Program / Course 23: Research Methodology / Lesson 1.5
What you will learn
- Define plagiarism and list its common forms, including the accidental ones.
- Tell quotation, paraphrase and summary apart and use each correctly.
- Decide what counts as common knowledge and what must be cited.
- Explain why integrity in using sources is a matter of truthfulness as well as of rules.
The big idea
Academic integrity means telling the truth about where your words, facts and ideas came from. Plagiarism is presenting another person’s words or ideas as your own, whether on purpose or by carelessness. Quotation uses the exact words inside quotation marks with a citation. Paraphrase and summary restate an idea in your own words and still need a citation. The rule is simple: anything that did not originate with you, and is not common knowledge, must be credited to its source.
Key terms
- Plagiarism
- Using another person’s words, ideas or work without giving credit, so that they appear to be your own.
- Quotation
- The exact words of a source, placed in quotation marks (or set off as a block quotation) and cited.
- Paraphrase
- A restatement of a passage in your own words and structure. It must be cited because the idea is not yours.
- Summary
- A brief statement of the main points of a longer work, in your own words, with a citation.
- Common knowledge
- Facts that an educated reader would know or find in many general sources without dispute, such as the year of the Council of Nicaea. Judgment is needed.
- Patchwriting
- Altering a source’s sentences by swapping a few words or rearranging phrases while keeping its structure. It counts as plagiarism even when a citation is given, unless quoted.
- Self-plagiarism
- Reusing your own earlier work without saying so, where the context expects new work.
- Fabrication
- Inventing a source, a quotation or a fact. It is a more serious offense than careless citation.
Background
Scholarship is a shared enterprise built on trust. A reader who sees a footnote assumes that the source says what the writer claims. A scholar who reads a paper assumes that the ideas not footnoted are the author’s own. If these assumptions are false, the whole structure weakens. That is why universities treat plagiarism seriously, and why serious writers outside universities do as well.
Plagiarism takes several forms. The plainest is copying a passage word for word without quotation marks. Others are less obvious: paraphrasing a source closely without citing it, taking an argument or a distinctive idea from a scholar without crediting it, citing a source for one sentence and then borrowing three paragraphs, using a translation of an ancient text as though it were your own, and using text produced by someone else, or by software, without disclosing it. Fabrication, such as inventing a quotation or a page number, is a separate and graver fault.
The Christian tradition has strong reasons to care. The commandment against bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16) and Paul’s call to put away lying and speak truth (Ephesians 4:25) apply to scholarship as they do to ordinary speech. At the same time, integrity is not a matter of religion alone. Writers of every belief accept the same rule, because without it no reader could trust a footnote.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Decide when to quote
Quote when the exact words matter: a definition, a disputed phrase, a striking sentence that you plan to analyze, or evidence where the wording is the point. Quote also when the passage is so well put that a paraphrase would lose something.
Keep quotations short. Put them in quotation marks and add a note. For a long quotation (the Chicago style treats about five lines or more as long), use a block quotation without quotation marks, and still add a note. Always introduce a quotation and comment on it. A quotation does not explain itself.
Step 2: Paraphrase well
A paraphrase uses your own words and your own sentence structure. Read the passage, close the book, say the idea aloud, write it, and check for accuracy. If your sentence still follows the original phrase by phrase, you have patchwritten, and need either to quote or to rewrite.
A paraphrase is still the source’s idea. It needs a citation. Many beginners believe that changing the words removes the need to credit, and this is the commonest mistake.
Step 3: Cite what is not common knowledge
Facts that any educated reader would accept without checking, such as the date of the Council of Nicaea, need no note. But statistics, disputed claims, specific interpretations, another scholar’s argument and anything you had to look up usually do need one.
A good test is to ask whether a reader would want to check it. If in doubt, cite. Over-citing is a lesser fault than under-citing.
Step 4: Credit ideas, not only words
If a scholar’s article gave you the insight that organizes a section, say so: ‘As Smith argues,’ or ‘This reading follows Smith.’ Ideas can be borrowed with credit. They cannot be borrowed in silence.
Where your view differs from a source, say that too. The reader needs to know which parts are borrowed, which are disputed and which are your own.
Step 5: Be honest about translation, tools and help
Name the translator or edition of any ancient text you quote. If you translate a passage yourself, say so. If you used a translation program or an AI tool, you must not present its output as your own work or as an independent source, and you should check any claim it gives against the real source, since such tools can produce invented citations.
If a friend or reader improved your draft, a short note of thanks is proper. Their ideas should not pass as yours.
- Are these words mine, or did I take them from somewhere?
- If a reader compared my sentence to the source, would they see the same structure?
- Would an educated reader need a note to believe this fact?
- Whose idea shaped this paragraph, and does the paper say so?
- Have I checked that every quotation is exact and every page number real?
- Would I be comfortable if the author of this source read my paper?
Examples
Plain copying
A student pastes two sentences from a website into her paper with no marks and no note. This is plagiarism of words. (A constructed example.)
