Introduction

As an undergraduate or graduate student at university, you will probably be expected to do some writing (essays, dissertations) in most of your courses. Even if the course doesn't require you to submit a paper, it may require you to write an essay examination. Therefore, an important part of learning at university includes becoming familiar with the structure of an essay as well as achieving the level of competence in writing expected by university professors. Writing skills are emphasized in assignments at university because writing is an essential tool for communication in the working world; these assignments help you to develop the critical thinking and writing skills that will be important even after graduation. No matter how well-chosen your topic, how well-researched your information, how innovative your ideas, or how brilliant your understanding of the material, your grade will suffer if you cannot convey all that to a reader through a well-organized, clearly written paper. Writing is an expression of your thoughts. If your writing isn't clear, a professor will assume that your thinking wasn't clear on that topic either. Written assignments in university can vary in length from a one-page essay question on an examination to a 20or 30-page research paper. They can also vary in the level of analysis as well as in the amount and type of research required. You may be asked simply to describe a process or event, or to analyze or evaluate how and why that process or event occurs. Some assignments will require you to read and discuss a single work assigned to you, while others will require you to conduct some kind of library research to find out about your topic and to bring together in your paper information from a variety of sources. This is called secondary research, and requires you to learn to properly acknowledge your research sources when you write. (See more information: Using Quotations in Your Essay, APA Referencing Style, MLA Referencing Style, CBE Referencing Style, and Chicago Referencing Style). Primary research occurs when you yourself make some observations on an experiment, survey or study, as is expected in science lab courses as well as in some social science and humanities research courses. But even those papers produced from primary research will usually involve the use of some kind of secondary research to discuss how your results compare to those of experts in the field.

What is an Essay?

The term essay is used broadly for many different kinds of papers. Essentially, an essay is a written document which discusses, explains, analyzes, interprets or evaluates a topic in an organized and coherent manner. The terminology used to refer to an assignment and the requirements for length, level of analysis, and amount of research vary not only between disciplines but also between courses within a discipline. Following are some examples of terminology which may be used in various disciplines. In an introductory English literature course, you may be asked to write a literary essay or literary analysis which interprets a poem, short story or novel, and which uses only that piece of work and your own ideas as your sources. In more advanced English courses you may also be using the published opinions of other critics to support and expand your interpretation. An assignment which asks you to do some library research to write about a topic may be referred to as an essay, a paper, a research essay, a research paper, a term assignment, or a term paper. The terminology is not necessarily consistent: a term paper may tend to be a longer paper written in advanced courses, but not necessarily. You may be assigned a specific topic or asked to choose your own from subjects relevant to the course; the assignment will require you to read up on a specific topic, using either books or journal articles, and to integrate those sources to inform or persuade a reader. An assignment requiring a literature review or research review may be asking you to choose a specific topic and then to read journal articles written by experts about their own research. In this kind of paper you will be summarizing and comparing the results of research conducted on that topic. In some advanced courses you may also be required to do some critical evaluation of the kind and quality of research being done. The term 'literature,' as it is used in this assignment, refers to published research material rather than English literature or fiction. (See information on Writing a Literature Review.) Although the word report may occasionally be used for many of the assignments described above, it is most often used to describe alab report or research report written in science, psychology, sociology, or business courses to report primary research (see information on Writing Lab or Research Reports).

A book report or book review is usually a summary of your critical opinion of one or more books, possibly supported by research into what other critics have said. Overall, the message here is not to worry about what the assignment is called, but instead to concentrate your efforts on reading and understanding every detail of what is asked of you in the assignment description. Some professors may include details about not only the length and due date, but also the number and kind of research sources to use, the kind of information to include, and even the method of organization to follow. Pay close attention to those instructions, because they are the professor's guidelines to you about what he/she will be looking for in evaluating the paper. Therefore, when you receive an assignment, the first and most useful thing you can do is to read the assignment instructions carefully and make sure you understand what is required before proceeding. Check with the professor if you are uncertain about any of the requirements.

