The following format is based on examples produced by the Writing Tutorial Services of Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. The original text is available through the Documenting the American South website.
The following ORIGINAL passage is taken from page 4 of The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches written by W.E.B. Du Bois:
The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife --this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America; for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors opportunity closed roughly in his face.
Here’s an UNACCEPTABLE paraphrase of the same passage:
The history of African Americans is a difficult history. By becoming “American,” African Americans risked losing part of their identity. They did not wish to impose their African culture on America, because America has much to teach the entire world, including Africa. He cannot blend into white Americanism, because he knows that Negros can also teach the world. He wants to be both Negro and American, without being discriminated against.
The preceding paragraph is considered plagiarism for two reasons:
