How do you find the original source of information for publishing a paper?

[nehs]

I approached a professor for publishing and he said he is currently working towards a book. I could contribute towards one of the chapters , he says. The chapters are basically case studies and most of the information is available in reports published by respective authorities.

How do I use this information to use towards my own chapter? I'm also concerned about plagiarism but then, again, no new research needs to be done. I'm confused about how to go about this whole publishing process.

Edited October 18, 2012 by nehs

[fuzzylogician]

I have to admit that I didn't understand exactly what the project is about or what it is that you are asked to do. Could you elaborate a bit more?

[nehs]

fuzzylogician, I know I messed up!!!

Well, the thing is i'm publishing a chapter for a book along with my professor. Most of the information for this chapter is existing, based on current investigations/reports, so my question is how can I make the information my own without going into plagiarism issues etc? are publicaitions always 100% original data and research?

[TakeruK]

I'm also confused about what your task is. It sounds like your professor is asking you to write a review chapter for his book? If so, then this could be considered a very lengthy review article. In review articles / chapters, almost no original data and research is done. So the answer to your last question is no, not all publications are 100% original data and research -- but usually there are specific journals that publish review articles (e.g. Annual Reviews), specific journals that will only publish original research, and some journals that are a hybrid.

I have never written a long review article for publication before (only for term papers in courses). I know there are others on here that have published these types of works. Perhaps they can provide more guidance and advice. But the simple answer to your first question is to cite everything that you take from other works. You cannot just copy and paste entire paragraphs from other authors though, of course. What I would do is to read some sample review articles in your field to get the sense of what these are like. Overall, your main task with this chapter would be to read everything you can find about the topic of the chapter. Then, your own chapter would be a summary of everyone's work to date. Although you won't be providing your own original research or data, this is still valuable work because you can provide context to all the studies previously done and also form connections. You won't be presenting the information as your own, instead, you are writing your interpretation of the sum of all the work that has been completed. The goal, I think, is to potentially spark new connections/ideas for people already studying the field as well as provide an introduction to major developments for those new to the field.

All this is assuming that you are actually writing a review chapter. Hope these thoughts were helpful!

[nehs]

TakeruK, you totally answered my questions. Thanks for helping me out(and interpreting my mess)! I really did not know how to work it(clearly, first time publishing LOL).

Well, yes, this is somewhat like a review chapter. So I believe I would have to read existing reports/information and then summarize everything into this chapter . Ofcourse, I would use appropriate citations.

[Max Sanders]

Nehs, be sure to use one of the plagiarism checkers before you submit your review for publishing. It is the best way to check if you cited everything correctly. There are loads of them, but I would advise http://plagiarismdetect.com. My prof uses that one, so it should work fine.

[selecttext]

you can write a synthesis of published data as long as it is cited and your work represents a  new contribution