The Structure of an Essay

In general, written assignments require you to include introductory paragraph(s) and concluding paragraph(s) as well as a bodycontaining any number of supporting paragraphs. Some longer essays may require the use of headings for introduction and conclusion as well as for categories within the body, whereas shorter essays may not. In the introduction, you should begin with the general issue and narrow down to the specifics of the problem you are discussing in your paper. Think of it as an inverted triangle. You should use the introduction to provide background information about the broad subject, identify the relevant problem or issue, and take the reader step by step to an understanding of why the specific focus of this paper is relevant to that subject. An introduction usually ends with some sort of statement of your focus (e.g., a focal statement, thesis statement, purpose statement, or hypothesis). This statement tells the reader specifically what point you are going to make or prove in your essay, and, if possible, how you are going to go about doing that. You might therefore suggest the method of organization you will be using in your paper, but not actually provide the information about the points. In the body, you are providing information and arguments that should follow logically from the point expressed in your focal statement and should support it consistently throughout the paper. The body is made up of a series of paragraphs: packages of information, each beginning with a topic sentence that identifies the topic of the paragraph in the same way that the focal statement for the essay defines the specific topic of the essay. This topic sentence also provides a link not only to the previous paragraph but also to the focal statement of the essay, identifying how this information contributes to the stand you've taken. The topic of the paragraph is then developed with sentences which may provide examples, details, evidence or analogies. A broader concluding sentence for the paragraph may also be provided to tie the information together and remind the reader of how it relates to the focus of the essay. The conclusion, unlike the introduction, moves from specific to general. It often begins with a restatement of the focal statement, summarizes the main points of the supporting paragraphs, and ends with a broader conclusion about how the topic relates to the general issue described in the introduction. The general rule is that no new information should be brought into the conclusion: everything in the conclusion should logically follow from the information provided to the reader in the paper. Just as in a detective story you don't want to find out in the last scene that the crime was committed by a character you hadn't met, in an essay a reader doesn't want to be introduced in the conclusion to a major piece of information or evidence which wasn't discussed in the body of the paper.

Writing Takes Practice

If all this information seems new or complicated, don't worry. Remember that practice will help you to improve your writing. And try following the following guidelines: You should consider each essay you write not as a final product in itself, but as a step towards developing the writing skills you will need before and after university. Use the following checklist for each assignment as a guide to improving your own writing ability. 1. 2. Clarify the details of your assignment with the professor if there's anything you're not sure about. Think of writing as a process, and get started on an assignment early in the semester. Make a realistic time schedule for accomplishing the three steps of planning, writing, and revising.

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Do some brainstorming about your topic as part of the planning process - remember that spending time planning your paper will save you time and agony in writing it. Get feedback from the professor early in the semester about your choice of topic and proposed method of dealing with that topic. Try to write that first draft in one sitting, without agonizing over and editing every sentence. The first draft is your opportunity to get your ideas on paper so that you can see how they are shaping up. Do not worry about grammar and punctuation while you create - leave that for the revising stage. Remember to put aside your first draft for at least a full day after writing it before you begin revising. The longer you can leave it before revising, the more objective you can be about it and the more effective you will be at detecting problems. Put some time, effort and thought into the revising process. Remember that 'revising' does not just mean 'recopying.' It means 're-seeing,' or re-envisaging what you are saying. Even professional writers do several drafts of any piece of writing. Proofread your final draft carefully before submitting, even if it was typed by a professional. Most professors would prefer to see you correct a typo with a pen than to assume you were careless enough not to catch it. When your paper is evaluated and returned, read the comments thoroughly. Ask the marker to explain what he or she meant by a particular note if you don't understand.

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10. Try to pick out one or two consistent errors on each paper, and aim to improve or correct them on your next paper (see the Fastfacts series on writing skills.) If you can recognize and eliminate even one type of problem each time, you are on your way to becoming a more effective writer.
Improving your style

Introduction Once you have learned to rid your writing of errors in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, you can continue to improve your writing by considering the more elusive problems with style. Start by taking these steps to a clearer writing style.

Improving Your Style: 1. Choose an appropriate tone. The level of formality depends on the kind of assignment, the reader, and the purpose. Informal tone is personal, simple, and direct. Active voice is used more frequently than is passive voice (see #2). Sentences may be somewhat shorter. Personal pronouns (I, we) may be used. This style is used in more casual writing assignments, journal entries, and class work which is designated as informal. Remember, however, that writing informally does not necessarily mean you should use slang, colloquialisms, and contractions. Formal tone is impersonal, with more frequent use of the passive voice, a fairly learned vocabulary, and longer sentences, and with avoidance of personal pronouns. This style is used for academic articles and essays. Remember, however, that writing formally does not mean that you should use unnecessary jargon, clumsy structures, awkward vocabulary, excessive verbiage, or pompous phrases such as this author believes in order to avoid using I or we, or that you should overuse the passive voice. e.g.,

Formal: Research has shown an interesting connection between vitamin A and cancer, but the exact

nature of the connection has not been conclusively determined.

