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Loyola University Chicago Libraries

Library Orientation

Why Evaluate Sources and Information

If you want a good grade, use high quality, credible, and authoritative sources.  The sources you select for your works cited or reference page is a direct reflection of the quality of your paper.  You cannot expect to get a good grade if you use Wikipedia, random websites, and opinion blogs. The World Wide Web can be a great place to accomplish research on many topics. But putting documents or pages on the web is easy, cheap or free, unregulated, and unmonitored. You need to evaluate the sources you use. Think of it this way, if you wanted to decide which Smartphone to purchase, would you use a random blog, the manufacturer's website, or Consumer Reports?

  • A blog would give you someone's opinion. The information would not be researched.
  • The manufacturer's website might offer factual information about the phone's features, but it may post only positive reviews. 
  • Consumer Reports conducts research on products and then presents the results. 

When making a decision that will cost you money, you would probably use Consumer Reports to get the best information to back up your decision.  When writing a research paper you want to use the best sources because using anything less could cost you your grade!

Why Cite?

  • Give proper credit to the author(s) of the information you use.
  • Avoid plagiarism.
  • Allow readers to find your sources.
  • Avoid serious academic consequences.

When to Cite?

  • When referring to a source, or (re)stating someone else's opinions, thoughts, ideas, research, data/statistics, diagrams, tables, or creation that you did not create.

Options for Citing:

  1. Quote the content directly, then cite the work/author in the text and bibliography. 
  2. Summarize the content, then cite the work/author in the text and bibliography.
  3. Paraphrase the content, then cite the work/author in the text and bibliography.

Avoiding Academic Misconduct

Plagiarism is Academic Misconduct: Statement on Academic Integrity

A basic mission of a university is to search for and to communicate the truth as it is honestly perceived. A genuine learning community cannot exist unless this demanding standard is a fundamental tenet of the intellectual life of the community. Students of Loyola University Chicago are expected to know, to respect, and to practice this standard of personal honesty.

Academic Standards and Regulations

Students are personally responsible to review the following general academic rules and regulations. If students have questions about particular regulations, they should contact their academic dean's office for clarification.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Researching ethically is also researching efficiently.

  • Start your research early; give yourself time to research carefully.
  • Note the sources you use when you use them so you don't have to go back later and try to find them. 
  • Distinguish between main argument and minor points/examples
  • Use your own words (paraphrase)
  • Use a Citation Manager, such as Refworks, EndNote, or Zotero, to manage your citations and cite while you write.

Why use sources?

  • Sources help you build your arguments. 
  • Sources help you verify your claims. 
  • Sources show that you are aware of the work of others in the field.

Research is a conversation among people in a given academic field. Sources are a way for you to participate in a research conversation since you are acknowledging and responding to the work of others in the field. 

  • Take good notes - You won't be able to paraphrase effectively if you don't fully understand the material
  • Keep track of your citation information - This will help you prevent unintentional plagiarism
  • Use key words in your notes - Key words can help you recall how you want to use the text in your paper and what the key points are in the text. Since you'll often read material well before you start writing your paper, you'll want to leave a yourself a trail of breadcrumbs, so to speak, to help you recall main points and key ideas that you had. 
  • Check your paraphrase against the original - Make sure your paraphrase doesn't copy the original text's structure or rely too heavily on synonyms.  You can use this online resource to check on how successful your paraphrase is: Paraphrase Self-Test