Plagiarism and How to
Avoid It
Success Center
What is Plagiarism?
• According to Aaron (2007) in The Little, Brown
Compact Handbook, the word “plagiarism”
derives from a Latin word meaning “to kidnap
or abduct.”
• Plagiarism is stealing someone else’s work and
passing it off as your own.
• Plagiarism can have serious consequences.
Plagiarism in Other Cultures
• In many other cultures, plagiarizing is
encouraged because it demonstrates familiarity
and respect for the work of noted writers.
• However, in the United States and at Columbia
Southern University, plagiarism is considered
fraud.
Intentional / Deliberate Plagiarism
• Includes:
– Directly copying from a source
without documenting it or putting it
in quotation marks
– Summarizing or paraphrasing a
source without documenting it
– Turning in a paper that has been
bought, written by another student,
or copied from another source
Intentional vs. Unintentional
Plagiarism
• Intentional / Deliberate Plagiarism
includes:
– Faking a citation
– Cutting and pasting a paper from a
variety of sources
– Paying for a paper does not mean
the student owns it; the paper is still
considered plagiarized because it
was not written by the student.
Intentional Plagiarism
• This is an example of a plagiarized piece of work. The
source is not recognized, and it is not the author’s
original thought.
• This work comes from the Wall Street Journal.
Intentional / Deliberate Plagiarism
• This is an example of deliberate plagiarism.
• The information is not paraphrased, and the
author cited is not the original author. This is
marked by the red arrow.
Non-Plagiarism
• This is the same paragraph, condensed and with
proper APA citation.
• The blue arrows show citation with a signal phrase
• The yellow arrow shows citation at the end of the
sentence.
Non-Plagiarism - Paraphrasing
• One way to avoid plagiarism is to
write a paraphrase or summary.
• You still must cite paraphrases and
summaries because the
information is not your own.
Non-Plagiarism – Example from www.indiana.edu
Unintentional / Accidental Plagiarism
• Includes:
– Working in groups and submitting the
same answers as other students
– Forgetting to place quotation marks
around a direct quotation
– Omitting an in-text citation for a
summary or a paraphrase
– Omitting an in-text citation for the
ideas of a writer
What are the Consequences of
Plagiarism?
• A failing grade
• Suspension from school
• Expulsion
• Termination of employment
Plagiarism and CSU
• If you are caught plagiarizing at CSU, you
will be put into a class with the focus of
teaching students not to plagiarize.
• Students have three chances. If they
plagiarize more than three times, they
may face expulsion from CSU.
How is Plagiarism Detected?
• Many assignments at CSU are submitted
through SafeAssign. This website searches
published databases of written texts to
determine the percentage of a paper that has
been plagiarized.
• If professors suspect plagiarism, they may
search the course textbook or online.
Professors simply type the phrase or sentence
they believe is plagiarized and then check
available matches.
• Try this yourself, and you will see how easy it is
to detect plagiarism.
How Can Plagiarism Be Avoided?
• Cite any ideas that are not your own.
– CSU requires that you use APA style to document
sources.
– Citations help readers to locate the source that was
used in a paper and from where in the source the
material was taken.
How Can Plagiarism Be Avoided?
• Do not cite the following:
– Your own thoughts, observations, results,
conclusions, or analyses
– Common knowledge, commonsense,
knowledge that is standard and known by
most people
– Standard information may include dates and
historical events but does not include a
writer’s commentary on the events.
How Can Plagiarism Be Avoided?
• Do cite the following:
– Any fact or idea that is not your own,
not common knowledge, and not
standard information
– Summaries and paraphrases
– Direct quotations
– A summary, paraphrase, or quotation
of a writer’s use of a second writer’s
work
Created and Edited by the
Success Center
Should you have further questions,
don’t hesitate to contact the CSU
Success Center @ 1-877-875-0533!