Informal: Researchers believe there may be a link between vitamin A and cancer, but they do not know exactly what it is yet.

Whatever tone you use, always be clear, direct, and comprehensible.

2. Avoid using the passive voice unless absolutely necessary.

In a sentence written in active voice, an actor acts upon a receiver (e.g., "The dog bit the man"). In a sentence written in passive voice, the receiver is being acted upon by an actor (e.g., "The man was bitten by the dog").

Use the wordier passive structure only when the identity of the "actor" is unknown or is less important than the receiver or the act itself. e.g.,

Passive: All beef has been marked down by the butcher. (if the beef is the most important idea) Active: The butcher has marked down all the beef. (if the butcher is the most important idea) Passive: The water was boiled for ten minutes. (actor is unidentified - boiled by whom?) Active: I boiled the water for ten minutes. (actor is identified - "I") Awkward passive: It is recommended that this experiment be tested for its effectiveness. (recommended by whom? tested by whom?) Better (still passive): The effectiveness of this experiment should be tested. (but tested by whom?) Better (active): We should test the effectiveness of this experiment.

3. Be simple and concise in your writing.

Choose a short word instead of a long one when the meaning is the same, and avoid jargon.

Cut out unnecessary words. Use the simple word about instead of vague wordy expressions such as in reference to, regarding, with regard to, or relating to the subject matter of. Use the word because instead of due to the fact that, in view of the fact that, orowing to the fact that. Avoid starting a sentence with empty passive phrases such as it should be noted that, it is recommended that, or it was found that. e.g., Wordy: Poor living accommodations give promise of incrementing the negative side of the morale balance so far as new personnel are concerned. Better: Poor living accommodations lower the morale of new personnel. Wordy: It is expected by management that great progress will be made by personnel in providing a solution to these problems in the near future. Better: Management expects that personnel will soon solve these problems.

4. Be precise in your writing.

Avoid cliches and overused words or expressions. Don't use vague words such as case unless referring to a case of canned goods or a case of malaria. (Also avoid factor, situation, position, and aspect.) Avoid words or expressions that are ambiguous. Be clear in your use of the words as, since, because, while, and when. It is best to use while or when instead of as to indicate relationships in time, and because instead of as to indicate relationships of cause and effect. e.g.,

Since I arrived, I have seen three new species. (meaning is clear) Since I left my textbook at home, I will share. ("because" would be a better choice) As I got out of bed, I heard the sound of gunfire. (meaning is clear) As he is the professor, we should listen to him. ("because" would be a better choice) As I ate, I studied my notes. ("while" would be a better choice) While I agree with him in principle, I don't see how his ideas could work. ("although" would be a better choice) NOTE:You can start a sentence with because as long as you include the independent clause to complete the sentence(see the Fastfacts handout Improving Your Sentence Structure). A simple sentence would be a sentence fragment if it started with because (e.g.,Because he needed further information.) You can start a complex sentence with because as long as you complete the sentence (e.g., Because he needed further information, he phoned the head office.)

5. Avoid starting a sentence with the pronoun this or that unless it is followed by a noun or refers clearly

and directly to a noun in the previous sentence. These pronouns should not be used to refer to the concept of the entire sentence (or paragraph, or essay) preceding it. e.g., A scientist's work has no value unless he shares his thoughts with the scientific community. That is the cornerstone of science. (What is that? Try "That communication...")

6. Avoid the use of there is or there are to begin a sentence.

For Example:

After you complete these programs, there are many leagues available for you to join. OR: After you complete these programs, you can join one of the many leagues available.

7. Use verbs effectively. NO: The bacteria had an influence on the morphology of the plant. YES: The bacteria influenced the morphology of the plant.

8. Avoid the use of empty modifiers such as very, quite, and fairly. very large = huge, enormous, gigantic

9. Avoid redundancies in the qualification of words. absolutely perfect, completely surrounded, conclusive proof, green in colour, serious crisis.

10. Watch out for dangling or misplaced modifiers. Unclear modifiers often creep into formal writing because of the use of the passive voice. NO: After bleeding the mice, radioimmunoassays were conducted to test binding capabilities. (the sentence suggests that the radioimmunoassays bled the mice) YES: After the mice were bled, radioimmunoassays were conducted to test binding capabilities. (passive) YES: After we bled the mice, we conducted radioimmunoassays to test binding capabilities. (active)

11. Find out the proper usage of words that can be confused. For example, what is the difference between affect and effect? its and it's? whose and who's? less and fewer? that and which?

