CHAPTER 1.

3, AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

1. Degrees of plagiarism
Working with a partner, consider the following academic situations and decide if
they are plagiarism.

Situation Yes/No
1 Copying a paragraph, but changing a few words and giving a citation.
2 Cutting and pasting a short article from a website, with no citation.
3 Taking two paragraphs from a classmate’s essay, without citation.
4 Taking a graph from a textbook, giving the source.
Taking a quotation from a source, giving a citation but not using
5
quotation marks.
Using something that you think of as general knowledge, e.g.
6
large areas of rainforest have been cut down in recent years.
Using a paragraph from an essay you wrote and had marked the previous
7
semester, without citation.
Using the results of your own research, e.g. from a survey, without
8
citation.
Discussing an essay topic with a group of classmates and using
9
some of their ideas in your own work.
1 Giving a citation for some information but mis-spelling the
0 author’s name.

2. Avoiding plagiarism by summarising and paraphrasing

Read the following text and then compare the five paragraphs below, which use
ideas and information from it. Decide which are plagiarized and which are
acceptable, and give your reasons in the table.

RAILWAY MANIAS

In 1830 there were a few dozen miles of railways in all the world – chiefly consisting of
the line from Liverpool to Manchester. By 1840 there were over 4,500 miles, by 1850
over 23,500. Most of them were projected in a few bursts of speculative frenzy known as
the ‘railway manias’ of 1835–7 and especially in 1844–7; most of them were built in
large part with British capital, British iron, machines and know-how. These investment
booms appear irrational, because in fact few railways were much more profitable to the
investor than other forms of enterprise, most yielded quite modest profits and many none
at all: in 1855 the average interest on capital sunk in the British railways was a mere 3.7
per cent.

(From The Age of Revolutionby Eric Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 45)

 (a) Between 1830 and 1850 there was very rapid development in railway
construction worldwide. Two periods of especially feverish growth were 1835–
7 and 1844–7. It is hard to understand the reason for this intense activity, since
railways were not particularly profitable investments and some produced no
return at all. (Hobsbawm, 1995: 45)

(b) There were only a few dozen miles of railways in 1830, including the Liverpool
to Manchester line. But by 1840 there were over 4,500 miles and over 23,500
by 1850. Most of them were built in large part with British capital, British iron,
machines and know-how, and most of them were projected in a few bursts of
speculative frenzy known as the ‘railway manias’ of 1835–7 and especially in
1844–7. Because most yielded quite modest profits and many none at all these
investment booms appear irrational. In fact few railways were much more
profitable to the investor than other forms of enterprise. (Hobsbawm, 1995: 45)

(c) As Hobsbawm (1995) argues, nineteenth-century railway mania was partly

irrational: ‘because in fact few railways were much more profitable to the
investor than other forms of enterprise, most yielded quite modest profits and
many none at all: in 1855 the average interest on capital sunk in the British
railways was a mere 3.7 per cent.’ (Hobsbawm, 1995: 45)

(d) Globally, railway networks increased dramatically from 1830 to 1850; the
majority in short periods of ‘mania’ (1835–7 and 1844–7). British technology
and capital were responsible for much of this growth, yet the returns on the
investment were hardly any better than comparable business opportunities.
(Hobsbawm, 1895: 45)

(e) The dramatic growth of railways between 1830 and 1850 was largely achieved
using British technology. However, it has been claimed that much of this
development was irrational because few railways were much more profitable to
the investor than other forms of enterprise; most yielded quite modest profits
and many none at all.

Plagiarized or acceptable?
a
b
c
d
e
 3. Avoiding plagiarism by developing good study habits
Working with a partner, add to the list of positive habits.
 Plan your work carefully so you don’t have to write the essay at the last minute.
 Take care to make notes in your own words, not copying from the source.
 Keep a record of all the sources you use (e.g. author, date, title, page numbers,
publisher).
 Make sure your in-text citations are all included in the list of references.
 _
 _

CHAPTER 1.6, PARAPHRASING

1. Practice A
Read the text below and then evaluate the three paraphrases (1=best), giving
reasons.

THE CAUSES OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Allen (2009) argues that the best explanation for the British location of the industrial
revolution is found by studying demand factors. By the early eighteenth century high
wages and cheap energy were both features of the British economy. Consequently, the
mechanisation of industry through such inventions as the steam engine and mechanical
spinning was profitable because employers were able to economise on labour by
spending on coal. At that time, no other country had this particular combination of
expensive labour and abundant fuel.

