An Example for Avoiding Plagiarism in Identifications

Take notes on your reading, and then write your

identification from your notes with your book closed!

Exact Original Source

The identification item is Cazuela from Living Theatre by Edwin Wilson, p. 218:

In the back wall opposite the stage, above the main entranceway in the yard, was a gallery known as the cazuela, or "stew pot." This was an area where unaccompanied women could sit; it had its own separate entrance and was carefully guarded to prevent men from entering. Above the cazuela, there was a row of boxes for local government officials; above these boxes was a larger gallery for the clergy, which may also have been divided to provide another section for unescorted women. At the back of the patio, on one side of main entrance, was a refreshments box, the alojero, from which food and drinks were sold.

Examples of Plagiarized Identifications

If phrases are borrowed (verbatim from the source), then you need quotation marks and a citation at the end of the sentence. The following identification has a number of borrowed phrases (marked in bold); they would be plagiarized without quotation marks:

The cazuela was a gallery opposite the stage at the back wall of the Spanish theatres, which stood above the main entranceway. This "stew pot" was where unaccompanied women could watch the show after they came in from their own separate entrance.

Only changing and realigning a few words in the original source would be considered plagiarism of structure. The underlined phrases that follow are not significantly different from the original to be considered appropriate paraphrasing:

This was done to keep men from getting in and was well guarded. Officials from the town and religious people sat in a row of seats above the cazuela, and some women without escorts may have sat in the section with the clergy.

Taking Notes

To avoid the temptation of copying from your reading, try taking notes on a separate card or paper, like the following examples:

- women without an escort could watch from a gallery in the back (like the balcony in our theatres)

- why weren't women allowed to watch from anywhere in the theatre?

- men must have walked into the entranceway and then looked up as they passed under the women in their cazuela - keeping them caged like that must have made them more attractive.

- the cazuela was furthest from the action of the play - not the greatest seats!

- cazuela means stew pot (possibly because it meant "trouble"? Something hot?)

- women had to enter from an entrance separate from everyone else (so that they wouldn't be seen coming in?; to keep them safe?)

- the cazuela was guarded so that men couldn't get to the women; there must have been problems in the past with men trying to get in!

- above the women were the priests and the local officials; a man would have to be pretty bold, or wildly in love, to attempt to get into the cazuela!

Identification Written from the Notes

When you write your identification from these notes, you will be speaking with your own voice, explaining in your own words why you think this concept is important. But since you did take the ideas from another writer, you would still include a citation!

Where women sat in Spanish theatres says a lot about the post-Islamic attitudes toward them during the "Golden Age," and it clearly shows that women got the worst seats in the house. The cazuela was a separate gallery for women who did not come with a man to the Spanish corrales. Why women should have been kept separate was perhaps to protect them from the advances of men (guards were posted) or more probably to keep them under control (the name means "stew pot"). Control is certainly a factor when the women were also brought in from a different entrance and seated directly below the priests and officials of the town so that no one could raid the cazuela without the mayor or "god" intervening (Wilson 218).

Bibliographic entry

Your source finally needs to be included at the end with the author, title, and publication information:

Wilson, Edwin, and Goldfarb, Alvin. Living Theatre. 3rd edition. Boston: McGraw Hill Publishing Company, 2000.