Rhile - The Science of Drugs and Related Issues: Writing the Paper

Writing the Paper

When it is time to gather all of your notes and start writing the paper, avoid the most common mistake - plagiarism. Plagiarism is not only taking large parts of someone else's work and not attributing credit to that author; paraphrasing sections of a work, even using synonyms and citing the work, is also plagiarism.

• Use direct quotations to support the paper's thesis.
• Rethink and rewrite the author's original idea and express it in a new way.

Even if the ideas are rewritten, the source of the idea must be cited and the author given credit.

For further information, see the section on plagiarism in the Gingrich Guide or the material on paraphrasing from the OWL at Purdue.

Citing Sources

To cite sources and prepare a bibliography, the MLA style manual is one of several style manuals available for use. In addition to the reference book, there are many helpful online option to help you cite your work.  None of these options is perfect and you MUST check your results.

Use the following:

• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. (2009) [808.066 M689m7 2009] Copies located at the reference and reserve desks.  
• MLA 2009 Formatting and Style Guide, from the OWL at Purdue. There is a section explaining the citing of electronic materials. 

Getting Help

Reference librarians can help you at any stage of the research process. Please stop by the Reference Desk, call us (610-921-7211) or email us at libraryref@albright.edu.  When the library is closed, you can get help at AskHerePA.