I hope Part 1 of the “Guide for Writing Legal Blog Posts” gave you a basic idea about what legal blog posts are and how you should structure one. In this post I talk about the following:
- Plagiarism, Paraphrasing and Quotations
- Sources
- Method of Creating Hyperlinks
- Plagiarism, Paraphrasing and Quotations:
The University of Oxford website defines plagiarism in the following way:
“Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement…..Plagiarism may be intentional or reckless, or unintentional.”
I am extracting certain important paragraphs from the website of University of Oxford for your convenience.
“At first it may seem very difficult to develop your own views, and you will probably find yourself paraphrasing the writings of others as you attempt to understand and assimilate their arguments. However it is important that you learn to develop your own voice. You are not necessarily expected to become an original thinker, but you are expected to be an independent one – by learning to assess critically the work of others, weigh up differing arguments and draw your own conclusions. Students who plagiarise undermine the ethos of academic scholarship while avoiding an essential part of the learning process.”
“If you are substantially indebted to a particular argument in the formulation of your own, you should make this clear both in footnotes and in the body of your text according to the agreed conventions of the discipline, before going on to describe how your own views develop or diverge from this influence.
On the other hand, it is not necessary to give references for facts that are common knowledge in your discipline. If you are unsure as to whether something is considered to be common knowledge or not, it is safer to cite it anyway and seek clarification.”
While editing student blog submissions I often come across blog pieces which are simply paraphrased versions of some other blog/article. Students make some minute changes and use synonymous words to save themselves from the wrath of the plagiarism checker. These students go till the extent of paraphrasing each and every line of a certain blog/article and even the blog pieces are structured in the exact same way as how the original author does. This is ridiculous and unacceptable.
I will again extract a relevant paragraph from the University of Oxford’s website to make my next point.
“A passing reference to the original author in your own text may not be enough; you must ensure that you do not create the misleading impression that the paraphrased wording or the sequence of ideas are entirely your own. It is better to write a brief summary of the author’s overall argument in your own words, indicating that you are doing so, than to paraphrase particular sections of his or her writing. This will ensure you have a genuine grasp of the argument and will avoid the difficulty of paraphrasing without plagiarising.”
Please use quotations if words or sentences have been taken verbatim from books/articles/blogs etc. You can see how I have used quotation marks above as I have extracted certain paragraphs from the website of University of Oxford. People assume that the words which are not within quotation marks are your own words and thinking. Once when I was the editor of my university’s student law journal I came across an article which was filled with quotations. To my horror I saw 70 percent of the article had only quotations. Never ever do this.
Now, I will tell you what I do personally to avoid plagiarism. Suppose, if I find a paragraph from a book and I think that the points that the author has mentioned strengthens my argument/arguments further, I read that paragraph two to three times. I understand the key points that the author is trying to make and then I close the book. I write in my own words the key points from the author’s work and then I link the author’s argument with my own topic and merge my own point of view with it. I write and rewrite my sentences until I am satisfied with it. There have been days when I have spent 3 hours to read articles and books so that I can write two sentences perfectly. Sounds tough? Yes, it is. But this is not undoable.
Do you want to know one little open secret? The more you read the better your work will become. Half of your job is done if you do your research well. If you think that reading 5 articles and 5 news websites makes you eligible to write 200 words on a certain topic, then you are wrong my friend. Also, while reading see how the other authors draft their sentences. Notice carefully how they start a paragraph and how they connect that paragraph with the previous paragraph/paragraphs and with the main topic. Don’t just read to find out points that will help you to write your own blog piece. Read to learn the art of writing. Students often tell me that they face problems while forming their own original opinions. No one can help you in resolving this problem unless you start reading extensively. And after you read reflect on what you have read. While forming original opinions can seem difficult in the beginning I assure you that reading and reflecting what you are reading are the only medicines which are available to treat this malady.
The website of Yale Poorvu Centre for Teaching and Learning provides excellent guidance to the students on writing and research. I am providing you 2 links below of the above mentioned website which will clear the doubts that you still have. Often I am asked the question of how much one should cite. Students become anxious to cite as they think that too many citations will drown their own voices. They often ask me the correct way to paraphrase someone’s work. While I have mentioned above how I paraphrase while writing a blog post but if you still need more guidance on this issue and on the topic of citations, then click on the links given below:
- Link 1 talks about the importance of citing sources.
https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/writing/using-sources/principles-citing-sources/why-cite
- Link 2 teaches you the correct way of paraphrasing.
- Sources:
Cite reliable sources and for god’s sake do not cite the Wikipedia for your legal blog posts. I am tired of repeating this point to beginners. Keep in mind that anyone can edit and contribute to Wikipedia articles. Also, make it a habit to cite good peer-reviewed journal articles and books published by reputed publishers. Newspaper articles can be cited when you want to introduce some facts in your blog post but always prefer good reputed newspapers which have a history of providing thorough and well-researched news to their readers. Newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post have a good reputation worldwide. Moreover, beginners please understand the difference between primary and secondary sources of law. Click here to know more about the different sources of law. Secondary sources can help a researcher to find relevant primary resources of law and have persuasive value.
- Method of Creating Hyperlinks:
Many legal blogs including the ILPS Blog accepts citations in the form of hyperlinks and do not allow the use of Bluebook, Oscola etc. But how exactly should you insert hyperlinks in the text of your blog piece? If you are using Microsoft Word to write your blog post then follow the steps given below.
Step 1: Select the word/words that you want to hyperlink and right-click on them. You will find the option called “Hyperlink”. Click on it.
Step 2: Now, one dialogue box will open and you will find the word “Address” there.
Step 3: Next step is to open the website which you want to cite and copy the URL of the website from the address bar.
Step 4: Now, paste the URL which you copied in the blank space beside the word “Address” (Refer to Step 2). Click OK.
Congratulations! You have hyperlinked your text. 
Clicking on the hyperlink should take the reader to the work of the original author.
Tip: Do not hyperlink entire sentences. Hyperlink two to five words. Hyperlinking one word is also fine.
Read Part 3 to know how to start your legal research for writing your dream blog post.