them” (Davidow & Malone, 1992, p.
2). This suggests that if businesses fail to recognise the impact of this technological change, they may be left
behind. Consequently, this gives credence to the view that businesses should embrace the information age.

These last two sentences link the quotation back to the essay
topic. The first sentence connects the quote to the focus of
businesses being left behind if they do not change. The second
sentence takes this idea further and explicitly links it back to the
essay topic with respect to the need for businesses to embrace
the information age.

In other cases, you may use a quotation to highlight areas of contention or debate. When you bring in opposing
points of view and then contest or refute them, this can make your essay more convincing and stronger to
the reader. This is because not only have you provided supportive evidence, but you have also brought in
disconfirming views and then argued against them by bringing in better and stronger evidence. Ultimately, this

20
shows you have read widely, and, more importantly, you have been able to integrate diverging points of view
into your assignment. You may not agree with the quotation, but you can still use it to demonstrate that another
piece of evidence from somewhere else, that you support, is more compelling than the opinion expressed in the
quotation. The following examples demonstrate how contrasting quotations can be utilised to open up debate.

Examples

In contrast to demonstrating the advances in employment relations, “Equal Employment Opportunity

(EEO) in New Zealand is at a crossroads” (Sayers & Tremaine, 1994, p.11).

Snook’s (1996, p. 55) contention, that “bulk funding, management models of school governance and the
promotion of so-called ‘choice’ will do more to destroy decent education than any defective curricula”,
is open to debate.

21
 The Importance of Acknowledging Authors’ Ideas
Acknowledging, adequately, the information you use in your university assignments is an important part of all
academic work. Failure to acknowledge a source of information (adequately), or using other people’s ideas as
your own is called plagiarism, and is a serious form of academic dishonesty. Any idea which is not your own,
but which the reader might regard as yours, should have a citation. It is better to give too many citations to your
sources than too few.

By acknowledging authors…………….

• You support your own ideas.

• You make your argument convincing for the marker.

• You show the marker you have read widely.

• You show the marker you understand the literature.

• You follow the conventions of academia.

• You avoid being accused of plagiarism. By law, published information is copyright, which may mean you
have the right to copy as long as you acknowledge the source.

When Don’t You Need to Acknowledge Authors?

There are instances when it is acceptable to refer to information without locating a source for that information.
Consequently, this forgoes the need to acknowledge the author of that information. Such instances relate to the
common knowledge, which may also be thought of as general knowledge or taken-for-granted knowledge. This
common knowledge is often culture bound, however. For instance, the common knowledge within New Zealand
culture, may differ from the taken-for-granted knowledge in another geographical region of the world.

Examples of common knowledge within New Zealand

• Beijing is the capital of China.

• Wellington is the capital of New Zealand.
• The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840.
• Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Most university assignments do not require you to focus on common knowledge. Rather, their purpose is
to enable you to read the ideas of published authors and debate the pros and cons of these ideas.

22
 Reference Lists
Having referred to sources by author in the body of your assignment, you will also need to provide a detailed
list of these sources at the end of your assignment. If you are using APA conventions, then this is referred to
as a Reference List and is headed up References. In some disciplines, you may also be asked to include a
Bibliography, which is a list of sources you used to develop ideas around the assignment topic, but which you
did not actually cite or include in the body of your assignment. Occasionally, you may be asked to include only
a Bibliography, which is likely to cover all sources, whether or not they were used in your assignment.

While the general procedure is presented on the following pages according to APA guidelines for listing
references at the end of your assignment, CHECK WITH YOUR STUDY GUIDE, since lecturers and course co-
ordinators may develop their individual preferences.

For further information, not provided here, you can always consult with the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (2001), 5th edition, available in the Massey University library.

Details to Include in Your Reference List

1. APA follows an author-date style for listing references at the end of your assignment. This involves placing
the authors surname first, followed by initials. With two or more authors, an ampersand, &, is required
before the last author. The publication date appears in brackets, with a full stop after it.

Example
Smith, K., Swatson, D., McDonald, G. Y., & Butcher, J. (1999).

A comma separates each An ampersand is included A full stop is placed after

author unit from the next, before the last author. the bracketed year.
while a full stop appears
after each initial.

2. When there are more than six authors, list the first six followed by et al. for the remaining authors.

Example
Bligh, T., Johnson, P., Quok, S. K., Smart, G., Masters, Y., Tressler, U., et al. (1999).