12. Combine sentences to improve the flow of your writing. Then condense - reduce from clauses to phrases and to single words if possible. The tapestries were hanging on the wall. They were abstract yet beautiful. The tapestries that were hanging on the wall were abstract yet beautiful. (clause) The tapestries hanging on the wall were abstract yet beautiful. (participial phrase - 4 words) The tapestries on the wall were abstract yet beautiful. (prepositional phrase - 3 words) The wall tapestries were abstract yet beautiful. (1 word)

13. Avoid overuse of synonyms. Avoid indiscriminate use of the thesaurus to find twenty different ways to say the same word throughout your paper. Using different words for the same concept can confuse a reader unless all terms are defined clearly. Repeating key words is, in fact, one of the simplest ways of providing transitions to maintain coherence in your essay.

14. Avoid the use of confusing double negatives such as not unlikely, not impossible. Be direct and precise: is it likely or not? is it possible or not?

15. Clear your writing of empty expressions such as in terms of, related to, reflective of, concerned with, in regards to, or dealing with. Instead, decide what the exact relationship is, and say it.

16. Avoid the practice of stringing together several nouns and adjectives to form large noun groups. This habit can lead to confusion for the reader as to what exactly is modifying what. pair group data reduction methods slow speed belt driven fans higher protein dieted horse bone circumference

mproving your writing

Introduction You should consider each essay you write not as a final product in itself, but as a step towards developing the writing skills you will need before and after university.

Use the following checklist for each assignment as a guide to improving your own writing ability. 1. 2. Clarify the details of your assignment with the professor if there's anything you're not sure about. Think of writing as a process, and get started on an assignment early in the semester. Make a realistic time schedule for accomplishing the three steps of planning, writing, and revising. Do some brainstorming about your topic as part of the planning process - remember that spending time planning your paper will save you time and agony in writing it. Get feedback from the professor early in the semester about your choice of topic and proposed method of dealing with that topic. Try to write that first draft in one sitting, without agonizing over and editing every sentence. The first draft is your opportunity to get your ideas on paper so that you can see how they are shaping up. Do not worry about grammar and punctuation while you create leave that for the revising stage. Remember to put aside your first draft for at least a full day after writing it before you begin revising. The longer you can leave it before revising, the more objective you can be about it and the more effective you will be at detecting problems. Put some time, effort and thought into the revising process. Remember that 'revising' does not just mean 'recopying.' It means 're-seeing,' or re-envisaging what you are saying. Even professional writers do several drafts of any piece of writing. Proofread your final draft carefully before submitting, even if it was typed by a professional. Most professors would prefer to see you correct a typo with a pen than to assume you were careless enough not to catch it. When your paper is evaluated and returned, read the comments thoroughly. Ask the marker to explain what he or she meant by a particular note if you don't understand.

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10. Try to pick out one or two consistent errors on each paper, and aim to improve or correct them on your next paper (see the Fastfacts series on writing skills.) If you can recognize and eliminate even one type of problem each time, you are on your way to becoming a more effective writer. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

Introduction Academic integrity is the central principle on which the academic community depends. If a researcher falsifies data to support an hypothesis, or if a scholar steals the clever ideas of another and claims them as his or her own, the climate of trust that fosters the growth of knowledge and the creation of new ideas is destroyed. For students, copying others' work damages the intellectual integrity of their academic experience; it prevents intellectual engagement with a discipline and inhibits learning. It's unfair because it gives cheaters an advantage over honest students. Moreover, since the value of a university degree is based on the public's trust that graduates of that institution have gained a certain level of knowledge and ability, fraudulent shortcuts devalue the degree. In an attempt to prevent academic fraud, the university punishes those caught, and, depending on the crime, may even expel them from the university. Plagiarism is perhaps the most common academic fraud and it can range from an extremely serious to a minor offence. Sometimes students knowingly attempt to deceive their instructors; sometimes they commit plagiarism because they are unclear about what it is. This Fastfacts is intended to clarify the issue, and to help

you avoid plagiarizing when you write.

