Avoiding Plagiarism in your Research Report
“Plagiarism is the act of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation as that author’s work as one’s own, as not by crediting the original author.”
With the easy access to online resources, it is very easy to obtain information and copy and paste that information into a research paper, essay, or any other document that you might be preparing. “If you use an author’s specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source,” and even if you use your own words, you must document the source of the idea came from another author or source.
References:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism (Links to an external site.)
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_plagiarism.html (Links to an external site.)
Discussion Question:
Your instructor has given you a research paper to write. You are instructed to write this paper in APA 7 format. You have come across a source that you want to cite in your paper from the Web site: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-hardware-basics-channel.htm (Links to an external site.) from which you will take a direct quote.
What steps would you take to ensure that this source is cited correctly? Refer to pages WD 100 – WD 112 of your textbook for more information on creating citations for a research paper. What would this reference look like on the Works Cited page? Use the Insert Citations in Word to format this source and include it as part of your discussion post.
Grading: (Refer to the rubric for grading. Your first post needs to be posted by Thursday night to count as a timely post.)
Your initial post: Your post and responses should be thorough and thoughtful. Support your statement with examples, experiences, or references. You are, however, encouraged to be brief – keep each post and response to one or two short paragraphs. Also, keep in mind that your fellow learners will be reading and responding to you.
Posting to at least 2 other students by Sunday: Just posting an “I agree” or “Good ideas” will not be considered adequate. Make sure that you address the question, problem, or situation as presented for discussion in all your posts and responses. This does not mean you should not extend the topic but do not stray from the topic.
Finally, discussions occur when there is dialogue. So, build upon the posts and responses of other learners to create discussion threads. Make sure you revisit the discussion forum and respond (if necessary) to what other learners have posted to your initial responses.
Classmate response
Erik
To avoid plagiarism and insure I cited an article correctly I would first check to see if the article offered a citation. A lot of articles offer citations but some of them you have to change the formatting depending on the requested format per assignment. If the article did not offer a citation, then I would read the article and obtain the required information to create a citation in APA format. Then I would enter the information into the reference citations area in the ribbon. At the end of this sentence is how the end of the quote from the source would appear in your paper (Brindle, 2014). Below is how the citation should be presented on a works cited page in APA 7 formatting.
Works Cited
Brindle, B. (2014, November 1). Is your computer built to break. Retrieved from HowStuffWorks.com: https://computer.howstuffworks.com/is-your-computer-built-to-break.htm
Functions, everywhere assignment
As you learn some of the different Excel functions, you will see that this is a very powerful program. And we are only scratching the surface of this program. Functions are very powerful tools that can enable us to perform simple and complex calculations.
Discussion Question:
Locate the Function Library group from the Formulas tab. Search through the different categories (Financial, Logical, etc.) and choose a function from one of the categories that interest you. Do a little research and describe what the function does and when it can be used. If others have posted before you, check what they have posted so you do not duplicate a function that another student has already posted.
You can search on the Internet and locate sites such as https://support.office.com/en-us/article/excel-functions-by-category-5f91f4e9-7b42-46d2-9bd1-63f26a86c0eb (Links to an external site.) to help you determine some of these functions. After doing your research, post your findings and describe what the function does and when it can be used. Again, do not use a function that another student has already posted.
Grading: (Refer to the rubric for grading. Your first post needs to be posted by Thursday night to count as a timely post.)
Your initial post: Your post and responses should be thorough and thoughtful. Support your statement with examples, experiences, or references. You are, however, encouraged to be brief – keep each post and response to one or two short paragraphs. Keep in mind that your fellow learners will also be reading and responding to you.
Posting to at least 2 other students by Sunday: Just posting an “I agree” or “Good ideas” will not be considered adequate. Make sure that you address the question, problem, or situation as presented for discussion in all your posts and responses. This does not mean you should not extend the topic but do not stray from the topic.
Finally, discussions occur when there is dialogue. So, build upon the posts and responses of other learners to create discussion threads. Make sure you revisit the discussion forum and respond (if necessary) to what other learners have posted to your initial responses.
Castella response
I am absolutely TERRIBLE at math, so of course, I am going to have to pick a Math/Trig function. I know that there are much harder math problems to solve out there than this but I’m going to chose the ROUNDDOWN/ROUNDUP functions. These functions can round up or down in a fraction of a second, when it would take us a good fifteen minutes to round every number.
The ROUNDDOWN function is found under “Excel Math and Trigonometry Functions” on the Function tab. The ROUNDUP function can be found at the same location given their similarities. Their purposes are quite simple; the ROUNDDOWN rounds a number down, towards zero. The ROUNDUP rounds a number up, away from zero.
The syntax for these functions to work are simple as well. Rule One: Any real number that you want rounded up or down is required. Rule Two: The number of digits that you desire to round is required.
As I stated opening my discussion, I am quite terrible at math so I love all of the math and trig functions that save me the work and headache. I look forward to learning more about other functions that make life easier in this class!
Erik response
I would have to say that my favorite function would fall under the statistical category. I would say that the AVERAGE function stands out the most to be. The ability to simplify the process to get an average instead of breaking out a calculator and figuring is out yourself is extremely time saving and beneficial.
In order to access this function, you first have to click the formulas tab. Then you will look into the function library, select the more functions drop down. Then you will click the arrow on the one that states statistical, a drop-down list will appear, and you will select the second one that states AVERAGE.
The AVERAGE syntax is simple to use, and you only need to fill out one of the two requested boxes. The Number1 box is required, this box is requesting which cells you are trying to find the average two. It will allow you to find the average in a maximum of 255 numerical arguments. The Number2 box is optional, you would use this box if there is a second set of numerical arguments you would like to find the average to. This box also has a restriction of a maximum of 255 numerical arguments aloud.
I never knew the available functions and capabilities in excel. All the functions are great depending on what you need. It is hard to choose one single function that is the best. All the available functions are extremely beneficial and cuts down the time spent creating a presentation.
