Appendix II

Using Sources

Everything of importance has been said before

by somebody who did not discover it.
—Alfred North Whitehead

There is not less wit nor less invention in applying

rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being
the first author of that thought.
—Pierre Bayle

Using Sources Properly

Few writers can get by on their own thoughts alone, and a
­researcher never can. We all write better when our thinking is
­enriched by what we learn from others. But there are rules for
using the words and ideas of others: some that readers use to
judge your ethos, how trustworthy you seem; and others that you
ignore to your peril. Mistakes here can damage your credibility,
your grade, and even your reputation for honesty. You have some
choices, but not many. Your challenge is to learn and follow a plan
that helps you use sources properly and without costly errors, but
also without having to reduplicate and re-reduplicate your efforts.
Although there are rules for quotations and other uses of
sources, I will, as always, emphasize your readers and the choices
you make with them in mind: not what you must do to follow the
rules, but what you can do to assure readers that you have dealt
with your sources accurately and fairly.
230
 Appendix II Using Sources 231

Avoiding the Appearance of Plagiarism

I begin with those matters where mistakes are most costly. Of all
the ethical transgressions that a writer can commit, few are worse
than plagiarism: lying and other forms of deception are worse, but
not far behind is the theft of another person’s words and ideas.
The plagiarist steals more than words. He or she also steals
the respect and recognition due to others for their work. And the
student plagiarist steals not only words and ideas, but the recog-
nition due to his colleagues by making their work seem worse in
comparison to his own. When such theft becomes common, the
­community grows suspicious, then distrustful, then cynical—So
who cares? Everyone does it. Teachers then have to be concerned
less with teaching and learning, and more with detecting dishon-
esty. Those who plagiarize do not just betray a duty owed a source;
they fray the ethical fabric of their entire community.
Honest students who never intend to plagiarize might think
they have no reason to fear being charged with doing so. But
we read words, not minds. You invite at least the appearance of
­dishonesty if you don’t know or, worse, don’t take care to avoid
what might make teachers suspect it.

Three Principles
To avoid that risk, you must understand and follow the principles
that every teacher expects every writer to observe. The overrid-
ing principle is this: avoid anything that might lead an informed
reader to think that you are taking credit for words or ideas not your
own. This principle applies to sources of any kind: print, o ­ nline,
recorded, or oral. Some students think that if something is freely
circulated online, they are free to treat it as their own. They are
wrong: cite everything you borrow.
In particular, follow these rules:
1. When you quote the exact words of a source, cite the source
(including page numbers) and put those words in quotation
marks or in a block quotation (see pp. 234–235).
2. When you paraphrase a source, cite the source (including
page numbers). You do not need quotation marks, but you
must recast it entirely in your own words in a new sentence
structure.
3. When you use an idea or method you found in a source, cite
the source. If the entire source concerns the idea or method,
do not add page numbers.
232 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

If you follow these three rules, you will never be suspected of

­trying to pass off someone else’s words and ideas as your own.

Take Good Notes

To use and cite source material correctly, you must start by tak-
ing good notes. Since the work can be tedious, set up a system to
get things right the first time so that you don’t have to check and
recheck, again and again.
1. Record bibliographical information the first time you touch
a source. Do this early, not when you are rushing to meet a
deadline.
For books, record For articles, record
❑ author(s) ❑ author(s)
❑ title (and subtitle) ❑ title (and subtitle)
❑ title of series (if any) ❑ journal, magazine, etc.
❑ edition or volume (if any) ❑ volume and issue number
❑ city and publisher ❑ online database (if any)
❑ year published ❑ date published
❑ pages for chapter (if any) ❑ pages for article
 nline sources are less predictable. In addition to the above
O
information, record at least the URL and the access date, and
any other information that might help you identify the source
for readers.
2. Record quotations exactly. Copy quotations exactly as they
appear in the original, down to every comma and semicolon.
If the quotation is long, photocopy or download it.
3. Mark quotations and paraphrases unambiguously as the
words of others. This is crucial: take notes so that weeks or
months later you cannot possibly think that words and ideas
from a source are your own. Whether you take notes longhand
or on a computer, always highlight, underline, or use a differ-
ent font to distinguish direct quotations. Then use another way
to distinguish paraphrases and summaries. Prominent scholars
have been humiliated by accusations of plagiarism because, they
claimed, they did not clearly mark words they copied or para-
phrased, then “forgot” they were not their own.
4. Don’t paraphrase too closely. When you paraphrase a source
in your notes, you must do more than merely replace words in
 Appendix II Using Sources 233

the source with synonyms. That is also considered plagiarism,

even if you cite the source. For example, the first paraphrase
­below is plagiarism because it tracks its sentence structure
­almost word for word. The second paraphrase is fair use.

