IntroductionOne of the most important tasks facing the author of a research paper is to give credit to the sources consulted in the course of research. Citations are notes in your paper that indicate to the reader that you have borrowed facts, ideas, or words from other writers. In combination with the bibliography, these notes allow the reader to verify the accuracy and fairness of your factual and interpretive statements. Each time you use the words or ideas of others, or when you cite specific factual information that is not generally known, you must cite your source.

TYPES OF CITATIONSThere are three types of citations. The first is called a footnote, which appears at the bottom of the page. The second is the endnote, which is found on a separate page at the end of the

FORMER BEATLE George Harrison was ordered to pay hundreds of thousands in damages when a court found that his song “My Sweet Lord” plagiarized the song “He’s so Fine.”

VICE PRESIDENT Joe Biden was forced to withdraw from the 1984 Democratic race for president when he was accused of lifting passages from a British politician’s speeches without attribution.

K A AV YA V I S WA NAT H A N l o s t an enormous book advance and became—for a time—a subject of national ridicule when it was revealed that her teen novel was plagiarized from a number of published sources.

CITATIONSWORKING WITH SOURCES 7 SEPTEMBER 2011

HISTORY AND PUBLIC POLICY

Accused Plagiarists

paper. Today the most commonly used form—the one used by the E n g l i s h a n d S o c i a l S t u d i e s Departments—is the parenthetical (also known as internal, or in-text) citation.

HOW TO CITEA parenthetical citation includes the author’s last name and the page number where the words or information to which you have just referred can be found. With a few exceptions, which will be discussed later, you should not include the title of the work you are citing. Examples of citations can be found below. Note: if you are citing an internet source, you will not include the page number.

It is important to keep in mind that different departments may ask for citations and bibliographies in slightly different forms. For example, most university English d e p a r t m e n t s u s e t h e f o r m published by the Modern Language Association (MLA). Most history departments use Chicago style. Science departments have their own versions, too. All of the examples below are Chicago style; that is what you should use when p r e p a r i n g c i t a t i o n s a n d

bibliographies for your written work.

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WHEN TO CITEThere are three main categories of material that should be cited:

Direct quotation: Whenever you use someone else’s words in your work, you must give that person credit by placing those words within quotation marks and by using a citation to indicate the precise source of the borrowed language. For example

Although many Europeans have seen the Crusades as a religious conflict, one historian has pointed out the economic motivations, noting that the Crusades were a failed effort undertaken by “land-hungry Normans... financed by the merchant states of Italy” (Sabini 58).

The ideas of others: If you take an opinion or idea from a source, you must cite it, even if you use your own words. If you are not using the source’s exact words—this is called paraphrasing—make sure you are changing them completely

as you write them down; only proper nouns and trivial linking words (and, or, but, the) should remain unchanged. Remember that there is no middle ground: either you are writing the author's words down exactly and putting them in quotation marks, or you are changing all the words except proper nouns.

Specific factual information: All statistical information should be cited. If you did not know a specific fact before beginning your research, it is probably best to cite it. EXCEPTION: If information is so basic that it could fairly be t e r m e d c o m m o n k n o w l e d g e (example: Mao was an important Chinese leader; George Washington was the first President of the United States), it probably need not be cited.

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ALWAYS REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE OF

CITING:

WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE IT.

How and When to Cite Your Sources

A 2002 Rutgers University study found that 75% of high school students acknowledged cheating on school assignments, and more than half acknowledged copying material from the internet and claiming it as their own work (http://articles.cnn.com/2002-04-05/us/highschool.cheating_1_plagiarism-cheating-

students?_s=PM:fyi). In 2010 another survey, reported in US News, indicated that 33% had copied from the internet, and four-fifths had copied the work of a peer (http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-

school-notes/2011/03/29/cheaters-likely-to-overestimate-intelligence). The same US News report cited a study by researchers at Harvard and Duke Universities reporting that cheating “gives students a false idea of their own competencies.” In other words, cheaters are dumber than they think they are.

PLAGIARISMAlthough citations make up only a small part of your paper, they are of vital importance. Without complete and accurate citations, you may be unintentional ly plagiarizing your sources.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “plagiarize” as “to use and pass off as one’s own the ideas or writings of another; to put forth as original the ideas or words of another.” Put more simply, plagiarism is cheating. Plagiarism occurs when you use the words, ideas, or research work of other writers without giving them appropriate credit through the use of quotation marks and citations.

