Avoiding plagiarism,
self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical
writing
The second part of the exercise will help you to determine
whether your rewritten version of the paragraph meets the requirements of an
appropriate paraphrase. For this
portion of the exercise, you are to place yourself in the same scenario as
described above: That you are writing a paper on the ecology and behavior of
fire ants and that you discover a paragraph that you wish to paraphrase in your
paper.
Below you will find several rewritten versions of the original paragraph. Please examine each version and determine whether it has been properly paraphrased or whether it constitutes an instance of potential plagiarism. As you consider each rewritten version, please assume that you have already incorporated it into your manuscript and that you are now reviewing that section of your paper for accuracy and proper scholarship. Immediately after you select your answer you will be given feedback as to the correctness of your responses. Remember that you should assume that your paraphrase has the proper reference notation indicating the source of the material.
ORIGINAL PARAGRAPH
“This study
examines whether workers of S. invicta are able to
assist their
mothers in colony usurpations. First we
tested
whether
[queens] of S. invicta are better able
to usurp colonies to
which their daughters have moved. Second, we tested whether
the effect of
daughters on usurpation success is due to familiarity
with the queen
or to genetic relatedness. Aggressive
behavior
during these usurpation attempts was
observed to determine if the
presence of
familiar or related workers influenced the aggressive
response
toward either the resident queen or the queen attempting
usurpation.”
REWRITTEN VERSION 1:
A study was conducted to examine whether workers of S. invicta can assist their mothers in colony usurpations. The first hypothesis tested was whether queens of S. invicta are better able to usurp colonies to which their daughters have moved. For the second hypothesis, the researchers tested whether the effect of daughters on usurpation success is due to familiarity with the queen or to genetic relatedness. The researchers observed aggressive behavior during these usurpation attempts to determine if the presence of familiar or related workers influenced the aggressive response toward either the resident queen or the queen attempting usurpation.
