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Plagiarism, LopesWrite & Most Common Formatting Errors

Plagiarism, LopesWrite & Most Common Formatting Errors

I am posting this as these are some of the most common assignment errors and concerns for plagiarism that have occurred throughout the past years of teaching at THE UNIVERSITY.

Currently THE UNIVERSITY uses the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. THE UNIVERSITY has APA resources in the Student Success Center as well as resources in the THE UNIVERSITY Library.  The APA Publication Manual and the THE UNIVERSITY resources are the only supported references by the University. Purdue OWL is not a supported resource by the University. Please ensure you are submitting according to APA style when the assignment directions call for them.   A title page is required for submissions which require APA style formatting.   You may choose to follow APA guidelines for professional papers which includes a running head in anticipation for completion of your scholarly project (see formatting of title pages in Chapter 2 of the APA Manual). An Author Note is not required on the title page. Reference lists need to be double checked for accuracy prior to submission (as I will be checking links).

The following includes some of the most common mistakes:

Format: Going significantly over or under the assignment word count. Points are reduced for either going over or under this requirement, there may also be a separate section on the rubric based on the assignment for word count. Not following correct indentation of the paragraphs or headings. Writing in the first person rather than 3rd person when opinion is not required for the rubric or student has not performed the research being presented in the assignment.

Spelling: points are reduced for distracting mistakes

Supporting details: not including citations to support information/writing of a section. If the rubric states area needs supporting details, students are not including citations to support the details of their writing.

APA/References: This is the area most of point reductions occur:

Currently THE UNIVERSITY uses the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. THE UNIVERSITY has APA resources in the Student Success Center as well as resources in the THE UNIVERSITY Library. The APA Publication Manual and the THE UNIVERSITY resources are the only supported references by the University, Purdue OWL is not a supported resource by the University. Please ensure you are submitting according to APA style when the assignment directions call for them.

1. Running Head: if you follow professional paper guidelines, ensure this is according to APA style. There are specifics regarding capitalization as well as number of characters allowed. (Section 2.8 & 2.18, APA, 2020).

2. Title/Cover page: Ensure the required elements are present, these requirements have changed since the 6th edition. In placing a professor’s/faculty member’s name on the title page, ensure you have provided the accurate information (e.g., Dr. or Professor), (Section 2.3, APA, 2020). An Author Note is not required on the title page.

3. Body of the text: this is the area most struggle on.

• A sample of a professional paper can be found starting on page 50 (APA, 2020)
• General writing rules of the English Language are to have at minimum 3 sentences in a paragraph. This writing rule will be used for grading of rubrics.
• APA writing is typically in the third person; me, myself, I, we and/or us, is all first person and should be used only where personal opinion is required per rubric.
• Abbreviation guidelines can be found in sections 6.24-6.31 (APA, 2020)
• Formatting of in-text citations (Sections 8.10-8.22, APA, 2020).
• Principles of paraphrasing (Section 8.23 & 8.24, APA, 2020).
• Students appear to be concerned about missing a citation. It is not APA format to cite the same author multiple times in a paragraph unless one of two things. 1. there is a new citation between or 2. if there is generalized information and then a direct quote – A sample of writing can be found in the Manual (Section 8.16, APA, 2020).
• Direct quotes need a page number, paragraph number, or section of original work. Principles of quotations can be found in the Manual (Sections 8.25-8.29, APA, 2020).
• Font, spacing and indentation are not consistent (Sections 2.19, 2.21 & 2.24 APA, 2020).
• It is not needed to restate the journal article titles or journal title in the body of the text as the citation will lead the reader to this information.
• Each and every piece of intellectual knowledge, which is not your own personal research, needs to be cited. If it is your personal observation, wording must be in the third person such as “this researcher has observed….” or something along that nature. If you are using someone’s intellectual property word for word without correct APA formatting, this is considered plagiarism – whether or not you have used a citation in the paragraph.   The Manual discusses plagiarism and self-plagiarism (Sections 8.2 & 8.3, APA, 2020).

4. Reference page most common concerns.

• Chapter 9 in the Manual is regarding the Reference List and Chapter 10 in the Manual is regarding Reference Examples (APA, 2020).
• Reference page is not on a new page, flush to top.
• Order of required elements is not correct.
• Not all required elements are found in the reference.
• Authors and year are not formatted according to APA.
• Capitalization in journal article titles are not according to APA.
• Formatting and capitalization of journal titles are not according to APA.
• Order of the references is not according to APA.
• Wikipedia references and the like are not considered scholarly work and will not be accepted as appropriate reference.
• All references in course are required to have a date and be within the past 5 years unless it is a primary sources such as the original theory written. The Manual discussed primary vs secondary sources (Section 8.6, APA, 2020).

I strongly encourage obtaining a copy of the APA manual, it will help you in your graduate studies going forward with appropriate references as per the Manual.