Close paraphrase without credit
A student reads a historian’s sentence, ‘The council settled the matter in a way that pleased no one fully,’ and writes, ‘The council resolved the issue so as to satisfy nobody completely.’ The structure is unchanged and no source is named. This is patchwriting and plagiarism. (A constructed example.)
Proper paraphrase
The same student writes, ‘According to Smith, the council’s compromise left both parties partly dissatisfied,’ and adds a footnote. The idea is credited and the wording is her own. (A constructed example.)
Common knowledge versus cited fact
That the Council of Nicaea met in 325 is widely known and needs no note. That its attendance was exactly some specific number is disputed in the sources and should be cited to a scholar who discusses the figures.
Different perspectives
Academic institutions
Universities and professional associations of historians treat plagiarism as a serious breach and expect writers to credit ideas as well as words. Most distinguish between careless citation, which is a fault to be corrected, and deliberate deception, which is a grave offense. Individual rules vary, so a student working inside any institution should read its policy.
Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant ethics
All three traditions teach that lying and false witness are sins, and apply the commandment to written as well as spoken testimony. They differ in how they develop moral theology, but none treats copying another’s work and claiming it as one’s own as acceptable.
Ancient and medieval practice
Writers in earlier centuries had different habits. Ancient authors often borrowed from their predecessors without footnotes, and some works circulated under borrowed names. Modern researchers therefore have to be careful not to judge the ancients by present rules, while keeping to present rules in their own writing. The modern standard of citation developed gradually.
Fair use and law
Copyright law and academic honesty are related but distinct. Quoting a short passage with credit is usually within fair use or fair dealing, but copyright limits how much can be reproduced, and laws differ by country. Many ancient works and translations are in the public domain, while modern translations and commentaries are often protected.
Why it matters
Integrity is the foundation of everything else in this course. A beautiful argument built on borrowed words is a false witness, and a footnote that does not match its source misleads every later reader. Habits learned here also apply well beyond school: in preaching, teaching, blogging and any speech that depends on other people’s work.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Changing a few words makes it my own.
Correction: A rewrite that follows the original’s structure is still the original’s expression, and the idea is still its author’s. Either quote it, or restate it fully in your own words and cite it.
Misunderstanding: If I cite the source once, I can borrow freely afterward.
Correction: Every borrowed passage needs its own indication. A single note at the start of a long borrowed section does not tell the reader where the borrowing ends.
Misunderstanding: Plagiarism only matters if I am caught.
Correction: It is a wrong against the author and the reader whether noticed or not. Integrity concerns truthfulness, not only penalties.
Misunderstanding: Old texts and public domain works need no credit.
Correction: Public domain means no legal restriction on copying. It does not remove the duty to say whose words and which edition or translation you used. A modern translation also reflects the translator’s work.
Misunderstanding: Using a tool’s output frees me from checking it.
Correction: Automatic tools can invent quotations and references. Anything you use must be verified against the real source and described honestly.
Knowledge check
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is presenting another person’s words or ideas as your own. It includes copying without quotation marks, paraphrasing without credit, patchwriting that follows a source’s structure, and borrowing an argument without acknowledging it. It can be careless as well as deliberate, but in each case the reader is misled about who wrote or thought what.
When should you quote instead of paraphrase?
Quote when the exact wording matters: a definition, a disputed phrase, a passage you will analyze closely, or a sentence so well put that paraphrase would lose something. Otherwise paraphrase, since a paper of long quotations says little of its own. Quotations must be exact, in quotation marks or block form, and cited.
Does a paraphrase need a citation?
Yes. A paraphrase restates someone else’s idea in your words, so the idea still belongs to its source. Without a citation the reader will think the idea is yours. A good paraphrase changes both the words and the structure, and still gives credit.
How can you decide whether something is common knowledge?
Ask whether an educated reader would know it or find it in many general sources without dispute. The date of a major council usually is. A disputed figure, an interpretation or a statistic usually is not. If you had to look it up or if it is contested, cite it. When unsure, cite.
Think it through
- Have you ever used someone’s idea without saying so? What did you tell yourself at the time?
- Why might an ancient author’s borrowing without footnotes not be plagiarism, while the same practice by a modern student is?
- How does the commandment against false witness apply to a footnote?
- What rules about sources does your own church, school or workplace expect?
Independent assignment
Quote, paraphrase, summarize
In your own notebook, choose a paragraph from one of the sources listed in this lesson’s further reading. Write the three versions, each about 100 words or less: a quotation set up with a short introduction and a note, a paraphrase in your own words with a note, and a one-sentence summary with a note. Then write 150 words on how you would explain to a friend why each needs a note. Use bracketed placeholders for page numbers if needed. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Fallacies Read to see how misrepresenting a source or an opponent’s view can become a fallacy as well as a breach of integrity.
- J. B. Lightfoot, ed., The Apostolic Fathers Practice quoting and paraphrasing a short passage, and identify the translator and edition.
- Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 volumes) Notice how the author credits other scholars and names primary sources for his claims.
- Exodus 20:16 The commandment against false witness.
- Ephesians 4:25 Putting away lying and speaking truth.
- Proverbs 12:15 The wise listen to counsel.