Many students do not understand when and how in their papers they should acknowledge
(cite) the use of materials written by others. In high school they may never have
been told that paraphrasing encyclopedias or textbooks or cutting and pasting from
Internet documents was wrong. But these and other improper uses of sources, called
plagiarism,2 are serious violations of University policy (see http://www.memphis.edu/history/misconduct_policy.htm) that could lead to your failing an assignment or a course or being suspended or
expelled from the University. Should you commit plagiarism in a work you publish,
you could face grave legal and financial consequences. Fortunately, it is easy to
learn the rules and apply them. If there is ever any doubt, err on the side of acknowledging
your source, or ask your instructor.
While most plagiarism is of written material, the same principles apply to anything
produced by someone else, such as a painting or a song. They also apply to oral sources.
For example, if you take something from a lecture or from an interview or reproduce
a picture, you should cite your source.
As you read and take notes on a source you might later use in a paper, you should
write down all the information that you will need for a proper citation. You should
be especially careful to indicate if any wording in your notes is a direct quotation.
This will save you a lot of effort trying to find the information later on, and more
importantly help you to avoid inadvertent plagiarism. See the examples below for the information you will need for various kinds of sources.
The use of sources
The general rule
In your writing, if you use any book (including a textbook, encyclopedia, or other
reference work), article, paper, letter, inscription, Web site, song, work of art,
or anything else produced by someone else, whether or not it is published and no matter
who the writer or creator is — a professional writer, your friend or relative, your
roommate, etc. — you must acknowledge this fact appropriately. You must acknowledge
the source whether you quote or reproduce it exactly, paraphrase it, or merely use
some of its ideas or arguments. You are using its ideas if you follow its organizational
structure, even if you do not quote or paraphrase it or use any of its content.
Elaboration on the general rule
- Any direct quotation must be enclosed in quotation marks, or, if lengthy, set off
as a block quotation.
- Paraphrasing a source does not mean changing a word or two or substituting synonyms.
It means completely rewriting in your own words. If you cannot do this you should quote directly.
- If you paraphrase, but include a phrase (or even a single word if it is an unusual
one) from the original source, it should be in quotation marks.
- You must cite any idea or argument you take from a source, even if you do not quote
or paraphrase, and even if you develop that idea or argument beyond what is in the
- As an extension of the previous point, if the structural organization of your paper
or any part of it depends upon someone else’s work, you must cite the source. For
example, if the source makes three main points and your paper makes the same three
points, you must cite the source, even if you develop those points in your own words.
Exception to the general rule
- The only exception to the general rule is if the information can be considered common
knowledge, which means that ALLof the following are true:
- It is purely factual, such as that Leon Trotsky was born in 1879 or that the United
States Constitution was written in 1787 at Philadelphia.
- It is widely accepted. If there is difference of opinion on whether the material is
true, you should cite your source.
- It is widely available — found in many sources, such as encyclopedias, biographies,
textbooks, etc. If it is an obscure fact, found only, say, in an obscure book, you
should cite your source.
- Even if the information is common knowledge, you must present it in your own words.
If you use exact words, you must quote and cite it.
Notes about the rule
- The rule might give you the impression that you must document literally every statement
you make, unless it is entirely original with you (you thought of it without looking
at any other material). In fact, you do not have to have a footnote for every sentence
you write. You may be able to let one citation cover a whole paragraph or even a series
of paragraphs, so long as your intention is clear to the reader.
- Even if you follow all the rules correctly and everything you write is correct, that
does not mean that your paper necessarily deserves a good grade. A good paper has
to be largely your own work and thought. If it is merely a patchwork of correctly-cited
quotations or paraphrases you will not get a good grade.
Some instructors may require you to have a bibliography at the end of your paper.
This should consist of a list of all the sources you used, with the proper information
It is important to note that having a bibliography does not relieve you of the responsibility
of citing the use of sources at the particular places in the body of the paper where
you used them. If you use endnotes, the bibliography should come at the very end of
the paper, after the endnotes.
Following the principles given above carefully will prevent you from committing plagiarism.
To understand the problem more clearly and get concrete examples of plagiarism, you
should read the documents under the heading of Academic integrity and the problem of plagiarism in a Web site on Writing and Literature Resources. Several of them, including the
one by University Libraries of The University of Memphis, have tutorials in which samples of student writing are placed alongside the documents
they have used to determine whether or not plagiarism has been committed. You may
be surprised by the conclusions.
There are many guides for citing the use of the words, ideas, or organizational structure
of other persons’ writing, by either footnotes (or endnotes) or parenthetical references.
Ask — before you write your paper — which one your instructor wants you to use. The
point is that, whatever guide you use, you must cite the use of other persons’ writing,
and you should use the form that your instructor requires..
