Avoiding Plagiarism in Academic Writing

Analysis of In-Text Citations

This analysis aims to study the use of in-text citations in the article Narratives in Teacher Education written by Dolk and den Hertog (2008) taking into account the American Psychological Association (APA) manual, 6^th edition.

In this article, paraphrasing is clearly shown. If the author is going to paraphrase an idea from another writer, he/she has to make reference to the author and year of publication; and although it is not mandatory, the author can also add the page number. Examples of paraphrasing are:

“As Freudenthal (1991) stated, teaching and didactical experiences result from observing learning processes.” (p. 225)

“According to Freudenthal (1991, p.90) only paradigmatic observations are worth reporting”. (p. 222)

Furthermore, this article contains direct quotations. Direct quotations are used to repeat other author’s words verbatim. If the quotation is fewer than 40 words, it is displayed in quotation marks; and if the quotation is 40 words or more, it is displayed as a block quotation. Block quotations omit quotation marks and start on a new line with half inch from the left margin indentation. An example of block quotation that appears in the article on page 216 is:

Doyle and Carter (2003) saw narrative knowing as an important part of teacher education.

The key phrase here is that we, as human beings, live storied lives, that we story the experiences we have. Although several stories on any particular experience are possible, it is very difficult to story what we have not yet experienced. Moreover, although experience does not uniquely determine a story, all stories are constrained by the experiences upon which they are forged. However, experience is a troublesome, if not unruly, term in teacher education curriculum. Of course, calls for infusing field experience into teacher preparation are pervasive, and student teaching is often seen as the capstone of programmes, especially by students. Yet, teacher educators are often ambivalent about experience in the preparatory curriculum and even distrust it. There are, for example, prominent members of the teacher education community who have written of the miseducative consequences of field experience…. This distrust exists for several legitimate reasons, but for present purposes it can be said that this scepticism has led to an underestimation of the potency of direct experience in the stories our students create.

Another important aspect is the correct mention of authors. If the citation includes two or more authors within the text, the author of the article must use the conjunction and; but, if the authors’ surnames appear within parentheses, the author must use the & symbol. Examples are:

“Goffree and Dolk (1995) identified reflection, narration, and construction as being particularly important for teacher education”. (p.215)

“We will focus on one of these environments, namely MILE (multimedia interactive learning environment) (Dolk, Faes, Goffree, Hermsen, & Oonk, 1996)”. (p. 216)

All in all, the writers Dolk and den Hertog made good use of in-text citations in order not to plagiarize other authors’ words and they showed they carried out an in-depth investigation to support their ideas.

References

Dolk, M., & den Hertog, J. (2008). Narratives in Teacher Education. Interactive Learning Environments, 16(3), 215-229. doi: 10.1080/10494820802113970

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.