Primary Source: Direct information from somebody who witnessed/participated.

Secondary source: Information based off of a primary source.

• Assessing a source’s reliability: 

1. Is the source credible?
2. How biased are the author and the publisher?
3. How biased are you?
4. Is the source up to date?
5. Can you verity the information in the source?

Using Research Resources Responsibly:

Rules for Paraphrasing:

1. A paraphrase must be a clear and accurate rewording of the author’s idea.
2. A paraphrase must express the author’s idea in your own words and sentences.
3. The source of your paraphrase must be included, using MLA doc. style.

Plagiarism: Using someone else’s words or ideas in your own writing without acknowledging their source.

Four Forms of Plagiarism:

1. Word-for-word continuous copying without quotation marks or mention of the author’s name.
2. Citing the author but copying many words and phrases without quotation marks, so that the reader has no idea who has written what.
3. Paraphrase the passage without mention of the author’s name.
4. Taking the author’s idea without acknowledging the source.

Common Knowledge: What you don’t need to cite. What most people can be expected to know.