ETHICAL USE OF

INFORMATION

Learning to Use and

Create References

LV Rogers Secondary School, Nelson, BC 09/2008

Right or wrong?
• A person in your gym class fails to
close his or her locker properly. You
help yourself to their scientific
calculator because you can’t afford
one and they were stupid enough not
to lock their locker.
Right or wrong?
• You find a pair of Bomber sweats in
the weight room. Someone took yours
last year, so you take this pair. Now
you’re even.
Right or wrong?
• You get an essay back from a teacher,
and you’ve got a good mark. Someone
in the class who hasn’t done theirs yet
asks you for it. You let them have it
because you don’t want to look like a
geek, and anyway, you’re not the one
who is cheating.
Right or wrong?
• You are researching a project on
World War I. You get lots of
information from the online
encyclopedia and the Internet. You cut
and paste it into a great essay,
complete with photographs. You do
not say where you got your information
from, because you want the teacher to
think they were all your ideas.
Stealing is wrong

Whether you take an object,

an idea or someone’s work.
Plagiarism is theft
• Plagiarism is using the ideas and
writings of others and representing
them as your own. Taking the work,
skills and ideas of another person and
pretending they are your own is
intellectual theft. It is wrong.
• Fortunately, there are ways of doing
research that will allow you to avoid
committing plagiarism.
Why do people plagiarize?
• Not knowing any better
• Pressure/ competition
• Lack of confidence
• Work perceived as too hard
• Lack of consequences
• Boredom/ lack of interest/ laziness
• Arrogance
Avoiding plagiarism
• Taking good notes and keeping track
of your sources will help you avoid
plagiarism.
• Here are three ways to use the
information you find while you’re
researching:
• Summarizing.
• Paraphrasing.
• Quoting directly.
Summarizing
Like paraphrase, a summary records
information in different words but much
more briefly
You write a general statement of the
author’s content or position
Be sure each page has a heading and
reference to the source you used for your
parenthetical reference and bibliography
YOU STILL NEED TO CITE YOUR
SOURCE!
Paraphrasing
• Translates all of the content into
different words
• Helps you understand the material
• Records the author’s reasoning and
details
• This is time consuming so be sure
the information you paraphrase is
relevant
• YOU STILL NEED TO CITE THIS AS
A SOURCE!
Direct Quotations
• Records the source’s exact words
• Use only when the author’s wording
makes a point extraordinarily vivid,
concise or imaginative
• Too much can be time consuming,
awkward, and interfere with your
really understanding the material
Steps to taking good notes
• As you examine each source, make
separate notes of each fact , point
of view or quotation you might want
to use in your essay.
• Be sure to use a method that best
suits your style but be above all be
ORGANIZED in how you keep your
notes
Note taking Examples
• Your package includes some
examples of note taking forms
• Use any model you feel comfortable
with or create your own
• Your teachers may ask you to hand
these in with your essays
Document everything
• Be sure to identify the source of the
information on the note taking
worksheet .
• Include the author's name, book
title, web site, magazine name,
article title, page number, etc. to
identify the source of the
information.
Creating a Reference List
• Tip:
Record your
sources as you go!
Mr. Yasinchuk has
sheets to help with
this.
Books
• Author’s name, last name first. Use
initials only for first and middle name.
Follow by a period and a space.
• Date of publication in brackets,
followed by a period and a space.
• Title of book in italics followed by a
period and a space.
• City, colon, name of publisher, period.
How it looks…
• Gough, B. (1997). First across the
continent: Sir Alexander
MacKenzie. Toronto: McLellan &
Stewart.
Encyclopedia
• Author of article (see end of article).
• Year in brackets period space.
• Title of article period space.
• In name of encyclopedia (in italics) no
punctuation
• Volume and page number in brackets,
period space.
• City: publisher.
How it looks…

• Stevens, C. F. (2000). Nervous

system. In World Book Encyclopedia
(Vol. 14, pp. 132- 136). Chicago:
World Book Inc.
Websites
• Author’s name, period, space. (Omit if
there is no author given.)
• Date of site creation in brackets,
followed by a period, space.
• Title of page in italics, period, space.
• Retrieved (date) from (url) no period
How it looks…
• Schrock, K. (1995, June 1). Kathy
Schrock's Guide for Educators. Retrieved
December 11, 2004, from

http://school.discovery.com/schrock_guid
e/

• GVU’s 8th www user survey. (n.d.).

Retrieved August 8, 2005, from
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_
surveys/survey=1997-10/
 Tip

• The less reference information you can

find on a website, the less reliable its
other information tends to be.
Databases (Infotrac)
• Author’s name, period, space. (Omit if there
is no author given.)
• Date article written in brackets period space.
• Title of article period space.
• Name of journal in italics comma volume
number in italics comma page number
period.
• Retrieved (date) from (name of database)
period.
How it looks…
• Siegel, M. K. (Nov 28, 2005). Afraid of
the Bird Flu? The Worse Virus Is Fear:
A pandemic that isn't even here is
driving my patients crazy. Fortune, 152,
61. Retrieved November 28, 2005, from
InfoTrac database.
Putting References Together
• Sort references in alphabetical order.
• Use a “hanging indent” – that is, indent
the second and any subsequent lines.
• Copy the title exactly.
How it looks…
• Gough, B. (1997). First across the continent: Sir Alexander
MacKenzie. Toronto: McLellan & Stewart.

• GVU’s 8th www user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2000, from
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey=1997-10/

• Schrock, K. (1995, June 1). Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators.

Retrieved December 11, 2003, from http://
school.discovery.com/schrockguide/

• Siegel, M. K. (Nov 28, 2005). Afraid of the Bird Flu? The Worse
Virus Is Fear: A pandemic that isn't even here is driving my
patients crazy. Fortune, 152, 61. Retrieved November 28, 2005, from
InfoTrac database.

• Stevens, C. F. (2000). Nervous system. In World Book

Encyclopedia (Vol. 14, pp. 132-136). Chicago: World Book Inc.
Where to Get More Information
• As you can see, there are special
formats for each type of source:
magazines, newspaper articles, films,
personal conversations, etc.
• Your librarian has sheets on how to
prepare a good reference list no matter
what sources you use.
Good luck with your next
research paper!
References

• Misser, E. (n.d.). How to use

sources and avoid plagiarism.
Retrieved December 9, 2003, from
http://www.wlu.ca/writing/handouts/usesourc
• Preate, S. (2002). Internet plagiarism.
Presentation at the Cortland Jr. Sr.
High School Professional
Development Day, Syracuse, New
York.
Your Assignment
1. Choose a topic and locate TWO
electronic sources; and
2. Locate TWO non-electronic sources
3. Create a completed Works Cited
page using MLA style
4. Save it and email it to me (in the
subject line type your name/Works
Cited Assignment) at
jyasinchuk@sd8.bc.ca