3. If there is no individual author, but an organisation has created the document, include the organisation as
the author.

Example
Ministry of Consumer Affairs. (1999). Pyramid schemes. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.

When the author is also the publisher, avoid

duplicating information by substituting the
name of the publisher with “Author”.

4. When no author information is available, place the publication title in the author position, followed by year
of publication, location, and publisher’s name. Retain formatting of the title, including italics.

Example
Significance of the Human Rights Act 1993. (2000). Wellington, New Zealand: Human Rights Commission.

23
Referencing a Book

Book title

Herbert, A. P. (1935). What a word! London: Methuen.

Date of publication Publisher

Author Famous city of publication

• When referencing a book, you need the book title, with only the first word of the title capitalised, and
thereafter, the first word after a colon or dash in the title. Book titles are italicised.

• You also need the location in which the book was published, followed by the name of the publishing company.
For well known cities, like London, Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Tokyo,
this is all that is needed. Other places require city and state (if in US) or city and country. All US states have
abbreviations, e.g. AL - Alabama, CA - California, DC - District of Columbia, TX - Texas.

Referencing a Chapter within an Edited Book

Author of chapter Date of publication Title of chapter Editor

Shaw, G. B. (1963). Saint Joan’s appeal. In L.A. Coser (Ed.), Sociology and literature
(pp. 45-78). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Indent 2nd line Region and US State location Publisher Title of book
Chapter page numbers

• When referencing chapters in edited books, include the authors of the chapter, year of book publication,
and title of the chapter.

• List the names of the editors in the order of first initial followed by last name, and place the abbreviation (Ed.)
or (Eds.) after the editor or editors’ names.

• Italicise (or underline) the book title only.

• Include the page numbers of the chapter in brackets after the book title, but before the full stop.

Referencing a Journal Article

Volume number Issue No.

Velde, M. (2000). Sharing is best. Education Gazette, 79(21), 9-10.

Author Title of article

Date of publication Title of journal Page numbers

• When referencing journal articles, italicise or underline the journal title and its volume number.
• Capitalise all main words in the journal title.
• Put the issue or part number in brackets, immediately after the volume number.
• Page numbers are the last piece of information given, followed by a full stop.

24
Difficult References

Newspaper Articles (author and no author)

Brown, K. (1998, March 15). Health Ministry at loggerheads with Pharmac. The Herald, p. 2.
New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. (1993, July 15). The Washington Post, p. A12.

Conference Proceedings

Bowker, N., & Tuffin, K. (2002). Users with disabilities’ social and economic development through online access.
In M. Boumedine (Ed.), Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Information and Knowledge
Sharing (pp. 122-127). Anaheim, CA: ACTA Press.

Book Reviews

Schatz, B. R. (2000). Learning by text or context? [Review of the book The social life of information]. Science,
290 (5498), 1910-1917.

Study Guides (author and no author)

(This type of reference has been adapted from the APA Publication Manual, 5th edition, 2001, because there is
currently no category available for study guides.)

Hudson, J. M. (1994). Second language learning: Study guide 2. Palmerston North, New Zealand: School of
Language Studies, Massey University.
School of Psychology, College of Social Science, Massey University. (1997). 175.100 Introduction to industrial
psychology. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Author.

Online Documents

Article in Internet-Only Journal

Breen, M. (1997). Information does not equal knowledge: Theorizing the political economy of virtuality. Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(3). Retrieved March 4, 2001, from http://209.130.1.169/jcmc/vol3/
issue3/breen.html

• For online documents, always include the date of access, in terms of month, day, and year, and the full web
address.

Entire Website
Te Papa. (2004). Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved June 23, 2005, from http://www.
tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/

For a site with multiple pages, include a web address that links back to the homepage.

Webpage
Te Papa. (2004). Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (What’s on). Retrieved June 23, 2005, from http://
www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/English/WhatsOn/

• To indicate a particular page or section within a website, include the chapter number or section title in
brackets, without italics, after the website title. Include a web address that links directly to the section
within the website.

25
Formatting Your Reference List

• References are in alphabetical order according to the first author’s surname.

• With two or more publications by the same author, list the earliest dated publication first.
• The second line of each reference (and thereafter) is indented by about 5 spaces. This can be formatted
automatically by using the “Hanging” feature under “Indentation” within the “Indents and Spacing” section
within the “Paragraph” option of the “Format” column of the menu bar, found in most Microsoft Word
programmes.

26