Sample APA Citation and Annotation:
Gabriel, T. (2018). For students in internet age, no shame in copy and paste. In S. Maasik & J. Solomon (Eds.), Signs of life in the USA: Readings on popular culture for writers (9th ed., pp. 59-65). Bedford/St. Martin's.
The idea that there is ‘nothing new under the sun” is front and center in this piece about the view of plagiarism in the digital age. Students who are digital natives have grown up in a world of music file sharing, screen grabs, and collective authorship on Wikipedia and are challenging the notions around originality and ownership of ideas. Music mashups and memes abound on the Internet and although these works are recognized as derivative, they are not seen as theft of other’s ideas. The author presents several anecdotes of students that have been caught plagiarizing and their responses which generally do not acknowledge that their actions were egregious. A counter argument suggest that students need more direction and instruction in handling Internet based content to absorb the importance of crediting others for their works while conceding that writing is difficult and requires practice. The piece provides advice on incorporating the ideas of others and citing sources while suggesting questions that students should ask themselves about the nature of sources and how they fit into one’s work product. Examples of source types found on a Works Cited page are provided which will help students recognize the types of sources that must be cited in their papers to avoid plagiarism.
