A QUICK GUIDE ON WHY AND HOW TO PROPERLY RESEARCH…without getting in trouble!

 We research because we want to explore interesting topics by… ◦ Incorporating others’ ideas and information ◦ Exploring our own thoughts and opinions in relation to other people’s Believe it or not, you were not born an expert on your topic! Therefore, you must research and cite your sources.

 To plagiarize means “to commit literary theft.” “To present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”  You must give credit to the “owner” of the information that you use in your paper, otherwise you are STEALING!

Many students plagiarize accidentally. If you…..  Took ideas or writings from someone else and included them word for word in your paper – you plagiarized! If you…..  Copied, summarized, or paraphrased facts, ideas, and/or words without giving credit to the person from whom you got the information – you plagiarized!

 Most schools are pretty strict about plagiarism. If you're caught, you can wind up suspended or worse.  At the very least, if you plagiarize, you're probably going to fail the assignment.  When you're older and in college, some schools will expel students who plagiarize. To be expelled means to be kicked out. And when you're kicked out of one college, it can be hard to get into another.

 Jamie has to write a paragraph about water resources for science. He finds a paragraph on a website that is just right, so he changes one or two words and copies it down in his own handwriting. Is this okay?

 Samantha is working on a project for Social Studies class. She finds a paragraph online that contains some good information, so she copies and pastes it into her document and changes the first sentence. Is this okay?

 Jake has a paper due for English class on Friday. While researching online, he finds a great site that will allow him to purchase a paper on a topic of his choice. He pays, and signs a contract which states that the paper is his property, and no one else will be able to buy the exact same paper. Is this okay?

One way to avoid plagiarizing is to paraphrase! What’s that, you ask?  To paraphrase means to put your research into your own words. That means your paper will sound like you wrote it. Paraphrasing is not:  Rearranging the words in a sentence.  Replacing key words in a paragraph using a thesaurus.

 In order to paraphrase properly, you definitely should:  Take notes while reading  Think about how you would explain what you are reading to someone else.  Rewrite main ideas using your own words.

Original Text Is this an example of good paraphrasing?  Ancient Egyptians believed that Osiris, a good and wise king, was the first pharaoh. He spread knowledge to other parts of the world, while his wife, Isis, ruled Egypt in his place.  King Osiris was an ancient Egyptian King and the first pharaoh. He was good and wise because he spread knowledge to other parts of the world. His wife Isis ruled Egypt in his place.

Original TextHow about this?  Ancient Egyptians believed that Osiris, a good and wise king, was the first pharaoh. He spread knowledge to other parts of the world, while his wife, Isis, ruled Egypt in his place.  King Osiris was the first pharaoh and spread knowledge. Queen Isis ruled Egypt when he was gone.

 Another way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources.  There is a specific method of citing sources, and certain information is needed, in a specific order, for the citation to be correct and in MLA format.

 If you are including an image found in Google Images, or any other online source in your project, it’s very important to cite the image in it’s original context. This means you’ll need to include the URL of the page where the image was originally shown.  If you plan to use an image found in a Google or Yahoo search, make sure you can access the page where the image was originally used.

 Graphic Citations can be tricky when using images found online, because not all information is readily available.  A helpful tool you can use when creating a graphic citation is  Easybib will prompt you to fill in the necessary information to create your citation.

 Once you begin working on your project on your own, you can review what we talked about today by visiting  Also feel free to stop by the library and ask about any questions that come up.  Good luck!