COMM 109 - Speech Communication - Rodriguez-Rentas: Citing and Plagiarism

You will be using APA format for your bibliography

When you are ready to cite the sources you have used for your research, visit the library's homepage to find sources that will help you cite in APA format. It will offer example citations for the most common source types.  

Even if you use a citation maker (EasyBib, NoodleTools etc) you must still check your citations again the APA guide to make sure they are 100% correct.

If you need help, ask a librarian or submit your question to Ask us anything!

You will be preparing an APA formatted Bibliography of all the sources used to prepare your speech.

APA examples:

Chapter in an electronic book (*do not add period after URL or DOI)

Bilotta, E., & Evans, G. W. (2012). Environmental stress. In L. Steg, A. van den Berg, J. de Groot (Eds.), Environmental psychology: An introduction (pp. 28-35). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sunywcc.edu/login:2663/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=888149

Print Book

Bradshaw, J. (2013). The behaviour of the domestic cat. Boston: CABI International.

The tutorials above will help answer the most common questions about APA 7th ed format. 

*Click SHOW MORE below the video to skip to the citation format type you need to cite.

Plagiarism occurs when you use another person's verbal or written words or text in your own work without appropriately documenting the source of the borrowed words or text. The borrowed text could come from a variety of places, such as a book, a newspaper, a magazine, a website, or even another student's paper.

The WCC Student Code of Conduct: states:

A. Academic Dishonesty

Engaging in academic dishonesty in any form with respect to examinations, course assignments, research projects, grades, and/or academic records is prohibited, including, but not limited to the following:

1. Cheating - using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic assignment. Examples of cheating are: looking on someone else’s paper; using any kind of “cheat” sheet or other enhancement during a test; allowing someone else to take an exam in your place; submitting the same work more than once for credit; using someone else’s homework or lab assignments; collaborating with another student on any assignment or take-home test if told that collaboration was not allowed; assisting another student in committing an act of academic dishonesty by allowing another student to copy homework or an exam; taking an exam for someone else; or giving test information to students in other sections of the same class.
2. Falsification - intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic assignment. Examples of falsification are: making up data on an assignment; making up a source to cite in a paper; altering then resubmitting returned academic work; giving false information to a faculty or staff member to increase one’s grade; or attempting to change, actually changing, altering grades or any other unauthorized tampering with grades.
3. Plagiarism - deliberate and knowing use of someone else’s work or ideas as one’s own. Examples of plagiarism are: quoting a source verbatim, or paraphrasing text from a given source, without properly citing the source; turning in a research paper that was written by someone else; or in any other way passing off someone else’s work as one’s own; or failing to give credit for ideas or materials taken from someone else.

Note:  The guidelines that define plagiarism also apply to information secured on internet websites.  Internet references must specify precisely where the information was obtained and where it can be found.

You may think that citing another author’s work will lower your grade.  In some unusual cases this may be true, if your instructor has indicated that you must write your paper without reading additional material.  But in fact, as you progress in your studies, you will be expected to show that you are familiar with important work in your field and can use this work to further your thinking.  Your professors write this kind of paper all the time.  The key to avoiding plagiarism is that you show clearly where your own thinking ends and someone else’s begins.

No matter where the text comes from, it must be documented accurately. Accurate documentation means that you must follow the MLA (Modern Language Association) or APA (American Psychological Association) rules for documentation.