What Exactly Is Plagiarism? Plagiarism is a combination of stealing and lying about it afterwards. It means using others' work and misrepresenting that work as your own without giving the author credit: this includes ideas, words, data, computer programming, or any other creative endeavour. An extreme example would be copying or purchasing an entire paper and submitting it as your own. Less extreme would be submitting a paper you have written for credit in another course without prior permission from your instructor. A more common example would be copying another author's phrases, sentences, ideas, or arguments without citing the source.

Penalties for Plagiarism The University of Guelph takes plagiarism seriously, and will assess one or more of the following penalties for those found guilty of it: 1. Requirement to submit a new piece of work, or partial or total loss of marks for an assignment or course. An official warning that the next offence will be punished by suspension or expulsion from the university. Rescinding of university-funded scholarships or bursaries. Suspension from the university for one or two years. A recommendation for expulsion from the university. A recommendation to revoke or rescind a degree.

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The Good News About Citing Sources Although we have been speaking about avoiding plagiarism to avoid negative consequences, there are also positive benefits to avoiding plagiarism for students who want to achieve good grades. Referencing actually makes your work appear to be more academic and positions it within the ongoing scholarly conversation or debate in your discipline; it provides an authority to back up your arguments. Citations create the impression that your own argument is founded logically and systematically on previous work (and, hence, is credible). As a result, in many subjects, the more you reference the more scholarly your paper will be. And referencing also benefits others who are interested in pursuing the subject beyond your paper.

Plagiarism and the Internet In the last few years, attention has been focussed on Internet plagiarism. Some people call it "the new plagiarism," because the advent of the World Wide Web has made information retrieval so simple that student plagiarism appears to have increased: just a few clicks of the mouse, and information can be added directly to your own paper. It is now easier for a student to purchase an entire paper over the Web, to copy an entire article from an on-line journal, or to block and paste entire sentences or paragraphs from an electronic text directly into their papers. There is

a kind of anarchy and a blurring of copyright boundaries on the Web that leads students to assume that all of the "free" material available there is not governed by the same rules as for printed material. But it is. However, it is also much easier for those marking the papers to find out the source of the information. Instructors can use easy search methods to find electronic articles which use particular words or phrases, and many universities purchase proprietary software or hire Internet businesses which use algorithms to find any instance of plagiarism. The antidote to unknowingly plagiarizing Web material is to follow our Golden Rules #4, #5, and #6. Downloading the Web page (preferably to a disk so that you can viruscheck the material before putting it on your hard drive) will assure that you have the URL. Better still, printing the text will make it easy to copy all of the required bibliographical material (author, dates of publication and of access, publisher, etc.) for your reference list, should you later choose to incorporate some of the information into your paper. Ultimately, if you treat all of the words and information you receive from the Internet in exactly the same way that you would the material from a print-based article or book, you will be safe. For help in citing and referencing from Internet sites, follow the rules in our Fastfacts series on referencing.

Frequently Asked Questions 1. Isn't it enough to list in my bibliography all the materials I used for my paper, and have that be considered an acknowledgment of my sources? A bibliography, reference list, or works cited page may list the sources you used to compose your paper, but it does not indicate which ideas came from which source. There are at least two good reasons why you should not simply indicate at the end of a paper the name of the books or articles from which you received your information: 1. Intellectual property can be owned too, and if someone, as a thinker or a researcher, has made a discovery, you must acknowledge this fact. If you merely list the source of your information in your bibliography, and do not mention it in your text, you are hiding it with the literary equivalent of smoke and mirrors; indeed, you may even appear to be suggesting that some of those ideas were yours. As we have said before, there is a compelling and selfish reason why you should note your sources directly in your text. When you write a paper you are making an argument - you are trying to convince your readers that what you say is reasonable. One of the traditional ways that scholars try to convince others of the validity of the arguments they are advancing is by suggesting that their theories fit well with the accepted work of the learned authorities who have gone before them in the field. In other words, your work becomes more convincing when you can directly indicate the authority whose studies it extends.

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To see how others do this, examine scholarly books and journal articles in your field of research. Your course texts may not include citations for information (but will usually include a bibliographical list at the end of chapters or at the back of the book), and popular magazines and newspapers handle references to sources in different ways, so these are not good examples for you to follow.

