Pentucket Regional Middle School
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Documenting Resources (Giving Credit)
Plagiarism is using another writer's thoughts or words as if they were your own, without giving proper credit. When you write a research paper, you will, of course, gather a lot of information. Much information is considered to be common knowledge, information that most people probably already know. It is not necessary to give credit (create a bibliography) for information that is common knowledge, but it is important to know  when to give credit for another person's ideas, so you can avoid plagiarism.

You should give credit in your research paper when:

  • You copy information directly from another source without changing the wording.
  • You write the information in your own words, but it contains important ideas or key words taken from someone else's writing.

When in doubt, give credit!

Creating a Bibliography
A bibliography lists the books, articles, and other sources of information that you use in your report in alphabetical order and is usually listed on a separate page at the end of your report. Always follow your teacher's instructions when creating your bibliography. You can also use the following examples as a guide.

General Rules

  • List the sources in alphabetical order by the author's last name.
  • Double-space the information.
  • Indent the second line of each source 1/2 inch or five spaces.
  • Underline titles of books and magazines.
  • Put the titles of articles in quotation marks.

Sample Bibliography Entries
Non-Internet Sources

A Book with One Author

Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. New York: Scholastic, 1997.

A Book with Two or Three Authors

Allensworth, Carl, Dorothy Allensworth and Clayton Rawson. The Complete Play Production

        Handbook. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.

An Encyclopedia Article

Marshall, Donald G. "American Literature". World Book Encyclopedia. 2001 ed.
A Magazine Article

  Miller, Samantha. "G-Rated Revolutionary". People. February 2003: 111-112.

Sample Bibliography Entries
Internet Sources

Article within a Website

United Press International. "North Korea Denies Involvement in Drug Trade." ABC Clio World

       Geography. 2 May 2003. Retrieved: 6 May 2003  http://www.worldgeography.abc-clio.com/.
General Website

CNN.com.  Retrieved: 6 May 2003 http://www.cnn.com.