How to Avoid Plagiarism:
Citing Quotations
Quoting involves using exact words, phrases and sentences from
a source, setting them off with quotation marks, and citing where the
information was taken from.
Below is a passage taken from Leslie Berestein's article "Healthy or
Not, the Hookah Habit is Hot," which appeared in the Janurary 27, 2003
issue of Time magazine, volume 161, issue 4.
For centuries, men in the Middle East have gathered around hookahs
to puff fruit-scented smoke, talk and pass the time. In the West, however,
the water pipe became synonymous with drug culture in the 1960s, an association
that lingers. But in the past couple of years, the hookah has been resurrected
in youth-oriented coffeehouses, restaurants and bars, supplanting the
cigar as the tobacco fad of the moment.
Here is an example of what would be considered plagiarism
of this passage:
Example #1
Men in the Mid East have used hookahs to puff smoke for centuries.
The "hookah" has been resurrected today in coffeehouses, restaurants and
bars "supplanting the cigar as the tobacco fad of the moment."
Reason why Example #1 is plagiarism:
Notice the writer of this passage liberally borrows words, phrases and parts
of sentences from the Berestein passage (even quoting parts) but gives no
indication of where the information came from. Even if the Berestein book
is cited at the end of the paper in the bibliography, there is no indication
that this particular passage came from the book. This information
has been stolen or plagiarized from Berestein.
Here are some examples of what would be considered acceptable
quotations from this passage:
Example #2
According to Leslie Berestein (2003), the Middle Eastern water
pipe known as the hookah recently "has been resurrected in youth-oriented
coffeehouses, restaurants and bars, supplanting the cigar as the tobacco fad of
the moment" (p. 10).
Reason why Example #2 is acceptable:
The writer uses American Psychological Association (APA) style to cite
the author Berestein by introducing the quotation with the phrase
"According to Berestein". The (10) at the end of the quoted
passage indicates the page number from which the quote was taken in the
Berestein book. A reference list at the end of your paper would list the
complete citation for the Berestein book.
Example #3
The Middle Eastern water pipe known as the hookah has recently
"been resurrected in youth-oriented coffeehouses, restaurants and bars,
supplanting the cigar as the tobacco fad of the moment" (Berestein 10).
Reason why Example #3 is acceptable:
In this example, the writer cites the source using the Modern Language
Associaton (MLA) style, with the author's name and page number cited at
the end of the quote.
Example #4
The Middle Eastern water pipe known as the hookah recently "has
been resurrected in youth-oriented coffeehouses, restaurants and bars,
supplanting the cigar as the tobacco fad of the moment."1
Reason why Example #4 is acceptable:
Here, the writer uses Turabian style to reference the author, by marking
the cited source with a footnote/endnote number. A footnote or endnote
will appear later in the paper (either at the bottom of the page or the
end of the paper) containing the complete citation for the author, including
the page number.
Notice that in each of these examples, the writer quotes Berestein's
words exactly as it was given within the sentence. Whenever you
quote someone else's words, you have to write them exactly as they originally
appear.
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