Art 150, 151, 152: Painting I, II, III: Evaluate & Cite Your Sources

An extremely important part of the research process is evaluating your sources.  With each source, you want to answer questions such as:

• Who is the author and what is their expertise, authority and background in the area they are writing on? 

• Does the information look accurate? How can you tell?
  

• Is it relevant to your research topic? 

• Is it current enough or is the date not important? 
  
  
• Is the information biased?  How can you tell?

For help with evaluating all types of sources, check out the tutorials below and watch the short video.

What is plagiarism?

•  When you use someone else's words, opinions or ideas without giving credit to the source;

•  When you use facts, statistics, graphics, drawings, or any other type of information that is not considered common knowledge without giving credit to the source.

•  When you paraphrase someone else's words without giving credit to the source.

Plagiarizing someone else is a violation of academic integrity.  It can lead to very serious consequences, ranging from failing an assignment to failing a class and/or other disciplinary measures.  The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your source.  When in doubt, ask your instructor or a librarian.

Below are tutorials you may find useful to help you understand more about what constitutes plagiarism and how you can avoid it.