WRITING RESEARCH ESSAYS – A GUIDE FOR
STUDENTS OF ALL NATIONS
-
PART TWO
Should you Use the Words of Others or Your Own Words?
Many international students are confused by research assignments. They have been trained to read the work of scholars in books and journals and to present that work in the research essay. Often that has involved quoting many scholars directly so that the research essay is mainly the quotations of other people. There seems to be good reason to do this: We honor great scholars by quoting them, and their use of language is often far better than our own.
But most research essays are intended to show your own thinking and to use your own words wherever possible.
This is confusing. The professor does want you to read the books and articles of other people. The research essay is supposed to make use of that research to present your own analysis and arguments. But how can a student use the work of others if he/she is not allowed to quote their work? Here is the answer:
You are allowed to quote from the things you have read, but there are definite rules for doing this:
Most of your work is to be in your own words. This means:
Your friend says to you, "I haven’t eaten for a long time, so why don’t we stop at McDonalds?" Someone nearby says, "What does he want?" You explain, "My friend is hungry and wants to stop for a burger."
Notice that you did not paraphrase, as for example, "My friend hasn’t eaten for a long time and wants to stop at McDonalds." You actually interpreted what your friend said and expressed it accurately but in your own words. The only word from your friend that you also used was "stop."
Here’s an excerpt from an article that I published on the Internet on the significance of electronic documents. The original paragraph is:
Thus an electronic document disrupts the very meaning of the word “document.” Electronically, a “document” can be viewed from anywhere in the world at the same time via the Internet, can have its wording and its look changed at will without any sign left behind that there was an earlier version, and can encompass other documents as well as encourage reading out of order. This may seem exciting (for example, we can hyperlink a document so that any possible problem or interest a reader may experience can be answered with the click of a mouse) but it carries dangers as well. (“Electronic Documents are Different,” http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/electronicdocs.htm).
A paraphrase, which would not be acceptable, might read:
Therefore an electronic document upsets the actual meaning of the word “document.” In electronic form, a “document” can be seen all over the world all at once via the Internet, can have its words and what it looks like altered at will without having left behind any indication that there was an earlier form, and can include other documents as well as support the idea of reading out of order. This might seem good, but it carries dangers as well.
Notice that I’ve borrowed sentence structure and even words from the original without really interpreting it. Now let me express the material in my own words:
Badke argues that electronic documents are radically different from other things called “document.” Electronic documents can instantly be seen everywhere on the Internet, people can alter them so that we have no idea what the original was, they can be linked to other electronic documents, and the order in which you read them may not be important.
What I have done is to interpret what I’ve read and express it mostly in different words (though it’s all right to use a few words from your source, maybe 5% or less).
Remember, though, that the main point of a research essay is not simply to quote or interpret others, but to evaluate their work and provide your own arguments. Your analysis is extremely important.
The professor is mainly interested in seeing
how well YOU have understood the material. Professors do not want you simply to
repeat what you’ve read but to interpret what
you’ve read, expressing your own
understanding in your own words.
But what if your English is not very good, and other writers have already expressed their thoughts in better grammar than you could ever use? The answer is that you still need to use your own words except for brief quotations.
For 14 minute tutorial with sound that explains what plagiarism is and help you avoid it, go to: http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/plagiarism.swf
International students can find themselves accused of plagiarism. In academic institutions, plagiarism is seen as a very serious offence. Punishment can range from a zero for your essay to failure of your course, or even to expulsion from your school.
What then is plagiarism?
Let's first define it: Plagiarism is using another writer’s words or unique ideas as if they were your own. Plagiarism happens when you put those words or ideas into your research paper without indicating that they did not come from you. The professor believes those are your own words or ideas, because you have not stated that they came from someone else.
As such, plagiarism is fraud.
It can take several forms:
The most serious is simply quoting from a source (a book or article or website) but not
giving any indication by quotation marks and a note that it actually is a
quotation from someone else. On very rare occasion a student will actually
submit a whole essay written by someone else. Even if this is not the case, you
are plagiarizing every time you quote from someone else without indicating that
it is a quotation. Some students have tried to avoid accusation by quoting large
portions from sources, not using quotation marks but adding notes (footnotes or
endnotes or short notes) at the end of each paragraph. This, however, is still
plagiarism. Unless you put quotation marks around your quotations, you are
giving the reader the impression that the material is not a direct quotation,
but is your own work.
It is also possible to plagiarize by using a writer’s unique ideas without
indicating the source of those ideas. What is a "unique idea?" It is an idea
that you find only in one author, not several. It is an idea that belongs
to that author. If you refer to the idea in your essay without indicating who
first expressed that idea, you are leaving the false impression that the idea is
your own.
Why is plagiarism so serious a problem? – The main reason why academic institutions punish plagiarism so strictly is that it is dishonesty, the telling of a lie. When you use another person’s words or ideas in your paper without indicating their source, you are giving the impression that those are your words or ideas, when they are not. Remember that professors in North America are more interested in your interpretation of your sources than they are in quotations. If you mislead a professor by pretending that what is in your essay came from you, it will result in serious penalties when you are discovered.
