How to Avoid Plagiarizing Internet Works

Because the Internet provides such an accessible source of information for essays, it's easy to plagiarize from them if you aren't careful with your research and prewriting. Approaching Internet sources methodically can help you avoid plagiarism while getting more from your sources.

Instructions

1. Copy the entire source into a word processing document, or save a copy of a PDF file to your computer. Record a full citation when you copy the source. Though it's best to record the citation in whatever style you're writing, such as APA or MLA, you can also just record the name of the author, the date of publication, the title, the URL and the date you accessed the source for now.

2. Read the entire source. Write one or two sentences that summarize the information. Present the ideas of the source rather than writing, "This source talks about . . ." This summary helps you understand the source so you're less tempted to paste sections of it into your essay.

3. Look for potential quotes and paraphrases in the source, reading it again to find them. If the exact words of a passage are important, you may want to quote it. You can paraphrase the passage if the ideas are important but not the exact words.

4. Highlight in one color any passage that you think would be a good quote for your essay. Highlight areas that you think are good paraphrases in another color. You may not use all of these passages, but this step helps you narrow down your choices.

5. Paste all of the potential quotes from the source into a new document. When you copy the quotes, place each one in quotation marks so you remember that it's a quote. After the quote, include the type of citation the essay requires for quotations. Double-check the quotes to make sure you enclose each in quotation marks and to make sure each has a full citation.

6. Copy all the passages you may want to paraphrase into a new document, or into the document in which you've listed your quotes. Create paraphrases for those passages. You can return to the other ones later if you copied many passages.

7. Insert the quotes and paraphrases at appropriate places in your essay, making sure that you include the quotation marks for your quotes and correct citations for all of the material from the Internet source.

Tips & Warnings

• For a long Internet article, you may want to summarize sections instead of creating a single summary for the whole source.

• Use an attribution phrase, such as "According to Smith," when you create your paraphrases. Attribution phrases remind you that you're not presenting your own ideas, making it easier for you to avoid plagiarism.

• Always check summaries and paraphrases against the original to make sure you haven't accidentally used the author's words or sentence structure. If you can't paraphrase a certain important phrase or word, place it in quotes and cite it as a quotation to avoid plagiarism.

• Many schools use plagiarism detection software to locate Internet plagiarism. Never use Internet sources without proper attribution because the consequences of plagiarism can be severe.