Plagiarism
Merriam-Webster defines “plagiarism” in two ways: 1) to steal and pass off (the ideas or
words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source; and
2) to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an
existing source (www.m-w.com). Many people consider themselves basically “honest”
people yet see no wrong in quoting another person word-for-word without giving them
proper credit for it--but the dictionary defines this as “stealing.” Plagiarism, like other
forms of academic dishonesty, can cost you your grade for the assignment or the class, can
cost a fee, and even result in expulsion from the school! Don’t risk it!
Sometimes, plagiarism is accidental or a result of laziness and not necessarily an
intentional act. Either way, plagiarism carries with it stiff penalties. Your instructor is
trained to recognize and find plagiarism and is bound to report it, so don’t think it is okay
to occasionally let it slide.
Here are four types of plagiarism that are commonly found in writing:
Direct Plagiarism: This is when you quote someone else’s words and pass it off as your
own. If you quote someone and fail to use quotation marks and give credit to whomever
first said it, you are stealing his/her words and trying to make your reader think they are
yours. This also applies to IDEAS as well as words. Give credit where credit is due. After
all, you wouldn’t want someone else stealing your words and ideas and getting credit for
your work.
Paraphrase Plagiarism: Sometimes this is intentional, but it can also be accidental at
times. Paraphrase plagiarism is when you are trying to put someone else’s words in your
own words but don’t really get far enough away from the original wording. If you have
problems with this, review the handout about paraphrasing or review it in your handbook.
The best way to avoid this is to read the original words, close the book, then act as if
someone just asked you to explain it. Sometimes it takes more words than the original,
sometimes less. Either way is okay. The most important thing is to make sure the idea
remains the same but the words and structure are yours. You will still need to cite your
source, but there is no need for quotation marks if you are paraphrasing.
Mosaic Plagiarism: This type of plagiarism is like an interweaving of your words and
ideas with the original author’s words and ideas and trying to pass them off as your own. It
is a mixture of Direct Plagiarism and Paraphrase Plagiarism. It is not enough to take
someone’s words and simply replace a few words with synonyms, neither is it enough to
break the original quote into pieces and add your words to it and patch them together. It
must be entirely your work or you must properly give credit to the original author using
quotation marks around the quoted areas.
Insufficient Acknowledgment Plagiarism: You must cite your source EVERY TIME you
borrow a piece of information. Whether it is a quote, a statistic, a name, an idea, a date, a
technical term that is being defined—anything that is not common knowledge to all
readers—it MUST BE PROPERLY CITED with in-text citations AND at the end of the
paper on the Works Cited page.
There is another type of plagiarism. Having someone else write your paper is blatant and
purposeful academic dishonesty. Sometimes, students feel overwhelmed and desperate
and they think they won’t get caught. They think there is no way to prove that a friend or
relative wrote it for you. It is more difficult to prove, but also carries with it stiffer
penalties if caught. Furthermore, it will not help you down the line in other classes when
you have passed your classes dishonestly but never gained the skills from those classes.
You will have many in-class essays in your academic career for which there will be no one
there to help you. In addition, if your instructor suspects someone has written your
assignment for you, he/she may assign in-class writing assignments to compare with your
work written out of class. Don’t think that you can’t be caught just because it seems harder
to prove.
The bottom line is that plagiarism is stealing and is not worth the risk. Avoid it at all costs!