How would a professor find out that I plagiarized material? – Some international students face a real problem. In their home countries
the use of quotations from great scholars is encouraged. If an international
student’s written English is not strong, there is a temptation simply to quote
from scholars who have better English. Your professor, however, can easily see
the difference between the wonderful English of a plagiarized essay and the less
polished English you may use in class or on an examination. Thus, for an
international student, excellent English in an essay may be a sign to the
professor that the essay is plagiarized.
These days professors can find almost any material plagiarized from the Internet or an electronic full text database. Some institutions use plagiarism detection services like turnitin.com. Even if your institution does not, your professor can take a few words of text from your paper, type them, with quotation marks around them, into Google and locate the exact website you plagiarized your material from, if indeed, you did. The same can be done with searches in your library's electronic databases provided by companies like ProQuest, EBSCO, and so on.
In the case of print materials that may have been plagiarized, professors will often go to a library and try to locate the original sources that they believe were copied. If they find these sources, the plagiarism can be proven.
Most international students are honest and have no intention of deceiving a professor. Once you understand that all quotations and use of unique ideas must be clearly indicated in your essay by quotation marks and/or notes, the risk that you will plagiarize will be very small.
For an Internet site designed for professors but providing a lot of information about how to avoid plagiarism, see http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm
A SHORT NOTE ON COPYRIGHT
Copyright is a law that is intended to prevent
anyone from making copies of published
books and articles (or parts of these)
without permission. Normally copyright law
does not prevent
a student from
making quotations from published materials in a
research essay as long as the
student essay does not quote more than about 10% of a
published work.
Students do, however, break the copyright law
when they copy a major part or all of a
published book or when they copy several
articles from the same issue of a journal.
Your
school will likely have a
statement about copyright available to guide you.
What is Proper Research
Essay Form?
International students soon discover that professors want research
papers to be presented in certain ways. The professor may say, "This is what
your title page should look like." Or he/she may indicate that you need to
follow "APA Format." The issue of what an essay is supposed to look like can be
quite a problem.
Style Manuals
There are several books available that explain proper form for research papers. They cover everything from what a title page should look like to proper form for notes and bibliography. Three major formats are used in North American Academic libraries: APA format, MLA format and Turabian format. Different institutions use different formats. Sometimes even different professors in the same institution will use different formats. Each format has its own book to describe it. These are:
(APA) American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
(MLA) Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York Modern Language Association.
(Turabian or Chicago) Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
For shorter explanations of the proper forms for notes (footnotes, endnotes, short notes), there are lots of Internet sites. Here are some of them:
APA
http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html
http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/apa/apa01.html
MLA
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/legacylib/mlahcc.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/mlastyle.htm
Turabian
http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/turabian.cfm
http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/turabian.htm
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html
Several Formats plus Sample Essays in Each Format
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/ - a terrific site for format issues!
For Electronic Items in your Bibliography - all 3
Formats Above:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docelectric.html
{NOTE: I have added a sample paper in Turabian format as an appendix to this guide}
If you are confused about format, your institution may have
some sample essays that show you what a title page should look like; how to
format your margins, headings and notes; how to set up your bibliography, and so
on. In most academic settings in North America, proper format is important. Take
it seriously.
The rule with format is to find out what format your professor or school is
using, then study
it closely and follow it very carefully. Even the punctuation
is important. Make sure your
notes and bibliography are in exactly the form your professor requires. If you are having
any difficulty understanding the form, go
to your professor and ask for more help.
There are electronic resources that can help you a great deal with format:
1. Bibliographic Managers - Many institutions have bibliographic managers like RefWorks and EndNote. These tools allow you to collect and store citations to books and articles, then insert citations directly into research papers and format both the citations and the final bibliography. Usually there are instructions available with these tools so that you can get to know how they work. One free online bibliographic manager is Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/).
2. Downloading citations in correct format - Several databases (for example, worldcat.org, the EBSCO databases) allow you to save citations of books or articles in the format of your choice.
3. Using online citation generators - Citation Machine (http://www.citationmachine.net/) and KnightCite (http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/). Each of these asks you to choose format, type of source, then allow you to enter citation information and generate an accurate citation.
The goal of the research essay is not to gather information and report on it. Research essays are assigned so that you can study a certain topic, develop a research question, and answer it using the materials you have studied plus your own analysis. The professor wants to see that you are thinking through an issue, not simply explaining or quoting what you have read. The information you discover in your research is thus only the foundation, the first part, of the task. What is more important is your ability to use that information to advance the world's knowledge.
For sample papers in Turabian (Chicago), MLA or APA formats, see
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/papers.htm
Below is a link to a sample paper in Turabian format. Note that Turabian actually has two methods, a Reference List format, using short citations in parentheses right within the text of the essay (Johnson, 245) and a Notes format using traditional footnotes. The example below uses the Notes approach.
Click here for link to sample Turabian format paper in MS Word.
Last
revised: 11 January 2008