Fair use weighs heavily in favor of educational uses. So in most cases, using images and/or videos you’ve found online for your presentation for class is not going to land you in hot water. Why is this? Using an image or video that belongs to somebody else without permission for an educational use is not likely to impact the potential market, it is only being shared with the people in your class, and it is being used to educate yourself and others. It is still always good practice to cite where the content came from and try to use openly licensed content that allows people to use it without seeking permission first (see “Creative Commons” section below) whenever possible.

When you avoid plagiarism by citing your sources, you are respecting the time and energy other people put into creating their intellectual property. Just like physical property that you can call your own, intellectual property describes an expression of the human mind that can be owned and protected. Once somebody puts their creative ideas into a fixed and tangible format, like in the form of a book, movie, or song, that becomes intellectual property and can be protected. Intellectual property comes in many forms, but the most popular are copyright, patents, and trademarks. Copyright is the most common form of intellectual property that has relevance for college-level research

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word plagiarize as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: use (another’s production) without crediting the source.” When you use the words and ideas of others in your own work without citing where you got that information from, this is considered plagiarism. Whether a student purposely tries to pass off information as their own (i.e., copying and pasting text or paraphrasing another source without giving credit) or does so unintentionally (i.e., not knowing how to cite sources), plagiarism goes against the moral and ethical code for students called academic integrity. Academic integrity is the expectation that all students will be honest and responsible and will not plagiarize or cheat and that they will be motivated by more than just getting good grades. Most colleges have consequences for violating academic integrity, which may include suspension or expulsion from the institution.

As a college student, whenever you complete an academic assignment, be it a research paper, a speech, or any other assignment in which you gather and synthesize information on a topic, you are participating in what is called a scholarly conversation. The term scholarly conversation describes the existing body of knowledge about a topic. This body of knowledge may include published books, presentations, research articles, conferences, discussions, online resources, and more. Your assignments are a way to add your own voice to the scholarly conversation—by reviewing what research has been done, drawing connections and conclusions from published information, and adding your own experiences, opinions, and ideas about what previous research has shown.

In general, it is best to use a quote when: The exact words of your source are important for the point you are trying to make. This is especially true if you are quoting technical language, terms, or very specific word choices. You want to highlight your agreement with the author’s words. If you agree with the point the author of the evidence makes and you like their exact words, use them as a quote. You want to highlight your disagreement with the author’s words. In other words, you may sometimes want to use a direct quote to indicate exactly what it is you disagree about. This might be particularly true when you are considering the antithetical positions in your research writing projects.

By incorporating the name of the author of the evidence the research writer is referring to here, the source of this paraphrase is now clear to the reader. Furthermore, because there is a page number at the end of this sentence, the reader understands that this passage is a paraphrase of a particular part of Callahan’s essay and not a summary of the entire essay. Again, if the research writer had introduced this source to his readers earlier, he could have started with a phrase like “Callahan suggests...” and then continued on with his paraphrase

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Paraphrase When we paraphrase, we are processing information or ideas from another person’s text and putting it in our own words. The main difference between paraphrase and summary is scope: if summarizing means rewording and condensing, then paraphrasing means rewording without drastically altering length. However, paraphrasing is also generally more faithful to the spirit of the original; whereas a summary requires you to boil down a large piece of text into a sentence or two, thereby losing some nuance, a paraphrase ought to mirror back the original idea using your own language. Paraphrasing is helpful for establishing background knowledge or general consensus, simplifying a complicated idea, or reminding your reader of a certain part of another text. It is also valuable when relaying statistics or historical information, both of which are usually more fluidly woven into your writing when spoken with your own voice.

araphrase Giraffes emit a low-pitch noise; some scientists believe that this hum can be used for communication with other members of the social group, but others are skeptical because of the dearth of research on giraffe noises. According to Baotic et al., the anatomy of the animal suggests that they may be making deliberate and specific noises (3).

mportant Reminder! Whether summary, paraphrase, or quotation, you need to use an in-text citation! For every in-text citation, ensure there is a matching entry on the Works Cited page! Also, remember to use information from sources only to support your own argument. For a research essay, a healthy ratio is generally no more than 10% to 20% material from sources to 80% your own original ideas, argument, interpretation, analysis, and explanation. This is not a rule as much as a reminder to think critically about how much your writing relies on the ideas of others: unless the assignment is a summary or literature

mmary, as discussed earlier in this chapter, is useful for “broadstrokes” or quick overviews, brief references, and providing plot or character background. When you summarize, you reword and condense another author’s writing. Be aware, though, that summary also requires individual thought: when you reword, it should be a result of you processing the idea yourself, and when you condense, you must think critically about which parts of the text are most important. As you can see in the example that follows one summary shows understanding and puts the original into the author’s own words; the other summary is a result of a passive rewording, where the author only substituted synonyms for the original.

araphrasing is similar to the process of summary. When we paraphrase, we process information or ideas from another person’s text and put it in our own words. The main difference between paraphrase and summary is scope: if summarizing means rewording and condensing, then paraphrasing means rewording without drastically altering length. However, paraphrasing is also generally more faithful to the spirit of the original; whereas a summary requires you to process and invites your own perspective, a paraphrase ought to mirror back the original idea using your own language.

hether you’re writing a summary or broaching your analysis, using support from the text will help you clarify ideas, demonstrate your understanding, or further your argument, among other things. Three distinct methods, which Bruce Ballenger refers to as “The Notetaker’s Triad,” will allow you to process and reuse information from your focus text.13