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THE NATURE OF PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is the act of appropriating to oneself and making use of the words of another
without crediting the original author—a serious offense in the academic world. The penalties may be
severe, ranging from failure on the particular piece of work, failure in the course, or expulsion from
school in extreme cases.
Plagiarism is similar to but differs from violation of copyright in several important respects.
Both offenses arise from the fact that a literary composition of any sort is property which may or may
not have market value, but which belongs to the author. The rights of authors to their literary property
are enforceable in the courts.
All writers borrow from one another, consciously or unconsciously, but when an extended
passage is taken from another writer, it must be placed in quotation marks and acknowledged in a
note. Paraphrasing (i.e., borrowing the idea) must also be acknowledged in a note, although quotation
marks are not used.
Certain well-known phrases do not need to be acknowledged, for the source is known to
everyone, and no one would dream of thinking a student had originated them. Example would be
"Blood, sweat, and tears"; "A little learning is a dangerous thing"; and "Fourscore and seven years ago."
Most cases of plagiarism arise from carelessness or haste. Violators often attempt to excuse
themselves by saying that they were not told of the nature of plagiarism. You have just been told. You
must not include either the phrasing or the ideas of another writer in your papers without
acknowledgement—otherwise you are stealing.
Many students are tempted to resort to plagiarism under pressure of work piling up. Although
sometimes it may not be detected, it is caught much more often than you think. Students do not have
the skills of professional writers, and sustained use of sophisticated literary devices quickly arouses
suspicion. Often professors will recognize a passage or feel they have read it before and will set about
finding the source. Students who copy from the work of other students are, of course, guilty of
plagiarism of the worst kind. This kind of cheating can have no defense.
Plagiarism is literary dishonesty. It is cheating and is subject to severe penalties. It may
endanger your whole career. Don't do it.
Original Source Unknown
Page 2
QUOTING ACCURATELY1
Source
In a given area the plague accomplished its kill within four to six months and then faded, except in the
larger cities, where, rooting into the closequartered population, it abated during the winter, only to
reappear in spring and rage for another six months.
—Barbara W. Tuchman. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century New York: Knopf, 1978. 93.
Inaccurate use of quotation:
• In fourteenth-century cities, the plague "rooted into the close population during the winter, only to
reappear in spring and rage for another six months" (Tuchman 93).
Inaccurate use of quotation:
• According to Barbara Tuchman, the great plague of the fourteenth century lasted only "four to six
months and then faded" (93).
Accurate use of quotation:
• In medieval cities, according to Barbara Tuchman, the plague "abated during the winter" but
typically " reappeared in spring and raged for another six months" (93).
PARAPHRASING ACCURATELY
Unacceptable paraphrase:
• In a specific area the plague killed its victims in four to six months and then receded, except in big
cities, where it declined in the winter, only to reappear in spring and flourish for another six
months (Tuchman 93).
Unacceptable paraphrase:
• The plague accomplished its kill within four to six months in most places, but in the cities it abated
during the winter and would rage again in the spring (Tuchman 93).
Acceptable paraphrase:
• In the crowded cities, the plague never completely disappeared; though relatively dormant in the
winter, it returned in full force when the weather turned warm again (Tuchman 93).
—Examples from The Heath Handbook, 12th Ed.
1
This handout courtesy of the UIS Learning Center, 1992-94
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QUOTING ACCURATELY, PART TWO
The character and mentality of the keepers may be of more importance in understanding prisons than the
character and mentality of the kept.
—Jessica Mitford. Kind and Usual Punishment.
Plagiarism:
• But the character and mentality of prison officials (the keepers) is of more importance in
understanding prisons than the character and mentality of prisoners (the kept).
Acceptable quotation:
• According to one critic of the penal system, "The character and mentality of the keepers may be of
more importance in understanding prisons than the character and mentality of the kept" (Mitford
9).
Acceptable paraphrase:
• One critic of the penal system maintains that we may be able to learn more about prisons from the
psychology of the prison officials than from that of the prisoners (Mitford 9).
In each case I have tried to show that all the action in a "Jamesian novel" may be taken as a result of
philosophical differences of opinion among the principal characters, and that these differences in turn are
explainable by reference to the characters' differing social backgrounds.
