(frequently asked questions) |
| What if I had the idea first and then found it in a book?
This does happen. Instead of being threatened by that, cite the other author and then carry the idea on from there. Don't hope "the teacher doesn't know someone else thought it". It's okay! You can even express your surprise. Secretly you can take pride in it! Remember, when writing about English or about Art or Architecture... so many people have written about it before... so many ideas have already been used... don't be discouraged, but don't pretend the ideas aren't out there either. Do I really have to document every quote etc.? YES!!! If you don't - it's stealing or possibly lying. Why? You could make anything up and say someone said it. You must show where the words/idea came from so that it's possible for the reader to look at the original source. You may, for example, interpret an idea very differently than your reader, and, especially if you are quoting only some of another writer's ideas, it may be helpful for the reader to be able look at the original source occasionally to see how you came to your conclusions. Why do I have to talk about other people's ideas at all? Academic and intellectual discussion is a fluid continuum. Ideas, norms, and directions change all the time! Knowledge and opinions are added constantly. It is important to know crucial theories and ideas about our own academic or creative disciplines so that we can join in the discussion, as well as so we can understand and perhaps expand the areas we are interested in. What if there is a spelling or grammatical error in the original text I am directly quoting? Do not correct anything. (Oh oh! No! Correct all your own work! Make double check that you don't add in mistakes to quotes. Proofread, proofread, proofread, but NEVER correct errors that were made in original quotes.)You should, directly after the quote, write sic in parenthesis (sic). This shows your reader that YOU didn't make the mistake. Do I really have to footnote every statistic? Yes. It is very important to say where you get your numbers from! It's too easy to make them up otherwise! Actually, it's even easier to misinterpret statistics - so make sure you tell the reader where you got them (footnote them), this way the reader will have faith that you are using them correctly, and can check them if necessary. |
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