Often, plagiarism results when a writer is uninformed about the rules of citation. Students who have not carefully read this pamphlet might fall into this category. Carelessness is also a cause of plagiarism. Bad note-taking—in particular, failing to note which words are quotations or which page number or book was the source of important material— can lead to missing quotation marks or improper citations.

Other causes of plagiarism are rare but more severe: an attempt to

deceive the reader by intentionally omitting or fabricating quotations or citations.

WHY DO STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE?G r a d e p r e s s u r e , m u l t i p l e assignments due at the same time, and fears of inadequacy

R e c o g n i z i n g t h a t t h e s e a r e unfortunate realities of life at Scarsdale High School, I encourage you to speak to me or to another adult if any of these are affecting your work. At the same time, these factors can never excuse plagiarism. Although plagiarism may seem like a solution to these problems, in fact it is disastrous to your grades, your reputation, your relationship with your teachers, and your sense of self.

Laziness, procrastination, and poor time management

These, too, are unfor tunate realities at SHS. Through hard work, careful planning, and conferences with your teachers, the problems these factors create m a y b e r e d u c e d o r e v e n eliminated. I will be happy to share with you some techniques that may help you overcome these difficulties.

The belief that “ever ybody cheats”

Well... no, they do not. Most students play by the rules, do their own work, and succeed. Some students do plagiarize—and they get caught. You are responsible for your own actions, and I promise to hold you accountable if you demonstrate a lack of personal integrity.

CONSEQUENCES OF PLAGIARISMPlagiarism is taken seriously at all academic levels. Many colleges, including my beloved alma mater, have honor codes that require the expulsion of students who cheat. T h e l a t e P r o f e s s o r S t e v e n Ambrose, once a widely respected historian and author of Band of Brothers, became a figure of late-night television ridicule after it was revealed that he had borrowed inappropriately from the work of another historian. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was forced to resign from several prestigious journalistic and academic positions after she was found to have copied parts of a book on the Kennedy family.

Citation Problems and How to Avoid Them

A faculty panel has substantiated a "pattern of plagiarism" on the part of a tenured University of Utah political scientist... [A] senior administrator fired Bahman Bakhtiari, whom the U. hired in 2009... according to documents the U. provided to The Salt Lake Tribune.

"Plagiarism — holding out the work of another as one’s own — strikes at the very core of academic integrity....” interim president Lorris Betz wrote in a June 30 decision. "The only appropriate sanction in this case is dismissal, which is necessary to preserve the academic integrity of the institution and to restore public confidence in the university” (Brian Maffly, Salt Lake Tribune, 18 August 2011, http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/cougars/52378377-78/bakhtiari-university-panel-plagiarism.html.csp).

Sometimes plagiarism occurs outside of academics. Former Beatle George Harrison had to pay more than half-a-million dollars to a songwriter whose song Harrison had copied. The rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs has been criticized for his excessive sampling of other artists. In April 2006, a Harvard University sophomore named K a av y a V i s w a n a t h a n l o s t a $500,000 book contract, and was h u m i l i a t e d i n t h e n a t i o n ’ s newspapers and television news programs, when it was revealed that her first novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, had been plagiarized from a number of works by other writers.

Vice President Joseph Biden was forced to withdraw from the 1988 presidential race after he was accused of plagiarism. According to the Chicago Tribune,

In the summer of 1987, Biden, searching for a campaign theme, latched onto a speech by Neil Kinnock, a British politician. He

loved the working-class hero stuff, as it mirrored Biden's own rise from the coal towns of Scranton, Pa and Claymont, Del.... He began quoting it wholesale in speeches, but [was] usually careful to give credit. But at one rushed appearance at the State Fair, he forgot.... That's all it took. Soon, [an opposition] campaign manager... was circulating a tape to the press that matched Biden and Kinnock's speeches side by side. Biden looked like a word thief. All it took was a front page article in the New York Times... to invite the scrum.

Two decades later Biden has moved on. However, as the press b e g a n i t s a n a l y s i s o f h i s nomination for the vice presidency, the Washington Post noted “Biden also will have his 1988 presidential campaign and the charges of plagiarism that drove him from the race resurrected.” That one incident in Iowa more than 20 years ago continues to follow him.

Those who plagiarize at SHS are not subject to expulsion, a law suit, or national shaming. However, the consequences of plagiarism are always severe. Penalties can range from a grade deduction for a minor citation error made in good faith to grades of zero without the option of a rewrite for uncredited use of others’ words. The SHS Student Handbook notes that

All incidents of cheating are reported to the department h e a d a n d t h e s t u d e n t ’ s counselor. While any incident may be referred to the principal, all second incidents of cheating m u s t b e r e f e r r e d t o t h e principal, who will meet with t h e s t u d e n t a n d h i s / h e r parents.... If a student has been referred to the principal for a second incident of cheating, the student will not be admitted to the National Honor Society (Signifer).... If the student is already a member he/she will be removed from the society.

CITATION FORMS

C1: Book with no author

Although it sounds weird, one can frequently find sources with no author listed. If these sources are internet sites, newspaper or magazine articles, or encyclopedia entries, follow the form for that type of source. Books without listed authors are rarer, but they do exist. If you use a quote, idea, or fact from a

book with no author, use the title of the source and the page number.

Example: Because of the dry soil and meager rainfall, nonirrigated farming is possible only in small areas of Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel (The Middle East 11).

The examples that follow are the most common types of citations, presented in a slightly modified Chicago form. If you need to cite a source and do not see the appropriate form below, please ask your teacher for assistance. Note: All the sources used as examples here are listed in the bibliography document found elsewhere on this website.

C2: Source with one author

If you use a quote, idea, or fact from a book with one author, your parenthetical reference is simple: provide the author's last name and the page number inside parentheses.

Example: Tocqueville’s writing about the United States during the Federalist period indicates his concern that control should not be concentrated in too-powerful national governments (Maguire 189).

C3: Source with two or three authors

If your source has two or three authors, use the last name of each author followed by the page number. In general, you should write down the authors' names in the same order they appear in the book.

Example: "Although the textile industry and garment making were much less dominant than earlier in the century, they continued to employ large numbers of women" (Kagan, Ozment, and Turner 858).

C4: Source with four or more authors

If your source has more than three authors, writing them all down would be tedious, and the parenthetical reference would be so lengthy that it would disrupt the flow of your paper. Thus, simply use the last name of the author whose name appears first on the cover of the book.

Example: Charles I agreed to the Petition of Right, but only because he needed the English Parliament to approve new taxes. However, he collected more money than Parliament had authorized, leading to a serious protest against his policies (Winks 411).

C5: Source with an editor but no author

If your source has no author but has an editor, use the last name of the editor(s) in your parenthetical reference. Make sure you write "ed." or "eds." after the name(s).

Example: "But you may protest my unrestrained grief and counsel me to hold back my weeping, lest perhaps

it become known to those who rejoice at the Emperor's death" (Kirshner, Morrison eds. 107).

C6: Source when author has the same last name as the author of another source

If you cite two works by different authors who share a last name, provide the first as well as the last name along with the page number. Assume, for example, you include information from A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and The Counter Reformation, by A. G. Dickens. If you were to write only the author's last name there could be considerable confusion. When you cite A. G. Dickens, you will write his full name and the page number from his work. Similarly, when you cite Charles Dickens you would write both his names within the parentheses.

Example: A great novelist once wrote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…" (Charles Dickens 35). These lines from A Tale of Two Cities might well have been used to characterize the years of the Counter Reformation, which one historian has called "a choice between rival emphases offered to the Catholic Church" (A.G. Dickens 7).

C7: Source by same author as another source

If you cite two or more works by the same author, provide the title along with the page number after the author's name. You may abbreviate long titles if you wish. Assume, for example, that you are citing from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Hard Times. You might abbreviate the former as Tale, but since the second book has a shorter title you probably would not abbreviate. Note that you must underline or italicize the abbreviated title just as if it were the complete title.

Example: Dickens’ view of England as a place lacking order and safety (Dickens Tale 36), combined with his description of Coketown as a stinking, polluted mess (Dickens Hard Times 65), indicates the author's profound dissatisfaction with his native land.

C8: Multiple citations from the same source

If you have a lengthy sentence, it is possible that you might want to cite a source twice. If so, the parenthetical reference becomes even easier, as you need only put the page number the second time. You can only do this if the two references are in the same sentence. If you are using one book repeatedly but the citations occur in separate sentences, you must do the full citation every time.

Example: Groups sometimes fail to anticipate problems that will eventually damage their societies (Diamond 421), as when Australians, “lacking the 20th century’s experience… failed to anticipate the effects of rabbits and foxes” on Australia’s native flora and fauna (422).

C9: Sources cited from reprints

When doing historical research one frequently finds great information in collections of documents printed years after the source originally appeared. For example, if you want to quote from the Magna Charta, it is unlikely that you will have found your information from an original version of the Great Charter published in 1215. So, if you cite the Magna Charta, cite the author's name and page number from the source you have consulted.

