To quote or not to quote?

Why you shouldn't copy work

• If you copy something then the chances are that you do not (and will not) understand it.
• When you come to revise for the exam, the chances are you will not have a clue what the information means.
• Copying is wrong. Copying someone else's work can be illegal and it is a form of stealing. You could get into serious trouble.
• It's not fair on the person who did the work. Why should they have to work hard for you?

Using or copying?

The difference between using someone else's work and copying is difficult to judge. It's OK to re-word what is in a text book. This helps you to understand it. It's not OK, though, to copy it. This helps no-one.

Working together

Working with someone, such as a classmate, is also OK. As long as you write up your work separately, it's good to share ideas and discuss things with other people - even if you reach the same conclusions.

How to quote

Sometimes it's necessary to quote from books, especially when you are doing coursework. This is fine. Just make sure that you say where you got the quote or information from.

When you do this include:

• The name of the book (underlined)
• The author
• The page number
• If you go into the Sixth Form, you will need to say who the publisher is and when the book was printed, but don't worry about this now.

This is called citing. The examiner (or your teacher) will be impressed that you have cited from work and that you have done some research.

If you don't ask and you are suspected of copying, you could be told to redo the work. Worse, if the examiner spots a cheat then you could fail the whole GCSE.

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