Office of the Provost: How to Write with Integrity

Writing with integrity requires finding your own voice and making your own arguments while maintaining a clear distinction between this voice and the voices and arguments of others. Keith Hjortshoj offers helpful advice on the challenges of establishing a voice in the chapter “Theft, Fraud, and the Loss of Voice” from his book, The Transition to College Writing.

Writing with integrity also requires careful attention to the formal conventions of academic citation, which serve to distinguish your voice as an author from the voices of your sources. The following sections offer a step-by-step overview of these conventions, with examples and illustrations of some of the most challenging ones:

Process Matters

1. Give Yourself Time

Plagiarism is often the act of a desperate student who has a deadline looming. Don’t let this happen to you. Good papers take days, weeks, or months to write. Start early, and let your ideas develop over time.

Plan to write a first draft and then revise it. Plan to share an early draft with your professor, a Rhetoric Center consultant, or a friend. Doing so will help you determine how effectively the paper is written and give you a chance to improve it.

2. Take Careful and Systematic Notes

You should never write a paper directly from the secondary sources. Instead, take notes on your sources as you read, using those notes to compose outlines and drafts. Whenever you take notes on a source, be sure to make a full record of the source so that you can always tell from your notes where specific information and ideas came from. If you are using bibliography software (e.g. Zotero or Endnote), you can make notes within that program, which is a good way to ensure that your notes are clearly identified with the relevant source.

If you write your notes in simple text documents, make sure that all the notes are clearly identified with the source they came from. Include the bibliographic reference for each source in your notes document. For any source from the web, always include the URL (the full web address).

If you take extensive notes from multiple sources, create a separate document with the notes from each one, giving it a logical title that identifies the source clearly. For sources that are particularly important, download them from the web and store them as separate documents. If they are not prohibitively long, print them out and read them offline. These measures will help you to annotate your sources more easily and to keep your different sources distinct in your mind as you read and take notes.

When you take notes on a source, make sure that you put the information into your own words so that when you incorporate the notes into your paper you will not be importing plagiarized material.

If you do copy language verbatim from a source, make sure that you identify it clearly as a quotation. Make it stand out clearly from the rest of your notes, either by using quotation marks (for very short passages) or by italicizing or colorizing the whole passage like the present paragraph, so that even at a quick glance you recognize it as a quotation.

3. Find Your Voice

Finding your academic voice may be the greatest challenge of all in academic writing. Once you have done substantial reading and taken notes on your sources, you need to stand back and decide what you want to say. Even if you are presenting the results of other scholars’ research, you need to tell the story from your own point of view. Doing will be different from the perspectives of your secondary sources. It takes time and effort to find a comfortable writing voice that acknowledges other perspectives but does not try to mimic them. If you are relating another writer’s insight, give that writer credit right up front. Try to introduce your sentences with acknowledgements such as “Jones makes a helpful distinction” or “Boer illustrates the problem with a memorable example."

Stepping away from the computer and writing some of your draft by hand is a good way to put healthy distance between yourself and your sources, and to find your own voice and your own point of view.

4. Avoid Cutting and Pasting.

Unless you are copying a quotation that you intend to highlight as a quotation, as indicated above, you should not cut and paste material from a source into your notes. Cutting and pasting may seem like a quick way to grab some useful information from an electronic source, but it is a very dangerous practice. Note-taking should involve more conscious mental work on your part; cutting and pasting is a lazy and dangerous shortcut.

Telling yourself, “I’ll just cut and paste it now to save time, and then I’ll change the words later to make them my own” is equally lazy and dangerous. Don’t succumb to the temptation. Exert the effort required to put the information into your own words. This will help you to remember it better, and it will make your notes more authentic and less likely to get you into trouble.

Above all, never cut and past text from a source into a draft of your paper. (The only exception to this rule is when you intend to insert a lengthy direct quotation into your paper, identifying the entire passage as a quotation, and providing a specific page reference for it.) In all other cases, cutting and pasting text from a source into your paper is even worse than cutting and pasting into your notes.

