When you write a research paper or essay, you must indicate the source of some kinds of information that you obtained from primary sources (such as contemporary newspapers or magazines, government documents, memoirs, or autobiographies) and secondary works (books and articles written long after the events occurred by someone who wasn’t a participant). It is not acceptable just to include a bibliography at the end of your paper--a list of the books, articles, or online sources that you used in your writing. You must also use notes or citations to indicate exactly where you found a quotation or other kinds of specific information that you used to write specific parts of your paper.
You must do so in order to avoid committing plagiarism, which is the presentation of someone else’s ideas or words as your own. For more information on academic integrity, please consult the Ohio University web site on academic misconduct at: http://www.ohio.edu/judiciaries/academic-misconduct.cfm#academic. In addition, please follow these guidelines:
Quotations: You must place any quotation--even a short phrase--in quotation marks or in an indented block, if longer than five lines. And you must give the precise source of that quotation in a citation--a note in the body of the paper, at the bottom of the page, or the end of the paper.
Paraphrase: The source of any material that you paraphrase or summarize must be revealed in a note. Even if you thoroughly change the language of the original author, you are still indebted to him or her for the idea you are expressing. Here’s an example. Quotation: “Germany was the key to any hopes for a successful negotiated settlement in Europe, and the inability of the USSR and the Western powers to reach such an agreement ensured a lasting cold war.” Paraphrase of that quotation: “Because the Soviet Union and the Western powers were unable to settle their differences on the key issue in Europe--the future of Germany--the result was an enduring cold war.” The wording of the paraphrase is different than the quotation, yet the idea is fundamentally the same. So you need to indicate in a note where you got that idea.
Ideas or Information That is NOT Common Knowledge: Any time you use a major idea in your paper that is not your own or include information that is not common knowledge, you must provide the source of that idea or information in a note or citation. There is no need, though, to provide notes for well-known facts or common knowledge. For example, it is common knowledge that the United States fought a war in Vietnam. It is NOT common knowledge that the maximum U.S. troop strength in Vietnam during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency was 536,000.
Citation: Notes must provide some basic information. For a book, you must include the author’s full name, title of the book, date and place of publication, and the pages on which the quotation or information you used can be found. After the first note, all that is necessary is the author’s last name, short title of book, and page numbers. Examples:
Walter L. Hixson, George F. Kennan: Cold War Iconoclast (New York: Columbia University Press,
1989), 246.
2d note: Hixson, George F. Kennan, 177.
For either a magazine or a newspaper, provide title, date of publication, and page numbers. Examples: Time, March 29, 1963, 23-24; New York Times, July 16, 1947, 8.
It’s also acceptable to use a system of citation in which you list all books and articles with full publication data at the end of your essay and then use the last name of the author or title of the publication, year of publication, and page numbers in citations. Examples: Hixson (1989), 177; Time (Aug. 5, 1963), 23-24.
For a document that you found on the Internet, provide author (if there is one), title, and date
of the document, the URL (or address) where you found it, and the date that you accessed it.
Example: Harry S. Truman, Diary Entry, July 16, 1945, Harry S. Truman Library web site,
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/
documents/index.php?documentdate=1945-07-16&documentid=1&studycollectionid=abomb&pagenumber=1 [accessed on
March 30, 2009]. Please note: If you use a document on an online site with many links or
sections, you must provide the precise address where you found the information that you used.
For additional information about proper forms for notes, consult a standard reference work, such as Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations , the Chicago Manual of Style, or the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
Notes can be either in the body of your paper, at the bottom of the page, or at the end of the paper. Use any system of citation that’s easy or familiar to you. Just make sure it provides all the necessary information about where you found the quotations or information that you use in your essay.
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