When you write an academic paper, you're building on the ideas of others. That's the foundation of academic writing: joining a larger conversation, and using credible sources to support your points. With that comes a responsibility: giving credit where it's due.
Why plagiarism matters
Plagiarism is more than a school rule. When you use someone else's ideas, words, or work without credit, you're presenting them as your own. In academic settings, that can mean failing the assignment, failing the course, or worse.
It also damages your credibility. Your instructors, and later your employers, need to trust that your work is honest. Giving proper credit shows you've done the research, understand the material, and are adding your own thinking.
Fortunately, plagiarism is easy to avoid once you know the right ways to use a source.
Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing
- Quoting means copying a passage exactly as it appears, in quotation marks, with the page. Use it when the exact wording matters, which is often the case in a literature paper.
- Paraphrasing means restating the idea in your own words and your own sentence structure, without changing the meaning. It shows you understand the idea well enough to explain it.
- Summarizing is like paraphrasing, but shorter. You boil the main idea of a longer passage down to a brief point.
Whichever you use, you must cite the source. Even when you aren't quoting, the idea still belongs to someone else.
One source, three ways
Here are three sentences from the sample Bigfoot paper. Each one is cited.
Sykes and his colleagues found that the survey “cannot refute the existence of anomalous primates, neither has it found any evidence in support” (3).
With every hair credited to Bigfoot traced to a known animal, the DNA survey found nothing to support the creature’s existence, though it could not rule it out (Sykes et al. 3).
DNA tests traced hair credited to Bigfoot to ordinary animals (Sykes et al.).
- A quoteThe authors' exact words in quotation marks. Their names are already in the sentence, so the citation holds only the page.
- A paraphraseThe same finding in new words and a new sentence, with the same meaning, cited with the page it came from.
- A summaryThe main idea of the whole study in one short line, still cited.
Working sources into your writing
- Use sources to support your point, not to replace it. Your argument and your voice should drive the paper.
- Introduce a source with context. A quick lead-in like "According to Meldrum" or "As Sykes and his colleagues found" shows how the source connects to your point.
- Follow up with your own analysis. After a quote, explain why it matters. That's what your instructor is really looking for: your thinking.
- Keep a balance. A paper of nothing but quotes leaves your reader wondering what you think.
Quick checklist
- Every quote in quotation marks, with its page
- Every paraphrase in your own words and structure, cited
- Every summary cited
- Each source introduced and followed by your own analysis
- A matching Works Cited entry for every source
How PERRLA helps
PERRLA keeps the credit attached. You cite each source from your library as you write, and before you submit, PERRLA reads the whole paper and points out any quote that's missing its citation or its page number.
Quotes missing citationsGo to
Quotes missing page numbersGo to
Click I'm Finished and PERRLA lists each quote that still needs credit. Go to takes you straight to it.