(a) A focus on demand may help to explain the UK origin of the industrial
revolution. At that time workers’ pay was high, but energy from coal was
inexpensive. This encouraged the development of mechanical inventions based
on steam power, which enabled bosses to save money by mechanizing
production (Allen, 2009).

(b) The reason why Britain was the birthplace of the industrial revolution can be
understood by analysing demand in the early 1700s, according to Allen (2009).
He maintains that, uniquely, Britain had the critical combination of cheap
energy from coal and high labour costs. This encouraged the adoption of steam
power to mechanise production, thus saving on wages and increasing
profitability.
 (c) Allen (2009) claims that the clearest explanation for the UK location of the
industrial revolution is seen by examining demand factors. By the eighteenth
century cheap energy and high wages were both aspects of the British economy.
As a result, the mechanisation of industry through inventions such as the steam
engine and mechanical spinning was profitable because employers were able to
save money on employees by spending on coal. At that time, Britain was the
only country with significant deposits of coal.

a
b
c

2. Practice B
Read the following text and then practise the techniques illustrated above.

FOUR WHEELS GOOD

The growth of the car industry parallels the development ofmodern capitalism. It began
in France and Germany, but took off in the United States. There Henry Ford adapted the
moving production line from the Chicago meat industry to motor manufacturing, thus
inventing mass production. In the 1920s Alfred Sloan’s management theories helped
General Motors to become the world’s dominant car company. After the second world
war the car makers focused on the styling of their products to encourage more frequent
model changes. From the 1970s there was criticism of the industry due to the
inefficiency of most vehicles, which used petrol wastefully. At the same time, trades
unions became increasingly militant in defence of their members’ jobs. Today the
industry owns some of the most famous brands in the world. However, many car makers
are currently threatened by increased competition and saturated markets.

(a) Find synonyms for the words underlined.

(i) The growth of the car industry parallels the development of modern capitalism.

Example: The rise of the automobile industry matches the progress of contemporary
capitalism.

(ii) It began in France and Germany, but took off in the United States.

(iii) There Henry Ford adapted the moving production line from the Chicago meat
industry to motor manufacturing, thus inventing mass production.

(b) Change the word class of the underlined words, and then re-write the sentences.
(i) In the 1920s Alfred Sloan’s management theories helped General Motors to become the
world’s dominant car company.

Example: In the 1920s, with help from the managerial theories of Alfred Sloan, General
Motors dominated the world’s car companies.

(ii) After the second world war the car makers focused on the styling of their products, to
encourage more frequent model changes.

(iii) From the 1970s there was criticism of the industry due to the inefficiency of most
vehicles, which used petrol wastefully.

(c) Change the word order of the following sentences (other changes may be
needed).

(i) At the same time, trades unions became increasingly militant in defence of their
members’ jobs.

Example: At the same time increasingly militant trades unions defended their members’
jobs.

(ii) Today the industry owns some of the most famous brands in the world.

(iii) However, many car makers are currently threatened by increased competition and
saturated markets.

(d) Combine all these techniques to paraphrase the paragraph as fully as possible.

3. Practice C

THE PAST BELOW THE WAVES

More than three million shipwrecks are believed to lie on the seabed, the result of storms
and accidents during thousands of years of sea-borne trading. These wrecks offer marine
archaeologists valuable information about the culture, technology and trade patterns of
ancient civilisations, but the vast majority have been too deep to research. Scuba divers
can only operate down to 50 metres, which limits operations to wrecks near the coast,
which have often been damaged by storms or plant growth. A few deep sea sites (such as
 the Titanic) have been explored by manned submarines, but this kind of equipment has
been too expensive for less famous subjects. However, this situation has been changed by
the introduction of a new kind of mini submarine: the automatic underwater vehicle
(AUV). This cheap, small craft is free moving and does not need an expensive mother-
ship to control it. Now a team of American archaeologists are planning to use an AUV to
explore an area of sea north of Egypt which was the approach to a major trading port
4,000 years ago.

CHAPTER 1.7, SUMMARY

1. What makes a good summary?

Write a summary of one of the topics below in no more than 20 words.
(a) One of your parents
(b) A town or city you know well
(c) A film you have recently watched

Compare your summary with others in your class. What is needed for a
good summary?

2. Stages of summarizing
Study the stages of summary writing below, which have been mixed up. Put them in
the correct order.
(a) Write the summary from your notes, re-organising the structure if needed.
(b) Make notes of the key points, paraphrasing where possible.
(c) Read the original text carefully and check any new or difficult vocabulary.
(d) Mark the key points by underlining or highlighting.
(e) Check the summary to ensure it is accurate and nothing important has been
changed or lost.
3. Practice A
Read the following text (3.1) and the summaries (a)–(c). Rate them 1 (best) – 3.
 MECHANICAL PICKERS

Although harvesting cereal crops such as wheat and barley has long been done by large
machines known as combine harvesters, mechanising the picking of fruit crops such as
tomatoes or apples has proved more difficult. Farmers have generally relied on human
labour to harvest these, but in wealthy countries it has become increasingly difficult to
find pickers willing to work for the wages farmers are able to pay. This is partly because
the demand for labour is seasonal, usually in the autumn, and also because the work is
hard and demanding. As a result, in areas such as California part of the fruit harvest is
often unpicked and left to rot. There are several obvious reasons why developing
mechanical pickers is challenging. Fruit such as grapes or strawberries comes in a variety
of shapes and does not always ripen at the same time. Outdoors, the ground conditions
can vary from dry to muddy, and winds may move branches around. Clearly each crop
requires its own solution: machines may be towed through orchards by tractors or move
around by themselves using sensors to detect the ripest fruit. This new generation of fruit
harvesters is possible due to advances in computing power and sensing ability. Such
devices will inevitably be expensive, but will save farmers from the complexities of
managing a labour force. In addition, the more intelligent pickers should be able to
develop a database of information on the health of each individual plant, enabling the
grower to provide it with fertilizer and water to maintain its maximum productivity.

(a) Fruit crops have usually been picked by hand, as it is difficult to mechanise the
process. But in rich countries it has become hard to find affordable pickers at the
right time so fruit is often wasted. Therefore intelligent machines have been
developed that can overcome the technical problems involved, and also provide
the farmer with useful data about the plants.
(b) Developing machines that can pick fruit such as tomatoes or apples is a
challenging task, due to the complexity of locating ripe fruit in an unpredictable
outdoor environment, where difficult conditions can be produced by wind or
water. But recent developments in computing ability mean that growers can now
automate this process, which should save them money and increase their profits.
(c) Strawberries and grapes are the kind of crops that have always been hand-picked.
But many farmers, for example in California, now find it increasingly difficult to
attract enough pickers when the fruit is ripe. However, computing advances have
produced a solution to this problem, which will save farmers from worrying about
the pickers, and also collect vital data.

4. Practice B
Read the following text and underline the key points.
WEALTH AND FERTILITY

For most of the past century an inverse correlation between human fertility and economic
development has been found. This means that as a country got richer,the average number
of children born to each woman got smaller. While in the poorest countries women often
have eight children, the rate fell as low as 1.3 in some European countries such as Italy,
which is below the replacement rate. Such a low rate has two likely negative
consequences: the population will fall in the long term, and a growing number of old
people will have to be supported by a shrinking number of young. But a recent study by
researchers from Pennsylvania University suggests that this pattern may be changing.
They related countries’ fertility rates to their human development index (HDI), a figure
with a maximum value of 1.0, which assesses life expectancy, average income and
education level. Over 20 countries now have an HDI of more than 0.9, and in a majority
of these the fertility rate has started to increase, and in some is approaching two children
per woman. Although there are exceptions such as Japan, it appears that ever higher
levels of wealth and education eventually translate into a desire for more children.

Complete the notes of the key points below.

(a) Falling levels of fertility have generally been found ___________

___________________________________________________________
(b) In some, number of children born ___________________________
___________________________________________________________
(c) Two results: smaller populations and ________________________
___________________________________________________________
(d) Recent research claims that _________________________________
___________________________________________________________
(e) Comparison of HDI (human development index: _____________
_______________________________________) with fertility found
that in most highly rated (+0.9) countries, ___________________
__________________________________________________________

Join the notes together and expand them to make the final summary.
Check that the meaning is clear and no important points have been left
out. Find a suitable title.

Summarise the summary in no more than 20 words.

