One way to avoid unintentional plagiarizing
is by learning to use style manuals properly. These style guides are
guidelines for how to cite books, articles, web pages, and other items
that you quote or paraphrase from in your research papers. Guides are
very confusing to use because there are so many examples of what
citations should look like depending on what kind of item you are
citing. In addition, many guides are written for graduate and doctoral
students who are writing different kinds of research papers than
undergraduates, so there is advice that does not pertain to every
research paper. Be patient, utilize the guide's index, and ask a
librarian if you become too frustrated!
One key thing to note when you are looking at examples in style
guides is whether an example in the guide is for the bibliography or "works
cited" list or for a footnote, endnote, or in-text note.
Your instructor will tell you what style guide to use for a
particular research paper. For a list of the different style guides,
consult the Online Writing Guide's page on
Style Guides. |
Books with one
author:
