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thesis plagiarism statement

Each pamphlet deals with a specific writing situation. Most pamphlets are available in html and pdf versions. To read the pdf versions, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Please note that the pdf versions are formatted to be printed front and back on legal-length paper which is then folded into thirds, creating a pamphlet like those which students and faculty members can also pick up in WTS in the Learning Commons on the first floor of the West tower in the Wells Library. Faculty members may contact WTS to order paper copies for their classes; call 855-6738. Help with citing (APA, Chicago, MLA) (This link leads to a page at the IU Libraries Web site.) “Doctoral Dissertations and Proposals: Social Sciences and Humanities”: html, pdf “How to Write a Thesis Statement”: html, pdf, or watch the video “Paragraphs and Topic Sentences”: html, pdf “Personal Statements and Application Letters”: html, pdf “Plagiarism: What It Is and How To Avoid It”: html, pdf “Proofreading for Common Surface Errors”: html, pdf “Proofreading for Spelling Errors”: html, pdf “Taking an Essay Exam”: html, pdf “Using Evidence”: html, pdf “Using Outlines”: html, pdf “Writing Abstracts”: html, pdf “Writing Book Reviews”: html, pdf “Writing Conclusions”: html, pdf “Writing Resumes and Cover Letters”: html, pdf  .
What this handout is about This handout explains what plagiarism is and outlines steps students can follow to avoid plagiarizing. What is plagiarism? At UNC, plagiarism is defined as “the deliberate or reckless representation of another’s words, thoughts, or ideas as one’s own without attribution in connection with submission of academic work, whether graded or otherwise.” (Instrument of Student Judicial Governance, Section II.B.1.). Because it is considered a form of cheating, the Office of the Dean of Students can punish students who plagiarize with course failure and suspension. Full information can be found on the UNC Honor System page. Why are my instructors so concerned about plagiarism? In order to understand plagiarism, it helps to understand the process of sharing and creating ideas in the university. All knowledge is built from previous knowledge. As we read, study, perform experiments, and gather perspectives, we are drawing on other people’s ideas. Building on their ideas and experiences, we create our own. When you put your ideas on paper, your instructors want to distinguish between the building block ideas borrowed from other people and your own newly reasoned perspectives or conclusions. You make these distinctions in a written paper by citing the sources for your building block ideas. Providing appropriate citations will also help readers who are interested in your topic find additional, related material to read—in this way, they will be able to build on the work you have done to find sources. Think of it this way: in the vast majority of assignments you’ll get in college, your instructors will ask you to read something (think of this material as the building blocks) and then write a paper in which you analyze one or more aspects of what you have read (think of this as the new structure you build). Essentially, your instructors are asking you to do.
When selecting a topic for a paper, the writer should consider the assignment or purpose. The writer must also be knowledgeable about the topic or be in a position to perform any necessary research. The subject should be specific and be of interest to the author. If the writer has interest in the matter, his or her work will be more enjoyable. The writer should then ask him- or herself what they know about the topic and where they can reasonably find information pertaining to the topic. Conducting some research will provide the writer with key words and ideas about the subject. The next step is to formulate a thesis statement.Developing a Thesis StatementThe thesis statement should be precise. The important terms that will drive the paper should be included in this statement. The statement is often only one sentence, but can be more than one. The thesis statement will be the guide for the layout of the rest of the paper. The reader will know exactly what information the paper will address from the statement. It is the writer's analysis of the topic. The body of the paper must support the stance or idea made in the statement.Vague thesis statements are weak and ineffective:Vague Thesis Statement: Pride and Prejudice was a wonderful love story.Specific Thesis Statement: In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin successfully contrasted the differences in the lifestyles between the social classes of 19th Century England.Vague Thesis Statement: People who eat too many fatty foods will have high cholesterol.Specific Thesis Statement: Many factors, such as heredity, diet, and exercise play a role in a person's cholesterol levels.In the first specific thesis statement, the writer can expand the body of the paper by listing the differences in the lifestyles of the classes in that time period in England. In the second specific thesis statement, the author can expand the thesis.
