1.10 Lab assignment: Using the library and avoiding plagiarism

Introduction

Your big end-of-the-semester project will be a research poster on the topic of your choice. Don't worry, you have lots of time to decide on a subject that you might want to study in more depth than we will cover in class. This library assignment will introduce you to the services offered by the Cabrillo College library. The pages here will help you select a research topic, find information on it, evaluate the information you find for its scientific validity, and (if necessary) refine the topic so that you hit the sweet spot between not enough information and too much information.

In this course we are using the MLA (Modern Language Association) style for written reports, including your research poster. Pages in this assignment will show you how to format citations in the MLA style. There are pages in the Why We Cite Our Sources section that you may want to bookmark for future use. There is also a Cabrillo College MLA Style Citation Guide that will come in handy.

What you will do

One of the school librarians, Michelle Morton, will join us in lab on both Monday and Wednesday. We will bring out some laptops that you can use for the afternoon, or you can bring your own. Michelle will show you how to use OneSearch to find information on a topic of your choice. You will need this know-how when it's time to conduct research for your poster at the end of the semester.

At home, you will do this:

1. Read through all of the pages in the assignment and watch the short videos. Take note of which pages you think might be the most helpful when it's time to begin your research. For example, you might what to bookmark the Refining Your Research Topic page, in case you can't find that aforementioned sweet spot.
2. Hone your paraphrasing skills by paraphrasing the paragraph described below and submitting it to Canvas.

Paraphrasing

Just because you are not allowed to copy someone else's work and pass it off as your own, which is called plagiarism, does not mean that you are not allowed to use someone else's work as a source. When you encounter information in a book, journal article, web page (yes, even Wikipedia!), you are certainly allowed to use it. What you have to do is paraphrase the information using your own words. That doesn't mean you just swap a word here or there! You need to rewrite sentences and reorganize them within paragraphs. You can even reorganize the entire passage and shuffle paragraphs around. It is your responsibility to ensure that any assignment you turn in with your name consists of your work and not someone else's. And while your final passage will contain the content of the original, it should read as an entirely different bit of writing.

If that sounds daunting, don't worry. What you'll be turning in for this week's Lab assignment is some practice paraphrasing. It isn't always easy conveying information in your own words, which is why this practice will be helpful.

The following passage about the garibaldi (the state marine fish of California) is taken from the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website Links to an external site.:

The garibaldi lives as far north as Monterey Bay, but is especially common in the warmer waters of Southern California and the Channel Islands. The garibaldi eats sponges and algae that grow around its rocky home, as well as small animals such as tubeworms, nudibranchs and bryozoans. Its diet of sponges may contribute to its bright colors.

A garibaldi has a clear idea of exactly where its territory ends, and two males may be seen peacefully grazing less than two feet (0.6 meters) apart—as long as each remains on his own turf. The female garibaldi tends to be less protective of her territory, perhaps because it contains no eggs. Territoriality seems to be tied to the rocky reef—periodically, garibaldis gather without drama in the waters above the reef. These "kelp socials" seem to be a way for garibaldis to investigate each other and may help females choose their mates.

In the 1840s, an Italian named Giuseppe Garibaldi decided to start wearing bright red shirts as part of his personal style. He went on to fight for the reunification of Italy, became a general and died a national hero. So when biologists discovered a brilliant red-orange fish cruising the rocky reefs of California—one that sallied out to bare its teeth at any intruder—they knew exactly what to name it.

Your job is to rewrite these paragraphs using your own words. You want to convey the same information, but processed by you and expressed the way you would if you were writing an essay about the garibaldi. How would you describe the garibaldi to a relative who has never seen one before?

Type up your paraphrasing practice, convert the file to PDF, and submit it to Canvas.

Photo of library stacks by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Photo of desk by David Travis Links to an external site. on Unsplash Links to an external site.