Northern Illinois University
Academic Integrity Tutorials

Definition

Paraphrasing or summarizing without citation occurs when a writer changes the words of an original source, but uses the ideas in it without acknowledging that those ideas are not his or her original thoughts, even if the writer adds his or her own "spin" to the original.

Example Source Text

New classical economics. The original theoretical impetus was the charge that Keynesian economics lacks microeconomic foundations -- i.e. its assertions are not founded in basic economic theory. This school emerged during the 1970s. This school asserts that it does not make sense to claim that the economy at any time might be "out-of-equilibrium". Fluctuations in aggregate variables follow from the individuals in the society continuously re-optimizing as new information on the state of the world is revealed.

"Macroeconomics." Wikipedia. 18 Aug. 2005. 31 Aug. 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroeconomics.

Draft

Scholars in the school of new classical economics, which emerged in the 1970s, focus on the belief that the school of Keynesian economics is misguided. New classical scholars assert that the economy is never unbalanced, as Keynesian scholars believe, but instead that changes in an economy result from people's changing their spending habits as they interpret the news about the world.

Explanation

This writer has adequately paraphrased the source material, but the draft is based almost completely on the ideas she or he discovered in the source. He or she has not acknowledged that the notion of the difference between new classical economics and Keynesian economics was derived wholly from another author's ideas, and this constitutes plagiarism.

To eliminate this type of plagiarism, you should provide parenthetical or endnote or footnote citations for the paragraph(s) that include material derived from a source or incorporate the original source into the body of your draft to acknowledge that the ideas the draft is based upon were originally another person's, along with a parenthetical or endnote or footnote citation.

Corrected draft

According to the article "Macroeconomics" on Wikipedia.org, scholars in the school of new classical economics, which emerged in the 1970s, focus on the belief that the school of Keynesian economics is misguided. New classical scholars assert that the economy is never unbalanced, as Keynesian scholars believe, but instead that changes in an economy result from people's changing their spending habits as they interpret the news about the world.

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