—Frederick C. Crew. The Tragedy of Manners: Moral Drama in the Later Novels of Henry James.
Plagiarism:
• According to Crews, the action in a "Jamesian novel" comes from philosophical differences of
opinion between characters, differences that can be explained by examining the characters'
differing social backgrounds (8).
Paraphrase:
• According to Crews, the characters in Henry James's novels live out philosophies acquired from
their upbringing and their place in society (8).
Examples from The Little, Brown Handbook, 4th Edition.
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QUOTING ACCURATELY, PART THREE
The importance of the 'Second Treatise of Government printed in this volume is such that without it we
shun the famiIiar features of our own government. It is safe to assert that the much criticized branch
known as the Supreme Court obtained its being as a result of Locke's insistence upon the separation of
powers; and that the combination, of many powers in the hands of the executive under the New Deal has
still to encounter opposition because it is contrary to the principles enunciated therein, the effect of which
is not spent, though the relationship may be consciously traced. Again we see the crystallizing force of
Locke's writing.
—Charles Sherman. "Introduction." John Locke's Treatise of Civil Government.
WORD FOR WORD PLAGIARIZING
It is not hard to see the importance of the Second Treatise of Government to our own democracy.
Without it we should miss some of the most familiar features of our own government. It is safe to
assert that the much criticized branch known as the Supreme Court obtained its being as a result of
Locke's insistence upon . . .
THE MOSAIC—(note the borrowed phrases)
The crystallizing force of Locke's writing may be seen in the effect his Second Treatise of Government
had in shaping some of the famil iar features of our own government. That much criticized branch
Court and the combination of many powers in the hands of the executive the New Deal are modern
examples
THE LINE-BY-LINE PARAPHRASE
Original:
Many familiar features of our own government are apparent in the Second . . .
Paraphrase:
Many fundamental aspects of our government are apparent in the Second . . .
Original:
Paraphrase:
Original:
Paraphrase:
Treatise of Government. It is safe to assert that the much criticized Supreme Court
obtained . . .
Treatise of Government. One can safely say that the oft-censured Supreme Court
really owes . . .
its being as a result of Locke's insistence upon the separation of powers;
its existence to the Lockeian demand that powers in government be kept separate;
—Harold Martin. The Logic and Rhetoric of Exposition.
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AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
To illustrate plagiarism in different degrees, we have reproduced a passage from a book, followed by
three student samples, two of which are plagiarisms.
Original1:
Version A (plagiarized):
Alexander III died on 20 October, 1894, and was succeeded by
passage his son Nicholas. The new emperor was more intelligent and
more sensitive than his father. Both those who knew him well, and those
who had brief and superficial contact with him, testify to his exceptional
personal charm. The charm was, however, apparently associated with
weakness and irresolution. Nicholas appeared to agree with the last
person he had talked to, and no one could tell what he would do next.
When Alexander III died on October 20, 1894, he was) followed
by his son Nicholas, who was more intelligent and more sensitive than
his father. People who knew him well and also some who knew him only
superficially testify that he was exceptionally charming as a person. This
charm, however, was associated with weakness and an inability to make
decisions, Nicholas always seemed to agree with the last person he had
talked to, and no one could predict what he would do next.
This is an example of outright plagiarism. No documentation of any sort is given. The student simply
repeats the passage almost verbatim, as though he or she had written it.
Version B (plagiarized):
When Alexander III died on October 20, 1894, he was followed
by his son Nicholas, who was more intelligent and more sensitive than
his father. People who knew him well, and also some who knew him
only superficially, testify that he was exceptionally charming as a
person. This charm. however, was associated with weakness and an
inability to make decisions. Nicholas always seemed to agree with the
last person he had talked to, and no one could predict what he would
do next. 3
Though documented with a footnote, the passage is still a plagiarism because the student has merely
changed a word or two of the original, without doing a proper paraphrase.