Original: The drama is the most social of literary forms,

since it stands in so direct a relationship to its
audience.
Plagiarized: The theater is a very social genre because it relates
so directly with its viewers.
Fair use: Levin claims that we experience the theater as the
most social form of literature because we see it
taking place before us.

Using Quotations in Your Text

You use quotations best when you integrate them so fully that
they seem made for your text. Readers become suspicious when
they see bare quotations dropped into your paper with no effort
to connect them to your own points: Is it you or your source that’s
doing all the thinking? So prepare readers for each quotation by
stating before you use it how the quotation fits into the mesh of
your argument. Then make the fit between the quotation and your
text as seamless as possible.

Four or Fewer Lines

Drop in the Quotation An acceptable but artless way to insert a
quotation into your text is simply to drop it in, introducing it with
something like
Smith says, states, claims, etc. As Smith says, asserts, suggests, etc.
According to Smith, In Smith’s view, etc.

The verb indicates your attitude toward the quotation, so choose

carefully:
says vs. asserts vs. claims vs. suggests vs. thinks vs. wants to believe

Put a comma after the introductory phrase and capitalize the

first letter of the quotation only if it was capitalized in
the quotation:
Williams said, “An acceptable but artless way to insert a quotation
into your text is simply to drop it in.”
234 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

If you introduce the quotation with stated that, claimed that,

said that, etc., do not use a comma and do not capitalize the first
letter:
He went on to say that “if you introduce the quotation with stated
that, claimed that, said that, etc., do not use a comma.”

Weave in the Quotation A more graceful way to use a quotation

is to weave it into the structure of your own sentence (doing that
also helps you incorporate it into your own thinking):
In The Argument Culture, Deborah Tannen treats the male-female
polarity “more like ends of a continuum than a discrete dualism,”
because the men and women we know display “a vast range of
behaviors, personalities, and habits.”

To make the quotation fit your sentence, you can modify its
grammar, even add a word or two, so long as you follow these
principles:
• Don’t change its meaning.
• Indicate added or changed words with square brackets.
• Signal deletions with three spaced dots, called ellipses.
This sentence quotes the original intact:
Although it is clear that we have long thought of argument as verbal
combat, Deborah Tannen suggests that there is something new
in the way we argue: “The increasingly adversarial spirit of our
contemporary lives is fundamentally related to a phenomenon that
has been much remarked upon in recent years: the breakdown of a
sense of community.”

This version both shortens and modifies the quotation to fit the
grammar of the writer’s sentence:
Although it is clear that we have long thought of argument as verbal
combat, Deborah Tannen suggests that our “increasingly adversarial
spirit . . . is fundamentally related” to new social developments in
“the breakdown of a sense of community.”

If you delete a whole sentence or more, use four ellipses.

You can italicize, boldface, or underline words in a quota-
tion to emphasize them, but if you do, always add my emphasis or
­emphasis mine in square brackets:
Lipson recommends that when you paraphrase you “write it down in
your own words [my emphasis] . . . and then compare your sentence
with the author’s original.”
 Appendix II Using Sources 235

Five Lines or More

If you quote five lines or more, put the quotation into a block
­quotation (with no quotation marks around it). Indent the same
number of spaces as you indent a paragraph; if the quotation
­begins with a paragraph indentation, indent the first line again:
Lipson offers this advice about paraphrase:
So, what’s the best technique for rephrasing a quote? Set aside
the other author’s text and try to think of the point you want to
get across. Write it down in your own words (with a citation)
and then compare your sentence to the author’s original. If they
­contain several identical words or merely substitute a couple of
synonyms, rewrite yours.

As in that example, introduce most block quotations with

words that announce it, followed by a period or colon. But you
can also let the quotation complete the grammar of your introduc-
tory sentence. In that case, punctuate the end of your sentence as
if you were running the block quotation into your text:
A good way to avoid paraphrasing too closely is to
think of the point you want to get across. Write it down in your
own words (with a citation) and then compare your sentence to
the author’s original. If they contain several . . .

