When to Document Outside Sources
Example I
Repeating Another's Words without Acknowledgment
Original Source
(From Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, New York: Penguin, 1985, pp. 127-128.)
The television commercial is the most peculiar and pervasive form of communication to issue forth from the electronic plug…The move away from the use of propositions in commercial advertising began at the end of the nineteenth century. But it was not until the 1950’s that the television commercial made linguistic discourse obsolete as the basis for product decisions. By substituting images for claims, the pictorial commercial made emotional appeal, not tests of truth, the basis for consumer decisions.
Plagiarized Version
Television commercials have made language obsolete as a basis for making decisions about products. The pictorial commercial has substituted images for claims and thereby made emotional appeal, rather than tests of truth, the basis for consumer decisions.
Although the writer has changed, rearranged, and deleted words in the version above, the text is essentially the same as the original source. In paraphrasing, you take the writer’s ideas and put them in your own words. It is not a process of substituting synonyms or rearranging the order of words. Even if the version above gave credit to Postman for his ideas, the passage would be considered plagiarized.
Correctly Paraphrased and Documented Version
Postman argues that television commercials do not use language or “test of truth” to help viewers decide whether to buy a product. Instead, they rely on images to create an emotional appeal that influences consumers’ decisions (pp. 127-128).
In the version above, most of the ideas have been paraphrased or restated in the writer’s own words. Quotation marks have been placed around a key phrase that is taken directly from the original source. In addition, the name of the author refers readers to a corresponding entry in the Works Cited page, and the page number indicates the location of the information in the source cited.
Example 2
Presenting Another Writer’s Argument or Point of View without Acknowledgment
Original Source
(From Arlene Skolnick, Embattled Paradise. New York: Basic Books, 1991, p. 11)
The changes in larger society, as well as their reverberations in the family, call into question basic assumptions about the nature of American society, its family arrangements, and Americans themselves. A “Cultural Struggle” ensues as people debate the meaning of change. One of these periods of cultural upheaval occurred in the early decades of the nineteenth century; a second occurred in the decades just before and after the turn of the twentieth century. For the last thirty years, we have been living through another such wave of social change.
Three related structural changes seem to have set the current cycle of family change in motion: first, the shift into a “postindustrial” information and service economy; second, a demographic revolution that not only created mass longevity but reshaped the individual and family life course, creating life state and circumstances unknown to earlier generations; third, a process I call “psychological gentrification,” which involves an introspective approach to experience, a greater sense of one’s own individuality and subjectivity, a concern with self-fulfillment and self-development. This is the change misdiagnosed as narcissism.
Plagiarized Version
Three periods of cultural upheaval in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have caused major changes in American society. The first occurred during the beginning of the nineteenth century, the second during the decades before and after 1900, and the third has been underway for the last thirty years. Three structural changes occurring during the current upheaval are primarily responsible for changes in American families. These include the development of a postindustrial information and service economy, demographics changes (including longer life spans that have created new and different life stages), and an increased sense of individuality including a desire for self-fulfillment and self-development.
The writer of the passage above correctly paraphrases Skolnick’s ideas but does not give her credit for her ideas or line of argument. The version below is not plagiarized since it correctly attributes the ideas to Skolnick.
Correctly Paraphrased and Documented Version
According to Skolnick, three periods of cultural upheaval in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have caused major changes in American society. The first occurred during the beginning of the nineteenth century, the second during the decades before and after 1900, and the third has been underway for the last thirty years. Three structural changes occurring during the current upheaval are primarily responsible for changes in American families. These include the development of a postindustrial information and service economy, demographics changes (including longer life spans that have created new and different life stages), and an increased sense of individuality including a desire for self-fulfillment and self-development (p. 11).
In the version above, a reader would be able to locate the source by finding the title of Skolnick’s book in the Works Cited page and looking on page 11, the number indicated at the end of the paragraph.
Example 3
Repeating Another Writer’s Particularly Apt Phrase or Term without Acknowledgment
Original Source
(From Arlene Skolnick, Embattled Paradise. New York: Basic Books, 1991, p. 11)
Three related structural changes seem to have set the current cycle of family change in motion: first, the shift into a “postindustrial” information and service economy; second, a demographic revolution that not only created mass longevity but reshaped the individual and family life course, creating life stage and circumstances unknown to earlier generations; third, a process I call “psychological gentrification,” which involves an introspective approach to experience, a greater sense of one’s own individuality and subjectivity, a concern with self-fulfillment and self-development. This is the change misdiagnosed as narcissism.
Plagiarized Version
The large number of “self-help” books published each year attests to American’s concern with self-improvement and achieving more fulfilling lives. This process might be described as “psychological gentrification.”
Correctly Paraphrased and Documented Version
The large number of self-help books published each year attest to Americans’ concern with self-improvement and their desire to have a more fulfilling life. Skolnick labels this process as “psychological gentrification” (p. 11).
As this example illustrates, placing quotation marks around a borrowed word or phrase is not sufficient documentation. You must also acknowledge the author and give the page number so a reader would be able to consult the original source and locate the word or phrase. In the original source, Skolnick takes credit (“a process I call”) for coining the term “psychological gentrification.” Quotation marks in the original appear to be used for emphasis. Phrases in quotations should be cited unless they have become common usage (e.g., “postindustrial” in the original source above).