Example: "No free man shall be taken, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or banished, or in any way injured, nor will we go upon him, nor send upon him, except by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land" (Kagan, Ozment, Turner I-52).

In another instance, you might have consulted the paperback edition, or a revised version of a text. This will not affect your citation, but be careful to indicate in your bibliography which edition you have used.

C10: Sources from newspapers or magazines found online

You should include the name(s) of the writer(s), if included, and enough of the article title to enable the reader easily to find the article in the bibliography.

Example: According to University of Utah Interim President Lorris Betz, “Plagiarism—holding out the work of another as one’s own—strikes at the very core of academic integrity” (Maffly, “Pattern of Plagiarism”).

C11: Other sources cited from on-line services or the internet

WARNING: It is important to remember that these sources can be dangerous. Just because you found something on the internet does not make it right. Any idiot—even you or me—with computer access can post whatever information or opinions they want, and no one is there to censor or correct it. So, as the Romans used to say, caveat emptor. If you are not sure about an idea you have discovered, ask your teacher about it.

If you cite something from the internet, include the author's last name and the title of the webpage (note: this is different from the title of the website). If the webpage has a long name, you may shorten it in the citation, but you should include the full webpage title in the bibliography.

Example: Many Cubs fans acknowledged Jim Hendry’s successes as the team’s general manager, but felt, in the words of one popular Cubs blogger, that “it was time” for the Cubs to find new leadership (Yellon, Al. “Jim Hendry Fired”)

If no author is listed, tread carefully: It is almost always a bad idea to cite something from the internet which is unsigned unless you are positive it is legitimate. If you do cite such a source, include the access date or the date the site was last modified and the url. Citations which include the url in this way may be omitted from the bibliography.

Example: Facebook claims that so-called “cookies” are installed on users computers “to make Facebook easier to use,” but acknowledges the advertising purposes as well (“Facebook’s Privacy Policy,” last modified 22 December 2010, http://www.facebook.com/policy.php).

C12: Encyclopedias

WARNING: I do not allow students to cite information from e n c y c l o p e d i a s w i t h o u t m y express permission. If you have found a really neat idea in the Encyclopedia Britannica or a similar source, you will not be able to use it unless you can find it somewhere else and cite it from there. Real historians do not do research in encyclopedias. I may make an exception for a specific encyclopedia—for example, if you are doing research on a musician you would be permitted to use the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (which, despite its n a m e , i s a c t u a l l y a n encyclopedia)—but you must check with me first.

WARNING II: Sometimes material is from an encyclopedia without being labeled as such. For

example, historylearningsite, s p a r t a c u s . s c h o o l n e t , a n d a n s w e r s . c o m a r e a l l encyclopedias, even though they don’t say so (and answers.com is as bad as wikipedia—avoid!). Even some of the sites on the SHS l i b r a r y h o m e p a g e a r e encyclopedias in disguise. It is always a good idea to check with your teacher before making use of a possibly forbidden source.

If the encyclopedia article to which you refer is signed, use the form for a book with one author. If the article is unsigned, use the form for a book with no author but an editor.

Note that the bibliography form for encyclopedia articles is quite different from the forms for other sources. Please consult the bibliography packet for details.

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JUSTITIA ET FORTITUDO INVINCIBILIA SUNT.

A note on Encyclopedias

NOTE:It is easy to read about famous people who have had their careers ruined by plagiarism and think that you are d o o m e d t o f a i l u r e a n d humiliation.

This is not the case.

If you are careful, making sure to write down the source of all information as you write it in your notes or in your paper, the perils of plagiarism are easy to avoid. Every year there are a couple of students who are careless and lose a l e t t e r g r a d e o r t w o fo r improper citation. However, the vast majority (over 90%) of students are careful, cite properly, and never have a problem.

And in the last six years only one student has failed a paper for plagiarism.

Take good care and all will be well.

A REPUTATION IS IMPORTANT: DON’T MISPLACE YOURS

“Character is much easier kept than recovered”

--Thomas Paine

“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.”

--Thomas Babington Macaulay

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe sections of this document entitled “How and When to Cite Your Sources” and “Citation Problems and How to Avoid Them” were written with Ms. Kami Wright.

TOM MAGUIREScarsdale High School 1057 Post Road Scarsdale NY 10583

CITATIONS

This version was completed on 23 August 2011.Please direct questions, comments, or corrections to

tmaguire08@gmail.com