2. How will I know the difference between the ideas and information I have to

reference, and those I don't? Information which is considered common knowledge in the field is not referenced. This will vary to some extent from discipline to discipline. However, we could say that facts which could be found in a general reference book (historical dates, common definitions, descriptions of periods or schools of thought, or a country's population or area, for example) need not be referenced. Interpretations which are commonly held and accepted and, in some cases, information from your lectures, may not require acknowledgement. When in doubt, check with your TA or professor. You always have to give a reference when you quote specific words or passages from another source. Quoting is usually done only when the words quoted are a) the best, most memorable, or most succinct way of expressing the information, or b) those of an acknowledged master or authority in the field. You also must give a reference when you are using specific information to support your argument. If this information is not common knowledge, is in dispute within your discipline, is someone else's interpretation of points, or is the result of research done by others before you, you must give credit to the authors. This is not only intellectually honest, but it also gives the information authority, and makes your own argument more credible. e.g., Sweeney & Vannote (1978), for example, showed that many hemimetabolous aquatic insects reach smaller adult size with reduced fecundity when they grow at temperatures above and below their optima. (An example from Gould, S.J. and Lewontin, R.C. "The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: a Critique of the Adaptionist Programme." Ed. Jack Selzer. Understanding Scientific Prose. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1993. 350.) (*MLA style) Koedinger and colleagues (Koedinger & Anderson, 1998; Koedinger & Tabachneck, 1995) reported that students sometimes find it easier to reason about word problems than to perform the analogous symbolic manipulations, and Koedinger and MacLaren (1997) developed a model in which there are both algebraic and verbal methods for solving problems. (An example from Anderson, John R. and Gluck, Kevin A. "What role do Cognitive Architectures Play in Intelligent Tutoring Systems." Ed. Sharon M. Carver and David Klahr. Cognition and Instruction: Twenty-Five Years of Progress. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2001. 249.) (*MLA style)

3. If I put a reference after every idea that I have taken from another source, won't it look as if I have just pieced together excerpts from other people's work? Yes it will, if your paper is nothing more than an assemblage of information you have taken from primary or secondary sources, without any analytical interpretation, argument, or thesis. Sometimes students come out of high school thinking that this is what an essay or report is: something that is patched and pasted together from notes they have made from books and articles on a particular subject. But that is not acceptable at the university level. Although it is true that what is expected from a firstyear student is less than what would be required from a senior student, at all stages of your university experience you should be looking at your subject from more than a descriptive point of view. You should be looking for connections between ideas, building arguments, and gradually developing your ability to discuss your topics in the context of the ongoing conversation within the field. So what your essay or report should look like is not so much a patchwork of other people's ideas, but an attempt to discuss results or argue a point - your own point,

which you are supporting with evidence developed from the research you have done. The way that you structure and organize that argument is the frame of your essay or report - your own personal interpretation of the subject - and the reference you make to other people's research or information or interpretations is subservient to the major thrust of that argument. You use their work to support and give authority to your conclusions, or, on the other hand, your references to them can be used as a rhetorical strategy: you can "bounce" off them to lead into your own argument, which may not agree with theirs.

4. If I put the ideas into my own words, can I avoid referencing? Once again, no. Putting the ideas into your own words (paraphrasing or summarizing the original) does not eliminate the need to reference. The information still comes from that source, and must be credited. Bolingbroke is well aware that he needs the aid of the disaffected commons as well as the disgruntled and ambitious nobles. 1. See Barbara D. Palmer, "'Ciphers to This Great Accompt': Civic Pageantry in the Second Tetralogy," in Pageantry in the Shakespearean Theatre, ed. Bergeron, 114-29. In this instance, note that the author cites herself and her own chapter in a previous published book. This is a common practice in academia. (An example from Palmer, Barbara D. "Gestures of Greeting: Annunciations, Sacred and Secular." Ed. Clifford Davidson. Gesture in Medieval Drama and Art. Early Drama, Art, and Music Monograph Ser. 28. Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2001. 150.) (*MLA style)

5. How can I remember which ideas are my own and which "belong" to someone else? This is difficult, particularly after you have been working intensively on a topic for some time. Try to paraphrase as you take your notes (except where you copy the exact words inside quotation marks because you consider that your information could not have been said in a better, or more succinct, way), always noting the page numbers for that information. This is one way to be clear about where the idea comes from; also use a different coloured ink to add your own comments beside the information. Such intelligent note-taking strategies also help you to adopt a critical and analytical attitude and develop your own point of view, even at the early information-gathering stages of writing your paper.