Do not try to justify this first stage of plagiarism to yourself or others by saying, “It’s just a temporary move; once I’ve copied it into my own paper I will reword it and make it my own.” This is akin to taking something off the shelf in a store, slipping it into your pocket, and claiming, “When I get to the checkout I intend to take it out of my pocket and pay for it.” In both cases, the first step is already getting you too close to a serious ethical offense. Neither the police officer who arrests you for shoplifting after you forget to empty your pockets at the checkout nor the professor who prosecutes you for plagiarism when you forget to rewrite the copied passage is likely to believe the claim that you “really meant” to do the right thing but “just forgot at the last minute.” You will be held responsible for putting yourself in such a compromising position in the first place.

5. Review and Revise

Even if you have avoided all the dangerous shortcuts described above, you may have forgotten to include a reference for a quotation somewhere, or some of your references may be incomplete.

If you consulted secondary sources early in the research process (even generic sources like Wikipedia) and did not take careful notes on them, revisit those sources before submitting the paper, to make sure that you have not inadvertently borrowed an apt phrase or interpretive claim from them.

There is no substitute for careful proofreading to allow you to fix these oversights before you submit the final draft. Once you submit it, you are of course entirely responsible for all its contents, and for all its omissions.

Quote Sources Accurately

A good academic paper will refer often to its sources, sometimes by paraphrasing (representing what a source says in your own words) and sometimes by quoting (representing what it says verbatim, or in the author’s exact original words).

When you paraphrase, it is essential to use your own words; if you incorporate too many of the author’s words or the structure of the sentence into your paraphrase, then you are not really paraphrasing but quoting without acknowledgement. Doing so is often called patchwriting or mosiac plagiarism because the resulting text is an amalgam of your words and someone else’s unacknowledged words. The Common Pitfalls section below gives advice and examples on how to avoid mosaic plagiarism.

When you quote, you must follow these essential rules:

1. Quotations Must be Clearly Identified

For shorter quotations, use quotation marks: All the original words from the source must be enclosed within quotation marks. This applies even for short quotations of 3–4 words. When you paraphrase a source and use some of the same words as the original, of course you do not need to put quotation marks around every word that comes from the source. But distinctive words and phrases, and most phrases longer than three words, should be treated as quotations and marked with quotation marks. (For more examples, and further advice on how to avoid mosaic plagiarism, see Pitfall 1.)

Original Source:
At one time in adolescence I was burning to find satisfaction in hellish pleasures.

Source: Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, II, 2.

Correct Quotation:
Augustine recalled, “At one time in adolescence I was burning to find satisfaction in hellish pleasures.”

When you quote a phrase rather than a full sentence, integrate the quoted words smoothly into your own sentences so that they are still grammatically and logically coherent.

Correct Quotation (integrated with your own text):
Augustine recalled his adolescent desire to “to find satisfaction in hellish pleasures.”

Note that quotation marks do not alter the normal rules of punctuation. Observe the same rules of grammar and punctuation that you would if there were no quotation marks in the sentence! For example, do not splice together two independent clauses with a comma, even if there are quotations around the second one!

Incorrect:
Augustine praised his mother’s character, “she was brought up in modesty and sobriety.”

Correct:
Augustine praised his mother’s character, recalling that “she was brought up in modesty and sobriety.”

For longer quotations, use indentation: If the quotation is a long passage of more than 3 lines (or about 30 words), make it a block quotation: indent it by half an inch from both left and right margins, and omit the quotation marks.

Correct Use of Block Quotations:
Edward Gibbon memorably summarized religious belief in first-century Rome as a mixture of superstition and skepticism:

The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.

For advice on how to decide between block quotations and short quotations, see How to Get Beyond the Block Quotation.

2. Quotations Must be Accurate

Every word and punctuation mark inside quotation marks (or inside an indented block quotation) must be exactly identical to the original text being quoted.

There are many good reasons for altering language, spelling, or punctuation within a direct quotation. You may want to add contextual information, change a verb tense to match the syntax of the surrounding sentence, correct spelling, or shorten a passage for brevity. This is fine, as long as you do not alter the meaning of the original (see above).

But whenever you change the text, even if you preserve the original meaning, you must indicate the change. Use square brackets [ ] to show where you have added or changed words, letters, or punctuation marks. Use elision marks (…) to show where you have omitted words, letters, or punctuation marks.

Here's an example:

Original Source:
Hitherto, every form of society has been based, as we have already seen, on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes.

Source: Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto.

Correct Quotation:
Marx argued that “every form of society [was] based… on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes.”

