Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism:
Rules of thumb:
If you take someone's idea but put it in your own words, you still have to cite it.
if you take two or more words in a row, you better put quotes around it and cite it.
But, teacher lady, did you do that on all your lecture notes?
No. But I showed somewhere on the page where the content was coming from and it is clear these
are lecture notes. And where it doesn't show anything, it tends to mean I'm sitting and writing it on the fly
rather than looking at the textbook. You can read the textbook. I just provide the gems.
Introduce the quotes you use.
Use it only if you need it and can't say it in your own words.
If you have a lot of quotes, more than 25% of your paper, it makes you look lazy. And that's bad. So you
should fix that.
Document carefully. That's a whole 'nother page. We'll get to it.
Don't use Wiki.
Don't do it for a paper that requires sources. I'll take ten points off any paper that does.
Don't use an encyclopedia.
You're all grown up now.
Use reputable sources like journal articles or reputable web sources. Ask me if you're confused.
See, that was relatively easy. Make sure you read the relevant chapter closely.