Version C (acceptable):
3
Student Emperor Nicholas II, who came to the throne of Russia
following the death of his father, Alexander III, was apparently a man
of exceptional personal charm and deep sensitivity, Ample testimony
has come to from both intimate as well as casual acquaintances,
indicating that indeed he possessed a magnetic personality. However,
the general consensus is also that he was a man who lacked the ability
to make hard decisions, preferring to agree with the last person he had
seen, and thus making it impossible to predict what he would do next.3
Hugh Seton-Watson. The Russian Empire, 1801 - 1917. Vol. 3. The Oxford History of Modern Europe. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1967.
547.
This is an acceptable use of the material. The original is properly paraphrased and its source
documented with a footnote.
—Excerpted from Winkler, A. and Jill McCuen. Writing the Research Paper.
1
Hugh Seton-Watson. The Russian Empire, 1801- 1917. Vol. 3. The Oxford History of Modern Europe. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1967.
547.
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PARAPHRASING
In any kind of academic writing, including term papers and scholarly articles, you will need to
depend on information published by other scholars. When you use that information in your writing, it
either must be directly quoted or be communicated in your own words by using a paraphrase.
Direct quotes should make up no more than about five or ten percent of your paper. Fewer is
better. If you use another author's work word for word without the use of quotation marks, you are
plagiarizing and seriously violating the rules of every university and college. In the academic world,
ideas are the products of scholars, and claiming someone else's ideas as your own is stealing
Since excessive use of direct quotations is not acceptable, paraphrasing allows you to express
the information of others using your own writing style. Paraphrasing is perfectly acceptable as long as
you document your sources and as long as you paraphrase correctly. Paraphrasing correctly takes skill.
Improper paraphrasing and poor documentation of your sources can cause inadvertent or accidental
plagiarism and will eventually detract from the quality of your paper.
A paraphrase is a kind of translation. if you are going to translate something into your own
words you must know and understand it.
The following examples will assist you in understanding the proper use of paraphrasing.
Examples of Paraphrasing
Notice how the following paraphrases retain the meaning of the original passage-yet are adapted to
someone else's writing style.
ORIGINAL:
"The Danish News Company, a controversial adult bookstore on N. Fourth Avenue, yesterday opened its
doors to the public in apparent violation of a recent court order that closed the store" (Michigan Daily,
6/7/80)
PARAPHRASED:
Although a court order recently ordered the Danish News Company to close, the controversial
bookstore was opened yesterday.
ORIGINAL:
"Unless government policy regarding race relations is fundamentally altered, incidents similar to the
recent Miami riot will become more commonplace, according to a pair of University of Michigan
professors" (Michigan Daily, 6/6/80).
PARAPHRASED:
Two University of Michigan professors predict more frequent race riots if the government does not
make basic changes in its policies.
Technical and highly sophisticated language, as shown in the next example, can be made more suitable
for your purposes through paraphrasing. Why type all of the extra technical language or jargon when all
you need is the theme or "guts" of the passage?
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ORIGINAL:
Since muscle glycogen depletion is considered responsible, in part, for exhaustion during prolonged
exercise, slowing the rate of glycogen utilization should improve endurance performance. It has
previously been established that the elevation of plasma FFA (free fatty acids] results in an increased rate
of lipid metabolism and a diminished dependence on muscle glycogen in exercising skeletal muscle. In
the present study, as in previous investigations, the ingestion of caffeine resulted in a 50 to 100%
increase in plasma FFA."
— Jean Johnson. The Bedford Guide to the Research Process. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987.
PARAPHRASED:
During exercise tests, the ingestion of caffeine raised the levels of fatty acids in the blood. Since high
levels of fatty acids have been shown to slow the rate of carbohydrate depletion, which in turn leads to
exhaustion, caffeine seems to help athletes' endurance.
Your attempts to paraphrase will be unsuccessful if you make the assumption that it is alright simply to
change a few words in a sentence to their synonyms or approximate equivalents. The following is an
example of an improper paraphrase based upon this assumption:
ORIGINAL:
"The nation's unemployment rate rocketed to 7.8% in May, the highest since President Carter took office"
(Michigan Daily, 6/7/80).
IMPROPER PARAPHRASE:
• The country's unemployment index rose to 7.8% in May, the highest since President Carter became
chief executive.
You will also paraphrase incorrectly if you simply change the sentence structure of borrowed material.
