Assignment 6

Note: your assignment needs to be typed!

PART I.  Issues of plagiarism

1. What is the difference between a paraphrase and a quote?

2. Do you need to cite the original source when you use your own words to express another author's idea?

3. You are in the final stages of your research paper when you discover that you are missing the name of the journal where one of your article sources comes from.  So, you make a guess as you put down the name of the journal for your bibliography.  Is this considered plagiarism?

4. Using our library web page (http://campuslibrary.cocc.edu), where exactly would you go to find guidelines for the APA or MLA style of citation? Describe below providing exact and clear steps on the links you will need to use:

5. Respond to the following comparing the original text to the student's essay text:

Original source from Michael Ventura's article "The Tools of an Animal":
Different tools shape words differently, the way different tools build furniture and shoes differently.... Pen and paper are slow and messy, of course. Modernity loves speed and claims to hate mess. But speed is only a value when it's useful, and it isn't always useful. Slowness can be useful too. Using an instrument that doesn't let you go too fast can make you pause where you might not have, and a pause at the right time can change or even save your life, not to mention your work.

From the student's essay:
Most writers have come to depend on computers, and they can't imagine writing a paper without one. But, in an essay titled "The Tools of an Animal," Michael Ventura (1994) reminds us that sometimes computers aren't the right tool for a writer's task, sometimes using an instrument that doesn't let you go too fast can make you pause at a crucial point where you might not have -- and this pause may save your work from failure 

References:
Ventura, M. (1994, April 7). "The Tools of an Animal." The Independent Weekly, p.5. Retrieved
     November 25, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.

Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay:

Part II.  Web searching tools

6. What are the advantages of using Google Advanced search?

7.  What is the difference between search engines and subject guides?

8.     a. What web tools would you use to find government information on a topic?
        b. Where are these web tools listed through our library's web page?
        c. Give me a good example of a search you tried using one of these search tools.

9.  What can be two general subject areas, other than politics and law, for which you would expect to find useful government information?

10. What are some good reasons to use government sources in your assignments and papers?