6. Is there such a thing as too much referencing? Yes, if you are constantly intruding references into your text in a heavy-handed way. This is usually a writing problem more than a sourcing one. Try to work your references into your text as a seamless web, to introduce references into the sentences in a variety of ways, and to write your paper in such a way that you don't have to refer to your sources every sentence or two. In the following examples, the first sample shows how referencing can become intrusive and awkward, the second takes the same information and presents it more smoothly. "Bromley and Hill's (2003) theory of the relationship between hand gestures in Lock's drawings and those found in medieval religious art should change the way that art historians interpret her work" (Schumann, Fear and Art 849), but other critics (Jean 49; Legare 32; Martin 15) dislike this new interpretation (Schumann, Fear and Art 849). They argue that this theory is only of interest to

those studying her later drawings (Jean 49; Legare 32; Martin 15).(*MLA style) Schumann argues that "Bromley and Hill's (2003) theory of the relationship between hand gestures in Lock's drawings and those found in medieval religious art should change the way that art historians interpret her work" (Fear and Art 849), but other critics find that this new interpretation is only of interest to those studying her later drawings (Jean 49; Legare 32; Martin 15). (*MLA style) (*Note that, following MLA style here, the title of Schumann's Fear and Art is inserted because more than one title is listed in the "Works Cited." In the other instances, there is only one title by each of the other authors; therefore, the titles need not be mentioned.) The other occasion when you might find that you have too many references is if you are referencing even the most commonplace of ideas or facts (the dates of WW II, for example). However, if you have to choose between the two vices, it is better to reference too much than too little.

7. Is there a difference in referencing between the arts and social sciences, and the sciences? Although all disciplinary areas are similar in that they are required to indicate whenever words or ideas have been taken from another source, there are differences in the style in which this is done. In the arts and most of the social sciences, there is a considerable use of direct quotation; in the sciences, direct quotation is rare. Since scientists are usually summing up the findings of research that has preceded their own work, they normally paraphrase these results. Also, in papers for some arts disciplines such as philosophy, where the train of thought is difficult and you don't want to distract from the argument, superscript footnotes or endnotes are appropriate. In the sciences, where the authority and reputation of those whose research findings have been consistent with those of your paper are of paramount importance, you might begin or end a sentence with a parenthetical citation made up of a string of names and dates: ...(Hirshi and D'Amore, 1991; Miano et al., 1993; Nels and Drenckhahm, 1991,1993; Schilingemann et al., 1991; Tilton et al., 1979). (*APA style)

8. In my country, copying authorities is considered a sign of respect, and knowledge is thought to be collectively generated and owned. Should I be punished here for following my own cultural norms? It is true that not all cultures look upon plagiarism in the same way as we do. However, if you are intending to function here as an academic, and if you hope to avoid being penalized or damaging your reputation while you are a student here, you should be extremely careful to follow the rules outlined in this Fastfacts.

Ten Golden Rules to Avoid Plagiarism 1. If you didn't write the paper yourself, don't hand it in. (Don't buy, commission, download, or borrow papers from other sources, or write a paper with a friend and each submit it as your own work.) Get written permission from your instructor before turning in a paper you have used for another course. (For example, if you have written a paper in a Russian history course dealing with some aspect of the Soviet Union and then the next year take a Political Science course covering the same country and period, you should not submit that paper again to your

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Political Science professor without permission.) 3. You must give credit in a citation, footnote, or endnote whenever you use more than three words from another source (this will appear in your text within quotation marks) or whenever you use someone else's idea, even when phrased in your own words. When taking notes or downloading from another source, copy all of the bibliographic information right beside the information. When taking notes or downloading, make sure you immediately put quotation marks around any words or phrases copied directly from the source. When taking notes and paraphrasing an idea, look away from the source, write your paraphrase, check back to ensure that you have not used the original words, then circle your paraphrase to indicate that it is in your own words. You will still need to provide the accurate reference citation for the idea, so write down all of the bibliographical material right then and there. Never cut and paste text to create a paper from several quoted sources, supplying only your own introduction and conclusion. This is a patchwork quilt, not an essay. Quote all the words that you have copied. A common type of plagiarism occurs when students quote a sentence or two, include a citation, then continue on copying the words from the source without quotation marks, implying that these were the students' own summarizing words. (This is wrong even with a concluding citation). Never fake a citation or reference in your reference list in order to pad your research list.

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10. When engaged in a group project, always get detailed instructions from your professor about ownership of work. When writing individual papers resulting from collaborative group work, give credit in citations for ideas generated by other members of the group.