3. Quotations Must Identify All Speakers Accurately

Accuracy also means presenting a correct account of who said what. If the source that you quote includes different speakers, or quotes another source, you must correctly distinguish between the different voices. If needed, use additional quotation marks within quotation marks to indicate a quotation within a quotation. (The interior quotation marks should be single, as shown below.)

In the example below, historian Norman Davies comments on the political mood in England and Germany in 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War. In his last sentence he quotes from another source. (Note that he uses square brackets to show that he has altered the text of his source.)

Original Source:
Colonel House, the American, who visited Berlin in 1914, was shocked by the bombastic displays. Yet all the Powers cultivated a degree of military pomp and swagger; the differences were at best those of style. In all countries in 1914, unlike 1939, the military ethos was closely bound by a code of honour. A German observer remarked bitterly, “Militarism in the United Kingdom is regarded [by the British] as of God, and militarism in Germany as of the devil.”

Source: Norman Davies, Europe: A History (Oxford, 1996), p. 887.

Incorrect Quotation:
Historian Norman Davies pointed out that all the future participants in the war were militaristic in their own way: all the European powers “cultivated a degree of military pomp and swagger… Militarism in the United Kingdom [was] regarded [by the British] as of God, and militarism in Germany as of the devil.”

This student correctly uses elision marks (…) and square brackets ([ ]) to indicate omissions and changes to Davies’s text. But the student misquotes and misrepresents Davies. The second part of the quotation (“Militarism…”) is not Davies’s own words, but those of a “German observer.” This needs to be acknowledged, both to give credit to the original author (even if he is not named here) and to make clear that the bitter anti-British commentary is not Davies’s own but that of a contemporary observer.

Correct Quotation:
Historian Norman Davies pointed out that all the future participants in the war were militaristic in their own way: all the European powers “cultivated a degree of military pomp and swagger.” Davies suggests that the British were quick to criticize German militarism while overlooking their own; he cites an ironic comment by an unnamed “German observer” who “remarked bitterly, ‘Militarism in the United Kingdom is regarded [by the British] as of God, and militarism in Germany as of the devil.’”

4. Quotations Must be Contextualized

It is your responsibility to provide enough context to make every quotation understandable. If the quotation refers to people, events, or ideas that you have not already introduced in the paper, make sure you introduce them so your reader can make sense of everything in the quotation. Either provide the necessary context, or eliminate the parts of the quotation that are distracting and not relevant to your argument. But make sure that you indicate any alterations to the quotation, as shown above.

5. Quotations Must Represent the Author's Meaning Fairly

The quotation below is technically accurate (it quotes the author's exact words and uses quotation marks), but seriously represents the original claim by taking a phrase out of context:

Original Source:
I have enjoyed each of his books less than the last one. The early ones were truly inspired, but the newer ones seem stale and formulaic.

Incorrect Quotation:
Jane Doe states that she has "enjoyed each of his books."

Make sure you quote in a way that fairly conveys the author’s original meaning. This requires careful attention to the context of author’s words. Are you quoting a statement that represents the author’s own beliefs? If not, be sure to explain the difference.

Cite Your Sources Within Your Text

A citation is a reference to the source, including the page number of the original text (or comparable marker for unpaginated electronic texts). Citations can be given in different forms, including footnotes, endnotes, and in-text references. The different forms for correct citation are discussed later in this section.

If you do any of the following three things in your paper, then you must provide a citation:

Quote a source verbatim: Whenever you reproduce the exact words of another author, you must surround them with quotation marks (or, for longer quotations, use indenting to create a block quote).
Cite a distinctive idea: When you paraphrase an author's interpretation (i.e. present it in your own words), you should still acknowledge the source if you are paraphrasing an insight or analytical point rather than a straightforward matter of fact.
Cite facts that are not widely known or that might be contested: In some cases, even facts should be cited and attributed to a source. If a source provides you with information that you could not have readily found elsewhere, or that might be challenged, cite it, even if you paraphrase the author's words. This is especially important when the facts are controversial.

Take a look at the passage below, from an internet biography of Martin Luther. This passage will be the source paragraph for all of the examples below. We will consider how you might make proper use of the source in your paper in each of the three instances given above.

Original Source:
In July of 1505, Martin was caught in a horrific thunderstorm. Afraid that he was going to die, he screamed out a vow, “Save me, St. Anna, and I shall become a monk.” St. Anna was the mother of the Virgin Mary and the patron saint of miners. Most argue that this commitment to become a monk could not have come out of thin air and instead represents an intensification experience in which an already formulated thought is expanded and deepened. On July 17th Luther entered the Augustinian Monastery at Erfurt.