The following example illustrates this improper use of paraphrasing:
ORIGINAL:
"There is satisfactory explanation of style, no infallible guide to good writing, no assurance that a person
who thinks clearly will be able to write clearly."
—Strunk, William Jr. and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. New York: Macmillan, 1979.
IMPROPER PARAPHRASE:
• There is no guarantee stating that a person who is able to think clearly will be able to write
clearly. Also, one will not find a satisfactory explanation of style or an infallible guide to good
writing.
Besides making it possible to borrow another's ideas or messages, paraphrasing can serve to clarify the
meaning of material that you have borrowed. The following examples from A Guide to Writing Essays
and Research Papers by Gordon Coggins (Toronto: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977) clearly demonstrate
how the effective use of paraphrasing lifts just the essence or main idea of an original passage:
ORIGINAL:
"Language, though normally learned in infancy without any compulsion or formal training, is nonetheless
a product of sheer learning, an art handed down from generation to generation, and where there is no
teacher there is no accomplishment."
PARAPHRASED:
• The ability to speak, though learned in early childhood, is a learned skill, not a natural instinct.
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ORIGINAL:
"If one looks at past history, one may derive some encouragement for the hope that science, as one of
the forms of reason, will nourish all of its forms. One may note how integral the love and cultivation of
science were with the whole awakening of the human spirit which characterized the Renaissance. Or one
may look at the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in France and England and see what pleasure
and what stimulation the men of that time derived from the growth of physics, astronomy, and
mathematics."
PARAPHRASED:
• History suggests that when science flourishes, it encourages other forms of human reason to thrive
too.
Remember that, in most situations, paraphrasing just the main idea of an original passage will suit your
purposes much better than a complete quotation. Again, don't forget to cite your 'source even though
you are paraphrasing the original author.
Try paraphrasing this passage from The Elements of Style using the suggestions in this handout.
Unless there is a good reason for its being there, do not inject opinion into a piece of writing. We
all have opinions about almost everything, and the temptation to toss them in is great. To air
one's views gratuitously, however, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk, which may not be
the case, and which, in any event, may not be relevant to the discussion. Opinions scattered
indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism on a work.
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YET ANOTHER EXERCISE
The numbered items below show various attempts to quote or paraphrase the following passage.
Carefully compare each attempt with the original passage. Which are plagiarized, inaccurate, or both,
and which are acceptable? Why?
I would agree with the sociologists that psychiatric labeling is dangerous. Society can inflict terrible
wounds by discrimination and by confusing health with disease and disease with badness.
— Vaillant, George E. Adaptation to Life. 361.
I.
According to George Vaillant, society often inflicts wounds by using psychiatric labeling,
confusing health, disease, and badness (361).
2.
According to George Vaillant, "psychiatric labeling [such as 'homosexual' or 'schizophrenic'] is
dangerous. Society can inflict terrible wounds by . . . confusing health with disease and disease
with badness" (361).
3.
According to George Vaillant, when psychiatric labeling discriminates between health and
disease or between disease and badness, it can inflict wounds on those labeled (361).
4.
Psychiatric labels can badly hurt those labeled, says George Vaillant, because they fail to
distinguished among health, illness, and immorality (361).
5.
Labels such as "homosexual" and "schizophrenic" can be hurtful when they fail to distinguish
among health, illness, and immorality.
6.
"I would agree with the sociologists that society can inflict terrible wounds by discrimination,
and by confusing health with disease and disease with badness" (Vaillant 361).
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How to Quote
Students often ask about how to quote in their papers, and usually do not know how to
punctuate quotations. A few basic rules will solve most problems.
Citations. When you quote, your reader will appreciate the courtesy if you give page numbers for
quoted prose, or line numbers (when available) for quoted poetry (unless the poem is so short that the
line is obvious). If you use the course text,, then you do not need to give a formal citation. If you usesome other text, a formal citation can help, and sometimes chapter numbers will help more than page
numbers if your reader uses an edition different from yours. Put the page or chapter numbers in
parentheses after the quotation marks (not inside them). And remember that a closing period or
comma (but not a colon, semi-colon, question mark, or exclamation point ) goes after and not before
parentheses (except in indented quotations). See examples below.
