acknowledging sources

Acknowledging Sources and Academic Integrity

Jody Bailey, Reference/Instruction LibrarianUT Arlington Central Library, Rm. 312

[email protected]

Adapted with permission from “Acknowledging Sources”:http://library.uta.edu/tutorials/Plagiarism/

mailto:[email protected]

http://library.uta.edu/tutorials/Plagiarism/

April 10, 2023 Jody Bailey 2

What’s the point of a writing assignment?

• “Pair share” on this question!

• Discovering the dominant communcation channels in linguistics and joining that scholarly conversation

• Finding and evaluating information sources

• Learning to think for yourself and express your ideas


Intellectual Property• “Intellectual property (IP)

refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.” (World Intellectual Property Organization, n.d.)

• In the U.S., all intellectual property is automatically copyrighted as soon as it is created.

• Acknowledging sources is thus mandatory.


What is plagiarism?

• “When you take someone’s words or ideas and represent them as your own, you commit plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the work of others but not acknowledging the source.” (“Acknowledging Sources”)


Plagiarism: Cultural Differences?

• Other Cultures:– Using someone else’s

words can be a form of homage or respect.

– Copying from books is not acceptable, but it’s OK to copy from a website.

– Students may think that their English skills are not good enough to represent the ideas of published authors (Introna et al. 2003)

• U.S. Academic Culture:– Scholars work for years on

articles and books and other research; if you use their words or ideas without attribution, it’s viewed as stealing.

– By not citing your fellow scholars, you are denying them public attribution for their work and hence hindering their scholarly advancement.


Examples of Plagiarism• Copying/pasting text from a website.• Copying/pasting a graphic element from a website.• Copying material from books or magazines.• Copying someone’s spoken words.• Copying a unique or distinctive phrase.• Changing the wording of a source slightly and not citing the source.• Buying or using a paper written by someone else.• Taking another person’s ideas and acting as though they are yours.• Copying someone’s computer program.• Including artwork or music in a project without getting permission or citing the

source.• Writing a paper for Professor X’s class and using it again for Professor Y’s class; this

is called “self-plagiarism.” (“Acknowledging Sources”)You can use other people’s work in your own work as long as you give credit to the

original author.


Scholastic Dishonesty at UT Arlington

• From UTA’s Office of Student Conduct, “What Constitutes Scholastic Dishonesty”

http://www.uta.edu/studentaffairs/conduct/aiwhatconstitutes.html

http://www.uta.edu/studentaffairs/conduct/aiwhatconstitutes.html


Effects of Plagiarism

• From UTA’s Handbook of Operating Procedures, Section 2-301, “Authorized Disciplinary Actions”

• Famous Plagiarists website

http://www.uta.edu/policy/hop/toc/stu_2-300.php



http://www.famousplagiarists.com/index.html


Interesting Sites

• “How to Tell If You’re a Plagiarist”

• http://gawker.com/5602360/how-to-tell-if-youre-a-plagiarist

• “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age”

• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html

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http://gawker.com/5602360/how-to-tell-if-youre-a-plagiarist


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html



Linguistic Society of America Ethics Statement

• “Linguists are subject to the standards of conduct found in other disciplines. They should practice honesty (e.g., by not plagiarizing or fabricating data) and carefully cite the original sources of ideas, descriptions, and data.” http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Ethics_Statement.pdf

http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Ethics_Statement.pdf


How to Avoid Plagiarism?


Linguistics Citation Style

• Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, “Style Sheet”: http://lsadc.org/info/pubs-lang-style.cfm

• See also the “Unified Style Sheet for Linguistics Journals”: http://linguistlist.org/pubs/tocs/JournalUnifiedStyleSheet2007.pdf

http://lsadc.org/info/pubs-lang-style.cfm

http://linguistlist.org/pubs/tocs/JournalUnifiedStyleSheet2007.pdf

http://linguistlist.org/pubs/tocs/JournalUnifiedStyleSheet2007.pdf


Sample Citations(from Language “Style Sheet”)

• Journal article:Hale, Kenneth, and Josie White Eagle. 1980. A preliminary metrical account of Winnebago accent. International Journal of American Linguistics 46.117-32.

• Book:Dorian, Nancy C. (ed.) 1989. Investigating obsolescence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Sample In-Text Citations

• “Give only a brief citation in parentheses consisting of the author's surname, the year of publication, and page number(s) where relevant: (Rice 1989) or (Yip 1991:75-6).”– “a. If a cited publication has more than two

authors, use the surname of the first author, followed by et al.”

– “b. If the author's name is part of the text, then use this form: Rice (1989:167) comments ...” (“Style Sheet,” Language)


What do I cite?

• Quotations? • Common knowledge?• Graphics, charts, tables?• Your original ideas?• Your original research

(e.g., surveys, experiments)?

• Paraphrases of others’ ideas?

YESNO

YES

NO

NO

YES


Tips for Quoting & Paraphrasing

• Quote accurately! • Paraphrase correctly; do not

use the structure or language of the original– Pretend to explain the source

to someone else– Summarize the source

without looking at it– If it’s too hard to paraphrase,

then quote!– Don’t just replace a word

here and there using a thesaurus!


Correct ParaphrasingSource:• “Currently, the two language

varieties employed by GCs [Greek-Cypriots] in their daily interactions are Standard Modern Greek (SMG) and the Greek-Cypriot Dialect (GCD). SMG is the official and prestigious language variety that is learnt through schooling and employed in formal environments and in writing” (Papapavlou & Sophocleous, 2009).

Paraphrase: Which is better?• Greek-Cypriots speak both

Standard Modern Greek and the Greek-Cypriot dialect; the former is considered higher prestige and formality level.

• The two language varieties used by Greek-Cypriots in their daily life are Standard Modern Greek and the Greek-Cypriot dialect. Standard Modern Greek is more prestigious and official.


What do faculty do if they think someone has plagiarized?

• TurnItIn.com• Google/Google Scholar• Wikipedia• Linguistics databases


References• “Acknowledging sources.” 2005. University of Texas at Arlington Web site.

http://library.uta.edu/tutorials/Plagiarism/• Introna, Lucas, Niall Hayes, Lynne Blair & Elspeth Wood. 2003. Cultural

attitudes towards plagiarism: Developing a better understanding of the needs of students from diverse cultural backgrounds relating to issues of plagiarism. Lancaster University. http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/images/bin/lancsplagiarismreport.pdf

• Linguistic Society of America. 2009. Ethics statement. http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Ethics_Statement.pdf

• Papapavlou, Andreas & Andry Sophocleous. 2009. Relational social deixis and the linguistic construction of identity. International Journal of Multilingualism 6.1-16.

• World Intellectual Property Organization. (n.d.). What is intellectual property? http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/

http://library.uta.edu/tutorials/Plagiarism/

http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/images/bin/lancsplagiarismreport.pdf

http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Ethics_Statement.pdf

http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/

acknowledging sources

Education