Source: David M. Whitford, "Martin Luther," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/luther/.

Here are three different ways that you might make use of this source paragraph by David Whitford in your own paper. Here are three different ways that you might make use of this source paragraph by David Whitford in your own paper. Note that each one of them requires you to cite Whiford's article, each for a different reason:

1. Direct Quotation

You Write:
Luther decided to become a monk in 1505, just a few days after being "caught in a horrific thunderstorm" and taking a vow to St. Anne.

Your quotation is short—only five words—but it is a direct quotation from Whitford. There are many other ways to describe this event, but you chose to use Whitford's language instead of paraphrasing, so you must attribute it to him.

2. Citing a Distinctive Idea

You Write:
Luther became a monk after he survived a frightening thunderstorm in the summer of 1505, having made a vow to St. Anna. But many of Luther’s biographers think that he would probably not have made this commitment if he had been not already been considering the monastic life for some time before that.

Here you have successfully paraphrased the source and avoided using the author’s own language. But you are still citing a distinctive interpretation about when and why Luther made up his mind to become a monk. You must tell the reader where you learned that "many of Luther's biographers" think this. If you do not include a citation, you are suggesting (even if unintentionally) that you have read many biographies of Luther and are drawing this conclusion on the basis of your own reading. That is dishonest.

3. Citing Contested or Lesser-Known Facts

You Write:
Finding himself outdoors in a fierce summer rainstorm and fearing for his life, Luther took a vow to St. Anne; he begged her to save him, and promised that if she did so he would enter a monastery.

Again, you have successfully paraphrased the source and avoided using the author's own language. Here you are citing what appears to be more of a fact than an interpretation; you are just telling the reader what Luther said. But this "fact" may still be subject to dispute and may not be common knowledge. The story is widely told, but how do we really know it is true? With "facts" like this that depend on the reliability of the sources, it is always advisable to cite your sources.

Avoid Common Pitfalls

It is possible to commit plagiarism even when you do provide citations for your sources. Writing with integrity requires more than just frequent source citations; it also requires writing in a way that clearly, consistently, and honestly distinguishes between your own writing and the original source.

Students commonly commit plagiarism by slipping into one of these pitfalls. The first three kinds of plagiarism are often called mosaic plagiarism or patchwriting:

Using distinctive language from the source without acknowledgement, even if it is not an exact quotation.
Copying the structure of the source while changing some of its words, or by combining words and phrases taken from a source with their own words without indicating which is which.
Incomplete acknowledgement. If you provide a source citation but do not indicate fully and accurately which words come from that source, you are taking credit for another author's words, and you are plagiarizing. (See "Quote your sources accurately" for more tips on how to quote your sources accurately.)
Failing to acknowledge the intermediate source. Good citations should tell the reader not just where information or words originally appeared, but where you found them. If you cite a source you have not actually read, by giving a citation for that source that really comes from another (intermediate) source, you are falsely taking credit for research that someone else has done. This kind of mistake is sometimes called "citation plagiarism." There is some disagreement about whether this should be considered plagiarism, strictly speaking, but it is certainly a poor practice and should be avoided.

These mistakes may be careless rather than deliberate, but they still constitute plagiarism. As a college student, you are responsible for knowing how to avoid plagiarism of all kinds.

The next sections illustrate these four common plagiarism pitfalls and how to avoid them.

1. Passing Off Distinctive Language as Your Own

To illustrate pitfalls 1–3, we will use the same source paragraph from Whitford's article on Martin Luther:

Original:
In July of 1505, Martin was caught in a horrific thunderstorm. Afraid that he was going to die, he screamed out a vow, “Save me, St. Anna, and I shall become a monk.” St. Anna was the mother of the Virgin Mary and the patron saint of miners. Most argue that this commitment to become a monk could not have come out of thin air and instead represents an intensification experience in which an already formulated thought is expanded and deepened. On July 17th Luther entered the Augustinian Monastery at Erfurt.

Source: David M. Whitford, "Martin Luther," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/luther/.

Pitfall #1:
Most historians believe that Luther’s commitment to enter the monastery could not have come from nowhere but rather represents an intensifying experience in which a thought already formulated is broadened and made deeper.¹