Never begin a quotation in your running text and complete it

in a block quotation, like this:
A good way to avoid paraphrasing too closely is to “think of the
point”you want to get across. Write it down in your own words
(with a citation) and then compare your sentence to the author’s
original. If they . . .

Five Words or Less

If you repeat just a few words from a source, you may have to treat
them as quotations. If they are words that anyone might use, treat
them as your own. But if they are strikingly original or especially
important, put them in quotation marks and cite their source. For
example, read this passage from Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs,
and Steel:
Because technology begets more technology, the importance of
an invention’s diffusion potentially exceeds the importance of the
original invention. Technology’s history exemplifies what is termed
an autocatalytic process: that is, one that speeds up at a rate that
increases with time, because the process catalyzes itself.
236 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

Phrases such as the importance of the original invention are so

­ordinary that they require neither a citation nor quotation marks.
But two phrases do, because they are so striking: technology begets
more technology and autocatalytic process:
The power of technology goes beyond individual inventions because
technology “begets more technology.” It is, as Diamond puts it, an
“autocatalytic process.”

Once you cite those words, you can use them again without quota-
tion marks or citation:
As one invention begets another one and that one still another, the
process becomes a self-sustaining catalysis that spreads exponentially
across all national boundaries.

Punctuating Quotations
Here are three principles for using punctuation with quotation
marks:
1. If the quotation ends in a period, comma, semicolon, or
­colon, replace it with the punctuation you need in your
own sentence.
• If your punctuation is a period or comma, put it before a
final quotation mark:
President Nixon said, “I am not a crook.”
Falwell claimed, “This is the end,” but he was wrong.

• If your punctuation is a question mark, colon, or semico-

lon, put it after the final quotation mark:
My first bit of advice is “Quit complaining”; my second is “Get
moving.”
The Old West served up plenty of “rough justice”: lynchings and
other forms of casual punishment were not uncommon.
How many law professors believe in “natural law”?
Was it Freud who famously asked, “What do women want”?

2. If the quotation ends with a question mark or exclamation

point and your punctuation is a period or comma, drop your
punctuation and put the question mark before the quotation
mark:
Freud famously asked, “What do women want?”
 Appendix II Using Sources 237

3. If you use quotation marks inside a quotation, put your

comma or period before both of the marks:
She said, “I have no idea how to interpret ‘Ode to a Nightingale.’”

Cite Sources Appropriately

Your last task is to cite your sources fully, accurately, and
­a ppropriately. No one will accuse you of plagiarism for a
­misplaced comma, but some will conclude that if you cannot get
these little matters right, you can’t be trusted on the big ones.
There are many styles of citations, so find out which one your
reader expects. Three are most common:
• Chicago style, from the University of Chicago Manual of Style,
common in the humanities and some social sciences
• MLA style, from the Modern Language Association, common
in literary studies
• APA style, from the American Psychological Association,
­common in the social sciences
You can find a guide to citations in the reference section of almost
any bookstore or online.

Summing Up
To use sources accurately, fairly, and effectively, follow three
principles:
1. Give credit to a source whenever you use its words or ideas.
• Whenever you use the exact words of a source, cite the
source and page numbers and put the words in quotation
marks or a block quote.
• Whenever you paraphrase a source, cite the source and page
numbers.
• Whenever you rely on the ideas or methods of a source, cite
the source.
2. Make each quotation fit seamlessly into your text.
• Before you use it, indicate how each quotation relates to
your ideas.
• Whenever possible, don’t just drop in a quotation: weave
it in.
238 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

Run in quotations of four lines or less.

Set off as a block a quotation of five lines or more.
Quote distinctive words or phrases the first time you use
them.
3. Use a standard citation style. Three are most common:
• Chicago style, common in the humanities and some social
sciences
• MLA style, common in literary study
• APA style, common in the social sciences
When you use material from a source, you create a chain of think-
ing that passes from you to your sources, from them to their
sources, and on to their sources, and on, and on. That chain of
thinking must also be a chain of trust. You can trust your sources
(and through them, their sources) if they show you that they have
taken care not only with their own ideas but also with what they
borrowed from others. If, in turn, you want your readers to trust
you, you have to show them that you too have taken care. These
principles help you do that.