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What is Plagiarism?
Dictionary definition:
“to steal and pass off (the ideas or
words of another) as one’s own
without crediting the source.”
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
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What Actions Constitute
Plagiarism?
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Copying another person’s writing
Paraphrasing or summarizing someone’s writing
Expressing someone’s original ideas, thoughts,
e-mail or conversation
Using photos or images, data, charts, graphs
without permission/credit
Buying, borrowing, stealing a paper
Hiring someone else to write your paper
USING OTHER PEOPLE’S WORDS AND IDEAS
WITHOUT GIVING PROPER CREDIT OR CITATION
NOTE: The original source does not need to be published or copyrighted
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Various Degrees of Plagiarism
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Direct plagiarism – copying someone’s words
exactly and deliberately without credit
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Unintentional plagiarism – Accidentally failing to
cite sources correctly, or copying exact wording,
paraphrasing (summarizing) without citing
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Collaborative plagiarism – working with
someone else on a paper, having someone write
your paper or letting someone turn your paper in
as theirs. Hiring someone to write a paper
(papermills)
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Self-plagiarism – using a previously written paper
as another assignment (without getting permission
from instructors)
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Direct Plagiarism Example!
Stephen Ambrose, Copycat: The latest work of a bestselling historian
isn't all his. The Daily Standard. January 14, 2002. By Fred Barnes
Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot
Down over Germany in World War II by Thomas Childers
The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over
Germany by Stephen Ambrose
• Thomas Childers, Wings of Morning, Page 83
"Up, up, up, groping through the clouds for what seemed like an
eternity. ... No amount of practice could have prepared them for what
they encountered. B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the
clouds all over the sky."
• Stephen Ambrose, The Wild Blue, Page 164
"Up, up, up he went, until he got above the clouds. No amount of
practice could have prepared the pilot and crew for what they
encountered—B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the
clouds over here, over there, everywhere."
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What Educators Are Doing to
Combat Plagiarism?
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Turnitin.com: http://www.turnitin.com
Did you know that Turnitin…
• is used by over a half-a-million instructors worldwide?
• is licensed by over 8500 high schools and colleges in 109 countries?
• supports Originality Reports and content searches in over 30
languages?
• processes up to 130,000 papers a day?
• has processed more than 90 million student papers total?
• is anticipated to reach over 100 million papers by October, 2009?
• integrates with all major course management systems?
• searches against over 12 billion pages of web content plus more than
80,000 subscription-based journals and periodicals?
From: Turnitin.com web site. Turnitin Quick Facts
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Why Some Students Plagiarize
(accidentally or otherwise)
• Poor note-taking and organizational skills.
(They do not make good notes on sources
and information in them.)
• Lack of knowledge about the rules for
quoting, paraphrasing and citing
information
• Poor time management
(They don’t leave enough time to complete
assignments.)
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How to Avoid Plagiarism 1
• Don’t procrastinate – allow time to research
and write your paper
• Develop a good note-taking system: record
information and take accurate notes
• Decide how to incorporate the information
into a paper: quote directly, paraphrase or
summarize
• Decide if the information is “common
knowledge” (a fact that most people know
and that is found in many sources)
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How to Avoid Plagiarism 2
• ALWAYS credit an author in the text of
your paper and provide an accurate citation
at the end
• Know the rules for crediting an author
correctly
• When in doubt, CITE
• Don’t worry about using "too many"
citations (it shows you did your research)!
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Techniques for Incorporating Source
Information into Your Papers
• Quoting
• Paraphrasing
• Summarizing
For these techniques you must credit the author by:
Including a parenthetical reference in parentheses at
the end of the last sentence
Example:
In Learning to Learn, Riedling defines copyright as "a legal
protection that provides the creator of a work with the sole right to
publish, reproduce, and sell that work." (79).
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Quoting Specifics:
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Copy and reproduce the exact words
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For short quotations (less than 4 lines):
–Mention the person’s name within the sentence
–Place text in quotation marks
–Use brackets [ ] to show changed wording of the original
–Use ellipses … to show omitted wording
–Give page # at end in parentheses
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For long quotations (more than 4 lines):
–Use block indent with citation
–Provide author and page # at end
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Be selective in using quotes. Use them to support
your own ideas.
Remember to “introduce” the quote and explain
why you are using it
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Quoting examples 1
Short sentence (using quotation marks):
Herrera explains that Frida Kahlo’s fantasy “was a product of
her temperament, life, and place; it was a way of coming to
terms with reality, not of passing beyond reality into another
realm.” (258)
Complete paragraph (indented no quotes):
Her art was not the product of a disillusioned
European culture searching for an escape from
the limits of logic by plumbing the subconscious.
Instead, her fantasy was a product of her
temperament, life, and place; it was a way of coming
to terms with reality, not of passing beyond reality
into another realm. (Herrera 258)
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Quoting examples 2
Change in wording (indicated by square
brackets):
The St. Martin's Handbook defines plagiarism as
"the use of someone else's words or ideas as
[the writer's] own without crediting the other
person." (Lunsford and Connors 602)
Examples from:
Lunsford, Andrea and Robert Connors. The New St. Martin’s Handbook.
