Plagiarism Unit 2

1. Last summer, my family and I traveled to Chicago, which was quite different from the rural area I grew up in. We saw the dinosaur Sue at the Field Museum, and ate pizza at Gino's East.

For this first  passage I believe that you would not have to cite this because it is the writer's own ideas, there for no citing needs to take place.

2. Americans want to create a more perfect union; they also want to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for everybody.

For number two I do not think it has to be cited ether because this sounds like common knowledge.


3. I find it ridiculous that 57% of high school students think their teachers assign too much homework.

Number three seems a little trick, I am pretty sure this is the writer's own idea but he is using a statistic that should be cited for the reader.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.


4. Martin Luther King was certain that nobody would want to be contented with a surfacy type of social analysis that concerns itself only with effects and doesn't deal with root causes.

This sounds like a summary of what DR. King has written because it's the same idea. The writer should have put a source in text at the beginning and ending of this sentence, furthermore they need a bibliography at the end of there essay.

5. Martin Luther King wrote that the city of Birmingham's "white power structure" left African-Americans there "no alternative" but to demonstrate ("Letter from the Birmingham Jail" para. 5).

Number five has direct quotations from the paragraph, therefore they do indeed need a source in text at the end of the paragraph which they did nicely.
 

6. In "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," King writes to fellow clergy saying that although they "deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, your statement fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations."

 For number six they almost had this one. While they did quote the passage, they failed to cite the quotation.  If only they had put a page number at the very end of this quote since they have already named the article.
 

7. My friend Kara told me that she loves living so close to the ocean.

Kara does not need to be quoted because she is not posing an opinion that states a fact.
 

8. Americans are guaranteed the right to freely gather for peaceful meetings.

Number eight does not need to be cited as it is common knowledge that the first amendment provides
us with this right.


I found this assignment to be very interesting and helpful for my future in writing. Knowing how to properly cite an author or a statistic in my papers will help me avoid plagiarism and become a more ethical writer. In addition, citing other writers gives them the proper recognition for their work. Using a style manual is very useful for citing and writing a bibliography in different formats.