Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success

by Charles Lipson

As college deans and faculty are well aware, cheating and plagiarism have become an epidemic. Some students deliberately download papers, while others break rules they simply don't understand. Unfortunately, there have been no reliable guides to aid students, faculty, and teaching assistants in navigating these challenging issues. Now, there's help. Charles Lipson, a distinguished scholar and teacher who has coached thousands of students in the basics of honest work, provides clear, accessible, and often humorous advice on all aspects of college studies, from papers and exams to study groups and labs.

In the first part of the book, Lipson outlines three core principles of academic honesty and explores how these principles inform all aspects of college work. He discusses plagiarism in detail, outlining an ingenious note-taking system and offering guidelines for quoting and paraphrasing. Careful attention is paid to online research, including the perils of "dragging and dropping" text without proper citation. These chapters include numerous tips, all highlighted for students, on how to work honestly and study effectively.

The second part of the book gives a full account of citation styles in the humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences, as well as in pre-professional studies. Filled with examples, these chapters show students exactly how to cite books, journals, edited volumes, Web sites, online publications, and much more—in every citation style imaginable.

By clearly communicating the basic principles of academic honesty and exploring these principles in action, Doing Honest Work in College promotes genuine learning and academic success. This must-have reference empowers faculty and students to address questions about academic honesty before problems arise. It will be the book students turn to for advice from their first class to their final exam.

Genres: School, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2004

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of academic integrity and citing source correctly. The chapters on the specific styles are very thorough, though a couple of them are out of date. However, the Part 1, Chapter 5, and Chapter 15 are pretty timeless in their presentation.

[Lam Opal Huang · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is pretty much useless after the first chapter. After the first chapter, he is just repeating the same points using different wording, and illustrate examples at a level of grade school teaching. Very disappointed, especially this is the book that was given to every graduate student in the department on our orientation day.

[Christopher Hurtado]

Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success by Charles Lipson (2004)