MIL

• Information literacy


  The ability to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, effectively use, and communicate information in its various formats
• Components of information literacy

  • Identify
  • Find
  • Evaluate
  • Apply
  • Acknowledge
• Plagiarism


  Using other people's words and ideas without clearly acknowledging the source of the information
• Common knowledge


  Facts that can be found in numerous places and are likely to be widely known
• Interpretation


  You must document facts that are not generally known, or ideas that interpret facts
• Quotation


  Using someone's words directly. When you use a direct quote, place the passage between quotation marks, and document the source according to a standard documenting style
• Paraphrase


  Using someone's ideas, but rephrasing them in your own words. Although you will use your own words to paraphrase, you must still acknowledge and cite the source of the information
• Plagiarism has legal implications. While ideas themselves are not copyrightable, the artistic expression of an idea automatically falls under copyright when it is created
• Under fair use, small parts may be copied without permission from the copyright holder
• Even under fair use, you must attribute the original source
• What is considered fair use is rather subjective and can vary from country to country
• Strategies in avoiding plagiarism


  • Submit your own work for publication (you need to cite even your own work)
  • Put quotation marks around everything that comes directly from the text and cite the source
  • Paraphrase, but be sure that you are not simply rearranging or replacing a few words and cite the source
  • Keep a source journal, a notepad, or note cards- annotated bibliographies can be especially beneficial
  • Use the style manual in properly citing sources
  • Get help from the writing center or library