Punctuation. Do not use ellipses ( . . . ) or [brackets] at the beginning or end of a quotation. Make any
necessary changes at the beginning in capitalization or at the end in punctuation, so long as your
changes do not distort the meaning. When you cut words from the middle of a quotation, use an
ellipses, three spaced dots (like this . . . but not unspaced like this ... ), where you remove the words,,
or, if you cut the end of a sentence, then use four dots, since one is a period, with no space before the
first dot. . . . American usage (as opposed to British) calls for double quotation marks ("), not single
ones ('), and requires that when periods and commas go next to a closing quotation mark, they go
inside the quotation mark ("like this,") and not outside it ("not like this",).
This also holds for titles that appear in quotation marks: Poe's ''The Raven," not "The Raven".
Often, though, a parenthetical page number will fall in between, "like this" (23), because punctuation,
as usual, comes after parentheses (not before). Do not put a period or comma on each side of the
quotation mark, that is, do not do it "like this." (23), because you can't have periods and commas next
to each other.
When you quote quotations, use double marks for your quoting and single marks for your text's
quoting, as in: Hemingway writes, "'Where are we going, Dad,'Nick asked'" (91). So long as it's clear, you
do not need to say "p." before the page number, but if you do, the abbreviation is p. for page and pp.
for pages (not pg. or pgs.). You do need to say "line" or "lines" for line numbers, or abbreviate them
with "l." for line and "ll." for lines.
Introducing quotations. Introduce quotations so that they flow smoothly into the rhythm between
your words and the words you quote. You do not necessarily need punctuation between your words and
the quoted words. Use punctuation if there is a pause, and do not use it if there is not a pause, exactly
as usual. If you need punctuation, then use either a comma, a colon (a colon looks like this : , not to be
Page 11
confused with a semi-colon, which looks like this; ), or a period, according to whether the rhythm
pauses or flows smoothly between your words and the words you quote. If a prose quotation is greater
than one hundred words (or longer than four lines of typed text), indent it. If it is shorter than one
hundred words (or shorter than four lines of typed text), do not indent it. Similarly, indent quotations
of poetry longer than three lines, preserving the line breaks and capitalization exactly as on the
printed page. Do not use quotation marks when you indent. In unindented quotations of poetry,
indicate the line breaks by slashes: "The white violet/is scented on its stalk."
A few examples. Hemingway begins with a straightforward description, "At the lake shore there was
another boat drawn up" (91). [Note that the period goes after the parentheses.] But he makes the
simplest description meaningful, for even the word "another" starts to differentiate between the two
groups of people his story will portray.
Similarly, Frost puts much suggestion into few words when he begins by saying that "The people
along the sand/All turn and look one way." [When you say begins, you reduce the need to give line
numbers.] "One" suggests that many potentially different people all act alike, and Frost goes on to
describe them all in the same way, under a single and encompassing pronoun (they):
They cannot look out far
They cannot look in deep
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep? (lines 13-16 or ll. 13-16)
Unlike Hemingway, Frost directly asks his readers a question about the people he describes. [And so
on.]
Citation format. You may choose either of the two standard systems for citation: (1) all citations in
endnotes, or (2) brief parenthetical citations followed by a list of Works Cited with no endnotes or with
endnotes that have prose discussion but no citation. Do not combine the two systems. Most
composition texts will describe the appropriate formats. Otherwise, the standard references are The
MLA Style Manual (more concise and up-to-date) and The Chicago Manual of Style (more exhaustive).
Most undergraduate papers will not need to cite anything, as they usually refer only to the course
texts, which do not need anything more than page, chapter, or line numbers.
How not to do it. Hemingway begins with a straightforward description; "At the lake shore there was
another boat drawn up." (91) But he makes the simplest description meaningful, for even the word
"another" starts to differentiate between the two groups of people his story will portray. Similarly,
Frost puts much suggestion into few words when he begins by saying that, "'Me people along the sand
all turn and look one way". "One" suggests that many potentially different people all act alike, and
Page 12
Frost goes on to describe them all in the same way, under a single and encompassing pronoun (they).
He does this in the following quote;
"They cannot look out far. They cannot look in deep. But when was that ever a bar to any watch they
keep? (l. 13-6)"