This section will help you understand the different types of writing and how you can improve your writing skills.
Avoiding Plagiarism
What is plagiarism?
The University of Minnesota defines plagiarism as "representing the words, creative work, or ideas of another person as one's own without providing proper documentation of source. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- copying information word for word from a source without using quotations marks and giving proper acknowledgement by way of footnote, endnote, or in-text citation.
- representing the words, ideas, or data of another person as one's own without providing proper attribution to the author through quotation, reference, in-text citation, or footnote.
- producing, without proper attribution, any form of work originated by another person such as a musical phrase, a proof, a speech, an image, experimental data, laboratory report, graphic design, or computer code.
- paraphrasing, without sufficient acknowledgement, ideas taken from another person that the reader might reasonably mistake as the author's.
- borrowing various words, ideas, phrases, or data from original sources and blending them with one's own without acknowledging the sources."
Reference: University of Minnesota Student Conduct Code
Plagiarism Quiz
Decide if the below situations are examples of plagiarism or not.
How to Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize
| Quote | Paraphrase | Summarize |
|---|---|---|
| Must cite original source | Must cite original source | Must cite original source |
| Use exact words from the original source, with quotation marks surrounding them | Change the original words into your own words (also change the sentence structure) | Change the original words into your own words (also change the sentence structure) |
| Exact same words as original | May be shorter than, longer than, or about the same length as the original | Shorter than the original |
| Paraphrasing examples (in APA and MLA format) | Summarizing examples (in APA and MLA format) |
Citation Resources
This UMN Library tutorial explains how to cite books, articles, websites, and other sources both in the text of a paper and in the reference list at the end of a paper.
Citation Guides and Style Manuals
The UMN Libraries have many resources on using different styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) in your citations and other information for using citations correctly in your writing.
Types of Writing
Learn about various kinds of writing you'll do in college on our Types of Writing webpage.
Assignment Expectations
First, read the assignment and the writing prompt carefully to make sure you fully understand it. The Online Writing Lab has step-by-step advice for help Understanding Writing Assignments.
Secondly, ask questions! If something about the assignment is unclear, ask your instructor in class, in an email, or during office hours. Instructors want you to succeed so they will help make sure you understand the assignment.
Also, ask your instructor if there is a grading rubric for the assignment. A rubric is usually a table or chart that explains all of the categories you will be graded on, and what you need to do to get points in each category. Use the rubric as a checklist to make sure you are including everything in the assignment that the instructor will be looking for.
Not sure what the assignment is asking you to do? Here are common words used in writing prompts and what they mean.
Organization
Different languages have different standards for organizing ideas in writing. English writing tends to be very direct. The introduction has a clearly stated thesis or main idea and an overview for how you will support the thesis or main idea. The body of the paper supports the thesis. Each paragraph usually has one main idea, with supporting sentences to further explain or clarify that main idea. The conclusion summarizes the main points and restates the thesis in other words.
Compared to some cultures, this writing style can seem repetitive and insulting to the reader, since all ideas are directly stated rather than letting the reader make his or her own conclusions. However, this is the general organizational style expected in most American writing assignments.
Reference: Kaplan, R.B. (1966). Cultural thought patterns in inter-cultural education. Language Learning, 16 (1-2), pages 1-20.
Organize Your Writing
The Center for Writing's Writing Resources page is a great resource for the following:
- Get help with organizing your thesis and supporting your ideas for a paper or essay by visiting the Writing Process section.
- Get tips on paper cohesion and flow, as well as sentence transitions, by visiting the Style section.
Writing Resources
- Schedule a consultation with the Center for Writing's Student Writing Support.
- Tutorials, guides, and workshops: The UMN Libraries resources can help you find and cite research.
- Resources for Multilingual Writers: The Center for Writing has a collection of useful websites, including good online dictionaries,
- The Purdue Online Writing Lab is an excellent resource for writing with tips and information on organization and outlines, grammar, citations, different types of writing assignments, and more.
- This collection of writing videos includes topics such as how to write a summary, sentence fragments, paragraph structure, combining sentences, and different types of paragraphs and essays.
- Voices of Minnesota's Multilingual Writers: In these short videos, international students at the University of Minnesota describe how they learned to write American academic English, and writing experts' give advice for adjusting to American academic writing expectations.