Date published November 5, 2014 by Shane Bryson. Date updated: September 17, 2015Not to be confused with a thesis (a long paper written at the end of a degree), a thesis statement is a statement of the central argument of an essay—it usually appears near the end of the introduction, but everything in an argumentative academic essay serves the thesis statement. Almost without exception, any essay that makes an argument requires a thesis. Example of a thesis statmentThe simplest way to find your thesis statement is to answer a simple question:What claim will your essay try to convince your reader of?The answer to this question forms your thesis statement.Just having a thesis statement is not enough, however. You need a good thesis statement. A good thesis statement takes the form of a declarative statement; it is contentious and interesting; it is precise and concise; and it is unified and coherent.The components of a good thesisDeclarative statementAs the name suggests, a declarative statement declares something to be the case. Notice that this means that thesis statements cannot take the form of questions. Instead, they take the form of answers. Examples include the following:The sky is blue.Vanilla ice cream is the best kind.For better or worse, George Bush Jr. changed the world.The poem uses images of hooks and eyes to imply both security and danger.The poem shows the contradictory feelings of the speaker; the images imply security (as with the hook and eye of a bra) and danger (as with a fish hook entering an eyeball).The poem uses images of hooks and eyes to show the contradictory feelings of the speaker, since the images simultaneously imply security (as with the hook and eye of a bra) and danger (as with a fish hook entering an eyeball).All of these count as declarative statements, but only the last counts as a good thesis. I’ll explain why with reference to.
The papers you have published and that my be under review in a journal require permission to rproduce. It is therefore necessary to write to the journals and ask for permission to reproduce the contents in a thesis. I have heard of journals that refuse but they are very few. What you should remember, however, is that the copyright usually covers the final product or versions of the manuscript that have been altered as a result of work done within the journal, in other words gone through or in some stage of review. It would therefore be safe to reproduce your original submitted manuscript. You will need to acknowledge the permissions in your thesis (e.g. if you include a list of published paers and manuscripts in prep.). All this may seem complicated but I have not experienced any publisher that has refused reproduction (either of a reprint or the text itself) in a thesis. After all, publishers live off of scientists writing papers and a PhD candidate (and scientists involved with her/him) is another customer to put it bluntly. It would therefore potentially be pretty self-destructive to refuse use of materials for a thesis with very limited distrubution. Under any circumstances, please contact publishersand tell them what you intend to do andaskfor permission. Also check on the copyrights (which you usually sign at some point during the publication process. It is better safe that sorry that applies. And, I repeat, I would be surprised if you are given a no. EDIT: A good way to find out what your journal adheres to is ot use the SHERPA/RoMEO site classification for self-archiving. They use a four part classification as follows: green - can archive pre-print and post-print or publisher's version/PDF blue - can archive post-print (i.e. final draft post-refereeing) or publisher's version/PDF yellow - can archive pre-print (i.e. pre-refereeing) white - archiving not.
A thesis statement is a sentence (or sentences) that expresses the main ideas of your paper and answers the question or questions posed by your paper. It offers a quick and easy-to-follow summary of what the paper will be discussing and what you as a writer are setting out to tell them. The kind of thesis that your paper will have will depend on the purpose of your writing. General Thesis Statement Tips A thesis statement generally consists of two parts: your topic, and then the analysis, explanation(s), or assertion(s) that you're making about the topic. The kind of thesis statement you write will depend on what kind of paper you're writing. In some kinds of writing, such as narratives or descriptive essays, a thesis statement is less important, but you may still want to provide some kind of statement in your first paragraph that helps to guide your reader through your paper. A thesis statement is a very specific statement -- it should cover only what you want to discuss in your paper, and be supported with specific evidence. The scope of your paper will be determined by the length of your paper and any other requirements that might be in place. Generally, a thesis statement appears at the end of the first paragraph of an essay, so that readers will have a clear idea of what to expect as they read. You can think of your thesis as a map or a guide both for yourself and your audience, so it might be helpful to draw a chart or picture of your ideas and how they're connected to help you get started. As you write and revise your paper, it's okay to change your thesis statement – sometimes you don't discover what you really want to say about a topic until you've started (or finished) writing.  Just make sure that your final thesis statement accurately shows what will happen in your paper. Analytical Thesis Statements In an analytical paper, you are breaking down an issue.



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