Plagiarism

1. What is plagiarism?

“To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source.”
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2003) Retrieved January 15, 2004, from http://www.m-w.com/

“Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit, i.e. an appropriate attribution or citation.”
University of Nebraska Medical Center 2003-2004 Student Handbook Retrieved January 21, 2004, from page 58 at http://net.unmc.edu/care/docs/handbook.pdf

2. Types of plagiarism

Blending

Mixing words or ideas from an unacknowledged source in with your own words or ideas.

Mixing together uncited words and ideas from several sources into a single work.

Mixing together properly cited uses of a source with uncited uses.

Direct Plagiarism

A phrase or passage that is copied word for word, but not quoted.

Paraphrasing

Rephrasing another person’s work and inserting into your own work without acknowledging the original source.

Insufficient Acknowledgement

Half crediting source; whereby you acknowledge the author’s work the first time, but continue to use the author’s words without giving additional attribution.

3. Common myths of plagiarism

Ignorance doesn't excuse plagiarism. Learn about some of the myths of plagiarism.

4. How to avoid plagiarism

• Write your own summary without looking at the original text, but remember to cite your sources.


• When taking notes, write down the source information and put it next to the notes so you can easily cite the source.


• Don’t wait until the last minute to write your paper.


• Don’t just copy ideas and words from a source – record your own reactions and thoughts as you do your research. This will give you starting points when you write your paper.

Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism (intended primarily for faculty)

The Council of Writing Program Administrators presents the best practices on how to avoid plagiarism

How to Avoid Plagiarism

Penn State University’s website provides good examples of how to avoid plagiarism, as well as useful links for more information.

5. Detecting plagiarism

• The writing style and language are above the level at which the student usually writes


• The student uses jargon or specialized terminology that is inconsistent with the student’s level of knowledge.


• The quality of writing is inconsistent. The beginning and ending of the paper is deficient, but the rest of the paper is well written.


• The paper contains references to citations that are not included in the reference list.


• The reference list is inaccurate or incomplete.

6. Citing Resources

A. When to cite

Anything that is printed, spoken or sung (except facts or common knowledge)
Unusual phrase borrowed from a speaker or writer
Photos, drawings, charts, graphs, etc.
Someone else's unpublished research findings

B. Quoting author(s) directly (APA Style):

“It is possible that cardiovascular risk factors are associated with aortic stenosis purely because of an association between aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease. Thus, when defining risk factors for aortic stenosis, it is essential to control for atherosclerosis” (Ortlepp, Schmitz, Bozoglu, Hanrath, Hoffmann, 2003, p. 1021).

C. Citing a reference in the text of paper (APA Style):

Ortlepp, Schmitz, Bozoglu, Hanrath, and Hoffmann (2003) found that atherosclerosis must be controlled when defining risk factors for aortic stenosis.

D. Proper citation in bibliography (APA Style):

Ortlepp, J. R., Schmitz, F., Bozoglu, T., Hanrath, P., & Hoffmann, R. (2003). Cardiovascular risk factors in patients with aortic stenosis predict prevalence of coronary artery disease but not of aortic stenosis: an angiographic pair matched case-control study. Heart, 89(9), 1019-1022.

E. Citing Electronic Formats (APA Style)

Electronic Media and URLs

This guide is a revised and updated version of section 4.16 of the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001, pp. 268–281).

7. Tutorials

How to Recognize Plagiarism

This tutorial created by the School of Education at Indiana University includes examples of plagiarism, interactive practice questions and a test.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab provides examples on when to credit sources, practice exercises and tips when doing research.

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

A multimedia tutorial created by Rutgers University Libraries.

8. Quiz

1. I didn't use the author's words, so I don't need to cite the source.

True
False

2. If I use the author's words I don't need to use quotation marks. I can just put the author's name at the end of the sentence.

True
False

3. Information on the web is common knowledge, so I can use it without citing it.

True
False

4.Once I cite a source, I need to keep citing the source throughout my paper whenever I use words and ideas from that source.

True
False

5. When you cite a web resource, what must you include in addition to author, title, URL?

Copyright information
Date you accessed the resource
HONcode principles
Institution with which the author is affiliated