Now what?
Start your
research
early!
“Students are expected to uphold
the University’s values. Cheating
of any kind, plagiarism, and other
forms of academic dishonesty are
prohibited.”
 Quotations
must be identical to the
original
• Must match the source document word for word
• Must be attributed to the original author
• Different formats depending on the length of the
quote
 < 40 words – can be inserted into a paragraph in “ ”
 >40 words – must be in its own indented paragraph
 Paraphrasing
involves putting a
passage from source material into
your own words.
• Must be attributed to the original source
• Usually shorter than the original passage
• Don’t just substitute one word for another!
• In fact, don’t paraphrase at all! Interpret instead!
 Be
careful when you paraphrase because
it can be tricky.
 If you just change a few things around so
it looks like something different, but the
word order, paragraph structure, and
even some of the actual words are the
same… That’s plagiarism.
 It is better to interpret what you think the
author is talking about instead.
 The
original phrase:
 The
interpretation:
(Badke, 2008)
 An
interpretation
• Uses very few of the author’s exact words
• Reveals an UNDERSTANDING rather than an
IMITATION of the original; and
• Is considerably shorter than the original text
 In
paraphrasing, you are essentially
rewriting the original phrase by phrase.
 When you interpret, you read the text,
step back and ask, “What is this person
saying?”
 With interpretation, you are not
depending on what the author said
phrase by phrase, but what the author
meant overall.
 Your
friend says to you, "I haven’t eaten for a
long time, so why don’t we stop at
McDonalds?" Someone nearby says, "What
does he want?"
• Paraphrase: “He hasn’t had a meal for awhile and
wants to go to McDonalds.” (Changes words but not
basic structure. No attempt to interpret)
• Interpretation: “He’s hungry and wants to get a
burger." (Gets at underlying meaning)
 Summarizing
involves putting the main
idea(s) into your own words, including
only the main point(s).
• Must be attributed to the original source.
• Generally significantly shorter than the original
 Think bullet-points
• Takes a broad overview of the source material.
• Also used to combine points from multiple articles
 All sources must be cited
 When
you paraphrase, interpret or
summarize
• Use your own words & sentence structure
• Should be much shorter than original text
 When you quote text directly
• Use quotation marks appropriately
• Indent if more than 40 words
 Remember
to cite the source!
Your professors know
all the tricks!
So, how do you avoid it?
A
necessary evil
 Proper
citations help avoid plagiarism
 Style
guides & short-cut books available
in the Library
 Once
you know the basics, it really isn’t
all that hard
 Keep
track of the
bibliographic
information on all
resources you even
think you might use
in your paper!
 Author
 Title
 Journal
name
 Date of publication
 Name of database
 Date retrieved
 Page numbers
 Publisher
 Etc.
 Easybib.com
– the very best $15 you’ll
ever spend
 CitationMachine.net
– free but fewer
options
 Microsoft Word
2007 can do this as well
Here are a few examples of plagiarism


In the broadest sense, the first technology was the primitive
modes of communication used by prehistoric people before
the development of spoken language. Mime, gestures, grunts,
and drawing of figures in the sand with a stick were methods
used to communicate -- yes, even to educate. Even without
speech, these prehistoric people were able to teach their
young how to catch animals for food, what animals to avoid,
which vegetation was good to eat and which was poisonous.
Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring education through technology.
Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation
 In
examining technology, we have to
remember that computers are not the
first technology people have had to deal
with. The first technology was the
primitive modes of communication used
by prehistoric people before the
development of spoken language.
 The
student copied, word-for-word, text
from the original source material.
 No
credit was given to the author of the
text and quotation marks were not used.
 The
student didn't provide a reference.
 In
examining technology, we have to
remember that computers are not the
first technology people have had to deal
with. The first technology was the
primitive modes of communication used
by prehistoric people before the
development of spoken language.
 In
examining technology, we have to
remember that computers are not the first
technology people have had to deal with.
Frick (1991) believes that "... the first
technology was the primitive modes of
communication used by prehistoric people
before the development of spoken
language" (p. 10).
 References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring
education through technology. Bloomington,
IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
 The
passage begins with the author and
year of the publication.
 Quotation marks are used to indicate that
this passage is a word-for-word citation
from the original document.
 The student has correctly cited his source
document.
 The
concept of systems is really quite
simple. The basic idea is that a system
has parts that fit together to make a
whole; but where it gets complicated -and interesting -- is how those parts are
connected or related to each other.
 Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring
education
through technology. Bloomington, IN: Phi
Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
A
system has parts that fit together to
make a whole, but the important aspect of
systems is how those parts are connected
or related to each other (Frick, 1991).
 References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring
education through technology.
Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa
Educational Foundation.
 Although
the author is cited at the end of
the paragraph and a reference is given,
the student copied word-for-word from
the original source material and did not
use quotation marks.
A
system has parts that fit together to
make a whole, but the important aspect of
systems is how those parts are connected
or related to each other (Frick, 1991).
 References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring
education through technology.
Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa
Educational Foundation.
 Frick
(1991) states that "... a system has
parts that fit together to make a whole ..."
but the important aspect of systems is "...
how those parts are connected or related
to each other" (p. 17).
 References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring
education through technology.
Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa
Educational Foundation.

The passage begins with the author and
year of the publication.
 Quotation
marks are used to indicate that
the passages are word-for-word citations
from the original document.

The author is listed in the references.
A
student uses an internet article in
researching her paper. She finds several
of the ideas in the article useful, and
develops them in her own paper. Since
she does not quote from the text, she
does not cite it in her paper, but she does
put the reference in the bibliography.
 Is
this plagiarism?
 Yes
 If
she uses the ideas in her paper, she
needs to acknowledge the source of
those ideas in the paper itself. Even with
this reference, the paper should also
include an in-text citation.
 In
researching a paper on Mary Kingsley,
a student discovers that Kingsley was
born in Islington in 1862. She didn't know
this fact previously. However, every
article she reads on Kingsley reports the
same fact. She does not acknowledge the
source of this information with a citation.
 Is
this plagiarism?
 No
 Although
the student didn't know this fact
before, it is an easily established fact that
is well known to anyone who has written
on Kingsley. Since it is undisputed and
well known, it would fall into the category
of "common knowledge," and does not
need to be cited.
A
student finds a picture on the web that
perfectly illustrates a point she wants to
make in her paper. She downloads the
picture, but does not use the website's
analysis; in addition, she writes her own
caption for the picture. Since the analysis
and caption are her own, she does not
include a citation for the picture.
 Is
this plagiarism?
 Yes
 If
the image is the product of another
individual's artistic or intellectual work (i.e.,
a personal photograph; or a graph or chart
that forms part of another person's paper or
research) it would be considered
plagiarism. In general, if the image
represents the artistic or intellectual work of
another person, it should be cited.
 You
find a very interesting quote from
Gregor Mendel's "Experimentation in
Plant Hybridization" in a book about
Mendel's life. In your paper, you include
the quote, and cite Mendel's paper as the
source.
 Is
this plagiarism?
 Yes
 Even
though you are acknowledging the
source of the quotation, you have failed to
acknowledge the source of your own
information – the biography of Mendel. The
correct way to avoid plagiarism in this
instance would be to cite the original source
of the quote (Mendel's "Experiments in
Plant Hybridization") and your source for
the quote ("quoted in . . . .").
We are here to help!

Badke, W. (2008) A rationale for
information literacy as a credit-bearing
discipline. Journal of Information Literacy,
2(1).
 Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring
education
through technology. Bloomington, IN: Phi
Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.