Now that you are beginning to write sections of your paper, it’s important to document your research correctly to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious violation of the Honor Code, and you should consult the Honor Council website (particularly the PDF on proper acknowledgement of sources) for a full discussion of this issue.

When documenting your research in this paper, please use the Chicago Manual of Style. You may use either the “Notes and Bibliography” system or the “Author-Date” system, but pick one and use it consistently throughout the paper. Consult this convenient quick citation guide for information on how to use either system, or email me if you have any questions. We will talk more about these systems in class today.

When reviewing your work, you may also find helpful this Checklist of Common Errors (PDF) prepared by English professor David Gullette of Simmons College. It contains some helpful questions about documentation and plagiarism that you can ask of your paper:

1. If I have used language from some other writer, have I put the language verbatim (the actual words as they appear in the source) into quotation marks?

2. If I have used an idea from some other writer or lecturer, but have paraphrased the borrowed idea in my own words, have I still acknowledged the author of the idea by name? (E.g.: “Virginia Woolf feels, as I do, that every woman needs a room of her own.”)

3. Have I identified the author of borrowed language or ideas in the body of my text? (E.g.: “As Virginia Woolf expresses it in A Room of ONe’s Own, ‘Every women has this right.'”)

4. Have I remembered that using someone else’s words and/or ideas in my writing without signaling that they’re borrowed constitutes plagiarism, a serious violation of the Honor Code?

5. If I have borrowed idea or language from another writer, have I documented the source of the borrowing by using footnotes or endnotes that give the author’s name, the book/article title, publication date & place, and page number?

In addition to these questions, consider this general rule of thumb: When in doubt, cite!