New York: Bedford Books, 1999. Print.
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Transcribe the following quote correctly
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Write an intro. phrase using the author’s name
Use quotation marks to show the actual quotation
Change the 2nd television to “its” [ ]
Remove the extra words “I was informed” …
Identify the page number at the end in parentheses
Another possible source of guidance for
teenagers, I was informed, is television,
but television's message has always been
that the need for truth, wisdom and world
peace pales by comparison with the need
for a toothpaste that offers whiter teeth
and fresher breath.
Dave Barry, "Kids Today: They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do“ Page 89.
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Dave Barry observes that “another
possible source of guidance for
teenagers… is television, but [its]
message has always been that the
need for truth, wisdom and world peace
pales by comparison with the need for a
toothpaste that offers whiter teeth and
fresher breath.” (89)
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Paraphrasing Tips 1
Paraphrasing is useful because it:
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Helps you fully understand the content
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Demonstrates to your reader that you understand
Paraphrasing Tips:
• Take notes without referring to the book/article. Then
check the source for accuracy
• Rewrite the same information in your own words
• Include all the main points in the same basic order
• Do not add your own additional comments or
observations in the paraphrase
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Paraphrasing Tips 2
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Avoid using the same words or sentence structure
as the original
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Put words or phrases that you cannot paraphrase in
quotation marks
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The paraphrased piece should be about the same
length as the original
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Credit the author by writing:
– “According to John Smith…”
– “In his essay, Jack Sprat asserted…”
– “Mother Goose says…”
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Always add a reference in parentheses at the end
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Paraphrase Examples
Original:
While the Sears Tower is arguably the greatest achievement in
skyscraper engineering so far, it's unlikely that architects and
engineers have abandoned the quest for the world's tallest
building. The question is: Just how high can a building go?
Structural engineer William LeMessurier has designed a
skyscraper nearly one-half mile high, twice as tall as the Sears
Tower. And architect Robert Sobel claims that existing
technology could produce a 500-story building. From Ron
Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990): 15.
Paraphrase:
How much higher skyscrapers of the future will rise than the
present world marvel, the Sears Tower, is unknown. However,
the design of one twice as tall is already on the boards, and an
architect, Robert Sobel, thinks we currently have sufficient
know-how to build a skyscraper with over 500 stories
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(Bachman 15).
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Paraphrase Example
Original:
If you're coping with an illness or want to
exchange views about a medical topic, you'll
want to find your way to a newsgroup.
Despite the name, these are not collections
of news items. They are, in effect, virtual
bulletin boards open to anyone who cares to
participate. The messages generally consist
of plain text.
John Schwartz, “Newsgroups: sharing your
experiences.” Consumer Reports Feb 2004 v7 n2
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p28-32
Paraphrase Example
Paraphrase:
In a recent Consumer Reports article, the
author suggests finding a relevant newsgroup
if you have a particular medical problem or if
you want to talk with others about a medical
subject. Newsgroups are online bulletin
boards that are openly accessible to anyone.
(In spite of their name, they have nothing to
do with the “news.”) Anyone who wishes to
may join and participate in a newsgroup
discussion (Schwartz 28).
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Summarizing specifics
• Summaries outline the main ideas
• They omit specific details
• Summaries are usually shorter than
paraphrases
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Summarizing Examples
Original:
But Frida's outlook was vastly different from that of the
Surrealists. Her art was not the product of a disillusioned
European culture searching for an escape from the limits of
logic by plumbing the subconscious. Instead, her fantasy was a
product of her temperament, life, and place; it was a way of
coming to terms with reality, not of passing beyond reality into
another realm.
Hayden Herrera, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (258)
Summary:
Herrera contends that, unlike the European Surrealists, Frida’s
fantasy art was not an attempt to create a dreamworld but
rather, a method for better understanding her actual life. (258)
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NOTE: Even though this is a brief summary you
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still have to CITE
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Tips for Correct References
in Text
• Quotations, paraphrases and summaries all need
references
• Citations should be in parentheses AFTER the
quotation, paraphrase or summary
• Multiple citations/ideas from a source need to be
cited individually not just at the end of the last quote
or summary
• Don’t make parenthetical references to sources not
included in the Works Cited list!
• Give the author’s last name and the page(s)
• For authors with the same last name, use first initial
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Correct Parenthetical
Reference Example
Correct parenthetical reference in text:
Medieval Europe was a place both of "raids, pillages,
slavery, and extortion" and of "traveling merchants,
monetary exchange, towns if not cities, and active markets
in grain" (Townsend 10).
Correct citation in Works Cited:
Townsend, Robert M. The Medieval Village Economy.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print.
Example from:
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing.
New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1998. Print.
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