question about plagiarism

[newbiemom]

Completely nothing to do with babies, I know.
But it has been well over 10 years since I have been in college and required to do this kind of work. I'm taking a class and an assignment is to summarize a book (history piece) . So....if I'm summarizing just the one book, then do I need to cite stuff in my summary? I mean, clearly, all the information comes from this one author, from this one book. Like specific stats (that could be found in any other book on this topic), historical events/individual actions (all likewise that could be found in other books on this topic)? I am using a direct quote of the author in another part of the paper, so I have cited that, but I'm not sure about the summary part.
Do I need to cite info where I summarize the research of the author?
My summary is sprinkled with "according to author" and "Author believes" Is that enough?
Anyone know where I can go to get this info?

thanks! I'm a bit stressed about this!

[MontrealMum]

Short answer: it depends on the citation style that you're using as to how the citation looks, but yes, you do need to use them. If you're using Chicago (mostly used in the Humanities) and summarizing the author's thoughts with or w/o introducing the summary with "Smith thinks...X" or "In his seminal work on X, Smith says..." you need to give a citation in the notes (whether you're doing endnotes or footnotes) with the pages that that information is found on.

I *think* that with MLA and APA if you introduce the summarized thoughts (like in the examples I gave above) you include the page numbers parenthetically, but not the author's name, because you've already used it in-text. Sorry to be unclear, but I almost always use Chicago, where everything is cited and spelled out.

But just because you aren't quoting directly does not mean that you can wildly summarize books w/o attributing the information. Well known facts, no, you don't need to cite them (as in X war started on X date; X is the capital of Y country). But stats found ONLY in that book - yes, they need citations. Some disciplines are more lenient about this than others, but in mine (History) extensive citations are preferred.

The point of citations is not only to give credit to the original author for the words (direct quotations) but also to allow the reader (or grader, in this case) to be able to find the information to which you are referring. So, they need page numbers even though they know which book you're referring to.

Do you have a styleguide to refer to (provided/recommended by your uni)? Does your prof prefer one style over another? If they do, google a bit for guides to that particular style on the web. There's all sorts of helpful stuff out there that can steer you in the right direction.

[Naranjadia]

Yes, Molly's right. With MLA and APA, if you use an attribution phrase, you only cite the page numbers in the in-text parenthetical.

Summaries are tricky, because they vary in length depending on their purpose. For example, you could write a 2-3 sentence summary for inclusion in a paper and be fine with one citation at the end of the paper. But when you're doing a longer summary, outlining key points and using quotes, you do want to let your reader know where in the text you are getting the material.
You can also cite page ranges, if you want to indicate that a concept or information in your summary came from a chapter or subsection of the book, i.e. (45-57).

[newbiemom]

OK, thanks for your response! ! The prof said to use APA style.
How would I cite info if I have summarized in one of my paragraphs, an entire chapter of a book (which is essentially the bulk of the author's research)? Do I cite the chapter?

[MontrealMum]

Like Naranjadia said, you can use page ranges, so in that instance I would just put the range for that entire chapter. You would not want to just say "chapter 2" because there are different editions. Probably not in your particular class, but Profs. can be prickly about "real world" stuff, where you *would* need the page numbers for that reason. HTH!

ETA: APA is tricky for me because I have not used it a ton (was forced to use it in Library School, but not much), but I *think* that you would put that page range in parentheses at the end of the relevant paragraph. If there are multiple, relevant paragraphs, uninterrupted, I would put it at the end of the last one. If they're interrupted I'd put it at the end of the 1st relevant chunk, then repeat again where needed. But please understand that I am not an expert at this style of citation, so you might want to check that out.

[Naranjadia]

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University has a good summary of APA. If you look at this page and scroll down it has advice on the APA guidelines on summaries:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/

However, if your paragraph of summary does contain a quote, I would cite the quote the way it advises on that page.

Also, if your entire paragraph is based on summary of the book and you cite at the end of the paragraph, you want to be clear to continue to attribute to the author throughout the para. For example, if you begin with "According to Blah Blah" you can say "Blah Blah goes on to outline how..."

ETA: I also am not an APA expert! And my APA manual is at work. :p

[newbiemom]

THANK YOU BOTH! :bowdown:


and I have one more question: How do I cite when I've summarized several chapters in one paragraph? (like I basically say "Author devotes several chapters describing the many types." And then I briefly summarize all the types)

[Naranjadia]

THANK YOU BOTH! :bowdown:


and I have one more question: How do I cite when I've summarized several chapters in one paragraph? (like I basically say "Author devotes several chapters describing the many types." And then I briefly summarize all the types)

If it's that much material, then I think you would leave off the page numbers. APA treats the page numbers for summary as optional. Basically, they're like if you think it will be useful to reader, put them there, otherwise leave the page number out of it. Because if it's 80-90 pages , you're not exactly pointing them to the exact material. ;)