Avoiding Plagiarism: What Do I Need to Cite?

In this video, I wanna clarify distinctions

that students sometimes forget to draw
when they cite sources.

It's the distinction between

using someone else's words
and using someone else's ideas.

You need to cite both,
but you cite them differently.

Our first question is,
are you using someone else's words?

If the answer's "yes,"
then you need to quote and cite the source.

If the answer's "no," you still have to ask
whether you're using someone else's ideas.

Sometimes, students think
that if you're not using a direct quotation,

then you don't have to cite the source.

But you do.

Now if the answer to this is "no,"
then you don't have to cite anything.

But if it's "yes,"
then you cite the source.

This might seem obvious,

but I just want to reinforce the point
that when you're citing sources,

you have to pay attention
both to the language you've borrowed,

and the ideas that you've borrowed.

If you're borrowing language, you need to
quote the language and cite the source.

If you're just borrowing an idea,
you won't be quoting anything,

but you still need
to cite the source of that idea.