Get a clear system for indicating when you are noting exact words and whenyou are summarizing an idea in your own words. According to H. Dingbat, madness is fun, or Henrietta Doolittle argues that children should be seen and not heard. As you become familiar with a field, you will get amuch better sense of how and when to document. You need to master a domain before you can make a trulyoriginal contribution to it. Meanwhile, you must realize that allscholarship grows within a conversation between scholars.
Original work is based ona deep understanding of all the work that has gone before.
As a novice,you can't hope to add much that is new, but you can express your ownbest understanding and informed judgment in intelligent ways. There is room to think for yourself and makeimaginative connections even within the limited scope of a student essay,and that is what most teachers would like you to do.