The most comprehensive guide is The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2003). Most departments of history (we
are one of them) use Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007), which is based on the
principles of The Chicago Manual of Style. Your instructor may permit you to use another guide, such as Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research ’s, 6th ed. (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003), or the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. (Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association, 2001).
How to cite sources: footnotes, endnotes, and bibliography
Footnotes and endnotes have the same form; the only difference is where the information
about your source appears.
The form of a bibliography is somewhat different from that of a footnote or endnote.
The bibliography is in alphabetical order by author, and several items by the same
author are listed in alphabetical order by title.
At the end of a passage that uses another source, you should insert a raised number.
The first note will have the number “1,” and each successive note should have a sequentially
higher number. You then will put the actual citation at the bottom of the page (footnote)
or at the end of the paper (endnote). Most word processors will do this automatically
Following are examples of the correct form of footnotes/endnotes and bibliographical
entries for different kinds of sources, according to the guidelines of Turabian/Chicago Manual of Style. Consult one of these sources for the correct way to cite other kinds of sources,
such as movies or theses. For complete information on citation of electronic sources,
see the guide prepared by Dr Maurice Crouse, http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/mcrouse/elcite.html.
Footnotes or endnotes must give the page numbers actually used for the particular
passage. Bibliographies give the complete page range of an article or a chapter in
a book that is a collection of articles, but do not specify page numbers for a book.
All the examples are for items written by a single author. If there is more than one
author of a work, you need to list them all, separated by commas. In all cases the
second, third, etc. authors should be listed first name first, then the middle name
or initials (if any), and finally the last name, even if the examples tell you to
list the first author differently.
Note that after you first cite a source fully in a footnote/endnote, you should use
a shortened form. Pick words from the title that are distinctive enough to be recognized.
There may be several acceptable ways to do this.
All the examples here are of publications by faculty of the Department of History
of The University of Memphis.
Footnote or endnote: James M. Blythe, “Family, Government, and the Medieval Aristotelians,” History of Political Thought 10 (1989): 15.
Subsequent citations: Blythe, “Family,” 4.
Bibliography: Blythe, James M. “Family, Government, and the Medieval Aristotelians.” History of Political Thought 10 (1989): 1-16.
Note: “10” is the volume number of the journal.
Footnote or endnote: Peter J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2000), 146-53.
Subsequent citations: Brand, Monuments of Seti I, 68.
Bibliography: Brand, Peter J. The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2000.
Note: “Leiden” refers to the city of publication. If the city is obscure or ambiguous,
include the state or country; e.g., "Germantown, TN:"
Article or chapter in a collection:
Footnote or endnote: Janann M. Sherman, “‘Senator-at-Large for America’s Women’: Margaret Chase Smith
and the Paradox of Gender Affinity,” in The Impact of Women in Public Office, ed. Susan Carroll (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001), 97-9.
Subsequent citations: Sherman, “Smith and the Paradox of Gender,” 103.
Bibliography: Sherman, Janann M. “‘Senator-at-Large for America’s Women’: Margaret Chase Smith
and the Paradox of Gender Affinity.” In The Impact of Women in Public Office, edited by Susan Carroll, 89-116. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001.
Note: Be sure to notice how you should include the editor of the collection. You would
follow the same form for a translator (abbreviated “trans.”).
Footnote or endnote: Maurice Crouse, 8 November 2011, Citing Electronic Information in History Papers <http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/mcrouse/elcite.html> [22 June 2012].
Subsequent citations: Crouse, Citing Electronic Information.
Bibliography: Crouse, Maurice. 8 November 2011. Citing Electronic Information in History Papers. <http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/mcrouse/elcite.html> [22 June 2012].
Note: The first date is the date the source was last updated on the Internet (often you
may not be able to find this information, in which case you should skip this part).
The date in brackets is the date you used the source. Most electronic sources do not
have page numbers. If the source (such as a PDF document) does have page numbers,
they of course should be given in the footnote or endnote.
1Much of this document originated as a guide entitled “Using Sources in Your Papers,”
written by Dr James M. Blythe for his students. At the time of the writing of the
current document, that guide could be found at http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/jmblythe/RenaissanceF06/Citations.html on his personal Web site. [return to the text]
2Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., 2003) under the heading “plagiarize”
reads: “vt (1716): to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use
(another’s production) without crediting the source ≈ vi: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived
from an existing source” The Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities gives the definition: “Plagiarism: The adoption or reproduction of ideas, words,
statements, images, or works of another person as one's own without proper attribution”
The word “plagiarize” is derived from the Latin verb “plagiare,” which means “to kidnap,”
so to plagiarize is to kidnap another’s words or ideas. [return to the text]