Using info responsibly before citing

When information appears in several sources and most people know the information, it is considered
common knowledge. You do not need to cite common knowledge used in a research paper. From the
list of the information examples below, choose the one that is not considered common knowledge.

• Arguably, one of the most difficult decisions facing secondary students is their choice of university and program of study.

• Surrounded by desert, many tribes were created from tight-knit families.

• President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863 and
  among the crowd stood several future statesmen.

You have been given an assignment in your literature class to paraphrase the ideas in a passage from
an American author. You are having problems with the assignment because you do not know exactly
what it means to paraphrase. From the choices below, choose the sentence that best describes the
process of paraphrasing.

• Paraphrasing means to restate the idea of the excerpt or passage by changing a few words in
  the excerpt with synonyms.

• Paraphrasing means to restate the idea of the excerpt or passage in your own words. The
  paraphrase can be about the same length as or longer than the original excerpt.

• Paraphrasing means to restate the main ideas of excerpt or passage in your own words. It is
  very brief compared to the passage or excerpt.

• Paraphrasing means to use the exact words of the excerpt or passage and use quotation
  marks

You are producing a video for your school's website. The video covers student
participation in a “Decades Day” project. It would be nice to use music from the different decades,
but how much of an artist’s recording can you use as background music?

• 
  You may use up to 30 seconds but no more than 10% of a recording.

• You may use up to 60% of the recording.

• You may not use any portion of the recording for your televised program unless you contact
  the record producer.

• You may use up to one minute but no more than 50% of the recording.

Your school library subscribes each year to an online photo database. As the editor of the school
yearbook you have been searching for photos of current events to use as part of the yearbook. You
decide that you will use some of the photos from the online photo database. Knowing that in your
school students purchase their yearbook, which of the answers below correctly applies to the use of
these photos in a school yearbook?

• You can use as many of the photos as you like as long as you give credit to the online photo
  database under each picture that you use.

• You may use as many of the photos as you like as long as you give credit to the online photo
  database under each picture that you use and also include a “credits” page at the end of the
  yearbook that lists the name of the online photo database.

• You may not use any of the photos from the online database for the school yearbook because
  of restrictions from the database producer.

• You may use any or all photos as you choose since your school is paying a subscription.

To earn extra money as a college student you have begun a DJ business. You have created a website and IG profile about your DJ business. You want to include some of the photographs of your work as the DJ at
weddings on your website. You go to a wedding photographer’s website and find some photos of
yourself playing music and announcing the wedding party. You do not see a copyright notice and it
would be easy to copy the photos to your site. You are undecided as to whether or not you can use
the photographs. What can you do?

• Since the photographs do not have a copyright notice, the photographs are not copyrighted
  and may be used on your website.

• Since the photographs do not have a copyright notice, you can use the photographs and then
  add the name of the photographer and the URL from the photographer’s website.

• Since almost all materials created privately and originally after April 1, 1989 are copyrighted
  and protected whether they have a copyright notice or not, you must seek permission from
  the photographer.

A student at the university wrote a paper for a sociology class about the link between poverty and
voting in elections. This same student has a paper due in her government class but she doesn’t have
much time to complete the government paper and feels that with a few changes, she can use the
same paper for the government class. What might be the consequences of this decision?

• Nothing will happen to the student. The paper was the student’s original work and can be
  used without consequence.

• Since the student did not intentionally intend to plagiarize by using the same paper in her
  government class, the professor will ask that she redo the paper and will receive a lower
  grade.

• The student will receive a zero on her paper. Even though the paper is her original work, this
  is still considered plagiarism.

• The student will have to meet with both professors and explain the difference in the two
  papers. The professors will determine whether or not the papers meet the requirements of
  their individual assignments.

A recent study of high school students done at a major university found that many of the students
reported one or more instances of insufficient citation in written
work, and some level of plagiarism on written work taken the Internet. As a student, you have been
made aware of the consequences of any type of cheating in an academic setting.

What do you plan to do to avoid this situation?

Answer explanation

Keep track of all sources and cite them correctly using MLA9 while submitting authentic work.

You have been asked to write a three-page paper for your college freshman English class. You will
use MLA format for your paper. The professor has stressed that citation is extremely important. You
feel confident about your knowledge of MLA citation but are trying to remember the examples of
when you do not have to use MLA citation.

Choose the answer that most correctly indicates when MLA citation is not needed.

• You do not need to cite sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations or common
  knowledge.

• You do not need to provide a citation for a recent event that was reported in three different
  sources.

• You do not need to cite sources for information that is not written by experts in the field.

Your school drama club would like to create a play based on a popular novel. You want
to use the same character names and places as in the novel. You will perform the newly created play
at your school for parents and community members. What is the appropriate way to handle the use
of the characters and places from this novel?

• Since you are using the character names and places from a popular novel for your play, you
  must ask the author’s permission.

• Since you are using the character names and places from a popular novel for your play, you
  must make a statement in the play program that gives attribution to the author and their
  work.

• Since you are using the character names and places from a popular novel for your play and
  your play is completely different from the story in the novel, you do not need to do anything
  as you have created something new.

Read the passage below and then

choose the response that is the BEST paraphrase of the passage:

Students must learn to paraphrase information when writing research papers for class. Paraphrasing
is restating an author’s ideas in the student’s own words. The paraphrase can be the same length as
or longer than the author’s stated ideas. A paraphrase is different from summarizing when a student
would restate only the main ideas of the author’s writing. When using the author’s words exactly as
they are written, the student needs to use quotation marks. Finally, students must learn that
paraphrasing an author’s ideas does not mean to change just a few of the words in the passage or
excerpt. As stated in the beginning, the author’s ideas must be restated in the students own words.

• Students should learn to paraphrase information when doing a research paper. Paraphrasing
  means to restate the author’s idea in your own words. The paraphrase can be about the same length or more expanded than the original ideas. A paraphrase is different from summarizing
  where you only restate the important ideas of the author’s writing. If you use all of the
  author’s words exactly as written, you need to use quotation marks. When you paraphrase do
  not just change a few of the author’s words with synonyms, instead just restate the author’s
  words with your own.

• 
  When doing a research paper, students need to learn the skill of paraphrasing, or putting the
  words of a passage into their own words. Paraphrasing differs from summarizing, when only the main ideas of the work or passage are stated. It also differs from a quotation when the words of the author are placed in quotation marks. Changing just a few words of the passage
  by using synonyms is not paraphrasing; students must use their own words.

• Learning to paraphrase is important in doing research papers for class. To paraphrase,
  restate the author’s ideas in your own words. To summarize the author’s ideas, just restate
  the main ideas. Finally, if you use the author’s words as written, then you must use quotation marks.