Is this common knowledge?

Question

Writing a college research paper here and unfortunately, I can only in summarize a few sources and must quote anything else I use. I have a LOT of quotes in my paper already and I don't want it to be entirely made up of quotes..but he said to be very careful to avoid plagiarisms or he would fail us.......................... so..

Fruits have pesticides on them and need to be washed off.

Pesticides can get into the water.

biodegradable wast doesn't necessarily break down in a landfill (doesn't everyone learn this in middle school????)

My paper is more like a clump of nicely arranged quotes.

suggestions???

Please!

Thank you!

Answer 1

.If you are doing a research paper, you study the research already done and report on it in your own words. It is not a report if you only string a whole lot of quotes together. You have to show how they are related , what was found, and how the next research advanced the body of knowledge. Then you make some kind of personal assessment.

You are plagiarising if you give any quote without acknowledging the source. You have been threatened with failure, which is what will happen if what you have written above is mainly quotes because you have not acknowledged any researcher at all. You have to put their names after what they have discovered.

Get some help from a tutor or lecturer. Do a substantial part of the essay and take it to someone to see if you are doing what is required. It is better to do it before you finish the paper, than to finish it and fail. Both take the same amount of work, but one is more productive and satisfying.

There is no substitute for hard work if you want to succeed in life and you cannot learn that lesson any earlier. I know. i am an old teacher !

Answer 2

Oh yeah that sucks.. Common knowledge doesn't account for anything.. or life experience... Yep essays are generaly made up entirely from referenced quotes

Answer 3

Don't be shy to go heavy on the quotes - teachers generally prefer that to editorializing because it shows that you recognize how little you personally may know about ... well, everything.  That's the currency of successful students - humility.