A Guide to Documenting Your Information

1. A Guide to Documenting Your Information or “I have my notes, now what the heck do I do with them???”

2. What is “Documenting Sources?” • It means giving credit to whomever originally wrote the information you are using in your paper. • We call this “In-Text Citations” because you are citing your sources in the body of your paper.

3. Why do I Need to “document” anyway? • So it physically shows you did research • So you show that there are people who’s research/information supports what you are trying to prove • Besides, if you don’t, it is called plagiarism!!

4. Plagiarism • Remember, plagiarism is when you try to pass off someone else’s written work as your own. It’s copying/ cheating/ stealing. • It gets you a ZERO!! NO REWRITE OPTION!

5. So how do I avoid it? • Document your sources • Two different ways: • Author’s name & page number in parentheses • Author’s name in the sentence and the page number in parentheses ***Remember, if there is no author, you begin with the title of the article or the title of the book! If there is no page, you put NP.

6. The Info • Say you have a note card and the info on it looks like this… Better for Health Bormann Vegetarians 25% less likely to die of heart disease and weight-related diseases, like diabetes – from the Center for Better Health Smith Page 127

7. WAY # 1 – (Author’s Name pg #) • Summarize or quote the material in your paper and then at the end of the sentence… • Open parentheses - ( • Author’s last name – Smith • Page number/NP – 127 • Close parentheses - ) • Period after the closed parentheses • EX: (Smith 127).

8. It would look like this… One primary reason people should be eating less meat, or excluding animal products altogether is because vegetarians live healthier lives. In fact, people who live a vegetarian lifestyle are 25% less likely to have heart disease or die of weight-related diseases (Smith 127).

9. WAY # 2 – The SPLIT • Introduce the information by using the author’s name in the sentence • According to Dr. X … • In the book XYZ, Smith states… • ,” explains John Smith • Put the page number (or NP) at the end in parentheses, then the period after. • Open parentheses - ( • Page number/NP – 127 • Close parentheses - ) • Period after the closed parentheses

10. It would look like this… One primary reason people should be eating less meat, or excluding animal products altogether is because vegetarians live healthier lives. According to Dr. John Smith of the Center for Healthier Living people who live a vegetarian lifestyle are 25% less like to have heart disease or die of weight-related diseases (127).

11. Let’s Practice Reason from Thesis Feed World Bormann The info looked up in the article Authors Page #

12. Write 1 Sentence Way#1; Write 1 Sentence w/ Split • Author’s Name & Page # at end • Split

13. More Practice

14. Write 1 Sentence Way#1; Write 1 Sentence w/ Split • Author’s Name & Page # at end • Split

15. And Still More Practice

16. Write 1 Sentence Way#1; Write 1 Sentence w/ Split • Author’s Name & Page # at end • Split

17. In-Text It’s Really That Simple • At the end of the sentence • (Author’s last name & page number) • EX: (Smith 127) • The Split • Use the author’s name in the sentence • Put the page number at the end in parentheses • EX: Smith documents that 75% of people who eat meat eventually get heart disease (127).