 5. Practice C
Summarise the following text in about 50 words.

THE LAST WORD IN LAVATORIES?

Toto is a leading Japanese manufacturer of bathroom ceramic ware, with annual

worldwide sales of around $5 bn. One of its best-selling ranges is the Washlet lavatory,
priced at up to $5,000 and used in most Japanese homes. This has features such as a
heated seat, and can play a range of sounds. This type of toilet is successful in its home
market since many flats are small and crowded, and bathrooms provide valued privacy.
Now Toto hopes to increase its sales in Europe and America, where it faces a variety of
difficulties. European countries tend to have their own rules about lavatory design, so that
different models have to be made for each market. Although Toto claims that its Washlet
toilet uses less water than the average model, one factor that may delay its penetration
into Europe is its need for an electrical socket for installation, as these are prohibited in
bathrooms by most European building regulations.

CHAPTER 1.8, REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS

1. Why use references?

Decide if you need to give a reference in the following cases.

Y/N
(a) Data you found from your own primary research
(b) A graph from an internet article
(c) A quotation from a book
(d) An item of common knowledge
(e) A theory from a journal article
(f) An idea of your own based on reading several sources

2. Citations and references

Smith (2009) argues that the popularity of the Sports Utility

Vehicle (SUV) is irrational, as despite their high cost most are
never driven off-road. In his view ‘they are bad for road safety,
the environment and road congestion’ (Smith, 2009: 37).

References
Smith, M. (2009) Power and the State. Basingstoke:
 Palgrave MacMillan.

Underline the citations in the example above. Which is a summary and

which a quotation? What are the advantages of each?

3. Practice
Read the next paragraph of the same article, also on p. 87.

In such countries the effect of phone ownership on GDP growth is much stronger
than in the developed world, because the ability to make calls is being offered for the
first time, rather than as an alternative to existing landlines. As a result, mobile phone
operators have emerged in Africa, India and other parts of Asia that are larger and
more flexible than Western companies, and which have grown by catering for poorer
customers, being therefore well-placed to expand downmarket. In addition Chinese
phone makers have successfully challenged the established Western companies in
terms of quality as well as innovation. A further trend is the provision of services via
the mobile network which offer access to information about topics such as healthcare
or agriculture.

(a) Write a summary of the main point, including a citation.

(b) Introduce a quotation to show the key point, referring to the source.

(c) Combine (a) and (b), again acknowledging the source.

4. Organising the list of references

Study the reference list below, from an essay on the effects of age on
second language learning, and answer the following questions.

REFERENCES

Bialystock, E. (1997) ‘The structure of age: In search of barriers to second

language acquisition’. Second Language Research13 (2) 116-37.

Dörnyei, Z. (2009) The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.
Flege, J. (1999) ‘Age of learning and second language speech’ in Birdsong, D.
(ed.) Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis.
London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 101-32.

Gass, S. and Selinker, L. (2001) Second Language Acquisition: An

Introductory Course. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Larson-Hall, J. (2008) ‘Weighing the benefits of studying a foreign language at
a younger starting age in a minimal input situation’. Second Language
Research 24 (1) 35-63.
Myles, F. (nd) ‘Second language acquisition (SLA) research: its significance
for learning and teaching issues’. Subject Centre for Languages,
Linguistics and Area Studies. www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/421.
Accessed 1 May 2010.
The International Commission on Second Language Acquisition (nd) ‘What is
SLA?’ http://hw.ac.uk/langWWW/icsla/icsla.htm#SLA. Accessed 6 May
2010.

(a) Find an example of:

(i) a book by one author
(ii) a journal article
(iii) a chapter in an edited book
(iv) an authored undated website article
(v) an anonymous webpage
(vi) a book by two authors

(b) What are the main differences in the way these sources are referenced?
(i) ________________________________________________________
(ii) ________________________________________________________
(iii) ________________________________________________________
(iv) ________________________________________________________
(v) ________________________________________________________
(vi) ________________________________________________________
(c) When are italics used?
(d) How are capital letters used in titles?
(e) How is a source with no given author listed?
(f) Write citations for summaries from each of the sources.
(i) ________________________________________________________
(ii) ________________________________________________________
(iii) ________________________________________________________
(iv) ________________________________________________________
(v) ________________________________________________________
(vi) ________________________________________________________
(vii) _______________________________________________________