Plagiarism – What it is and how to avoid it

Plagiarism – What it is and how to avoid it Waubonsee Community College

What is plagiarism? Plagiarism: presenting another person’s words or ideas as your own, whether • intentionally through outright cheating or • unintentionallythrough inaccurate or incomplete documentation.

Plagiarism is lying Plagiarism is more than the “borrowing” of mere words: plagiarism involves using ideas, theories, insights, work products, projects and images created by others, but claiming that they come from you. If an idea comes from another author or organization, the audience of your writing deserves to know the truth.

Plagiarism is theft • Plagiarism involves claiming someone else’s intellectual property as your own. The original creators lose their chance to be recognized as contributors to an idea and the plagiarist attempts to appear credible and intelligent through an act of theft.

Plagiarism in non-college writing Other kinds of writing borrow ideas and phrases liberally from outside sources without credit. • Blogs • Organizational websites • Commercial information • Newspaper editorials But that’s why those sources are often less credible • An article that doesn’t cite its sources doesn’t allow its readers to check where its information comes from • An organizational or commercial piece of writing, by the Susan G. Komen organization or by the British Petroleum company may make unsupported assertions that they can’t provide credible evidence for.

Plagiarism in college writing • Academic writers base their credibility on their knowledge about their discipline • Knowledge about the discipline comes from reading current, credible, well-argued sources • Therefore, your credibility in college writing depends on what sources you have read and how you present those sources in your writing. • Your readers can tell that you have thought about your sources and really figured out which ideas are right and know why they are right, when you tell your readers what information in your own paper comes from those sources. • If you don’t tell readers where your information comes from, your college readers are less likely to believe your assertions and your basis for making those assertions.

Critical thinking • In many college classes, students don’t just read something and repeat it to other readers in a sort of “report”. • Instead, students are asked to process information from their readings, compare one idea to other things they’ve read and seen, connect ideas to one another in new ways, or interpret information with appropriate lenses. • These kinds of writing activities are called “analysis” or “argument” or “evaluations” or “proposals” or something like that. • Writers must cite and interact with sources in these kinds of papers so that readers can see the ideas that the writers are processing, comparing, connecting and interpreting. • Without such citations, writers compromise their credibility and appear to be non-critical thinkers.

Examples of plagiarism include: • Handing in a paper or assignment (in part or in whole) written by someone else • Incorporating information from a book, article, web site, or any other source without documenting the source • Inaccurate or incomplete documentation of the source of any information • Combining some cited and some non-cited information in a paper.

What is not plagiarism? The learning process often calls upon students to work collaboratively or seek outside assistance – such work does not fall within the bounds of plagiarism. Be sure to check with your teacher about what is expected of you in collaborative assignments.

Examples of work that is not plagiarism include: • Working on a group project • Seeking assistance from the Writing Assistance Center • Asking another student to read over your work and offer his or her opinion • Consulting with an instructor on a paper or assignment

Why is plagiarism such a concern? When a student takes a shortcut to completing an assignment or hands in someone else’s work, he or she has missed the opportunity to learn. Failing to cite sources indicates a lack of respect for the educational project being undertaken in the class. Students who cheat may find later that they may have to use the very skills and abilities the assignment was designed for them to learn, namely critical thinking and source analysis.

Why is plagiarism such a concern? Plagiarism also harms everyone else. Your education is meaningful if the world believes that students do their own work. If the world believes that students don’t do their own work, a college degree becomes less valuable. • If employers or other colleges start to think that Waubonsee allows cheating to take place, then everyone’s degrees and classes here are suspect.

How can you avoid plagiarism? There are several ways you can avoid plagiarism. Many are common sense, but others require that you learn the conventions and procedures of standard citation and documentation.

How can you avoid plagiarism? • As you prepare a paper or assignment: • Keep careful records of the sources you consult. If you record this information as you work, you will avoid needless searching later on.

How can you avoid plagiarism? • As you prepare a paper or assignment: • Familiarize yourself with the instructor’s and the discipline’s preferred method of citation and documentation. In English 101 and 102, you will learn about MLA and APA documentation formats. Ask your other instructors what methods they think are appropriate for their assignments. If you need additional assistance, Waubonsee offers workshops on research writing and the services of tutors in the Writing Assistance Center.

How can you avoid plagiarism? • As you prepare a paper or assignment: • Learn what falls within the limits of common knowledge. Common knowledge generally consists of facts and information widely known and uncontroversial.

How can you avoid plagiarism? As you prepare a paper or assignment: • When in doubt, cite it! If you are not sure whether or not the information would be considered common knowledge, either ask your instructor or cite it to be safe.

How can you avoid plagiarism? As you prepare a paper or assignment: • Place quotation marks around words that are not your own, even if you’ve documented the source at the end of the paper or assignment. Quotation marks indicate that you are using someone else’s language, and you need to include exactly where the information appeared (i.e. page number, web address, etc.)

How can you avoid plagiarism? As you prepare a paper or assignment: • Be careful when you paraphrase information. Paraphrasing refers to including someone else’s information in your own words. Learn what makes for an appropriate paraphrase and remember to cite – even though you may have changed the language, the author still owns the ideas behind the language.

How can you avoid plagiarism? • Before you hand in a paper or assignment: • Keep copies of drafts, outlines, and any other planning documents you used in preparing course assignments. If any questions arise, you will then have evidence you’ve done your own work. • Double-check your documentation and citation form for accuracy. Read through the paper or assignment asking yourself: Did I know this before I began my research? Would I have expressed this the same way had I not been exposed to my sources? Does every quotation or paraphrase clearly indicate the source? Are paraphrases representative of my own language use?

How can you avoid plagiarism? • After you hand in a paper or assignment • Keep a dated copy for yourself. In case questions arise, you will have a record of the completed version. • Do not allow others to hand in your work as their own. Allowing others to misrepresent their work is also plagiarism and truly undermines the hard work you have put into the learning process.

What are the consequences for plagiarizing? The penalty for plagiarizing will be determined by the instructor. Penalties vary depending on the severity of the incident, whether it was outright theft or faulty documentation. However, lack of knowledge regarding documentation is no excuse for plagiarism. Penalties may include receiving a grade of F for the course, receiving an F on the assignment, or referral to the Student Conduct Board. The Student Conduct Board may require plagiarizers to take a class, or the board may suspend or expel repeat offenders

Forms of plagiarism:An example • Original source: • The following text is an excerpt from a book by Michael Lewis called The Big Short. • The line between gambling and investing is artificial and thin. The soundest investment has the defining trait of a bet (you losing all of your money in hopes of making a bit more), and the wildest speculation has the salient characteristic of an investment (you might get your money back with interest). Maybe the best definition of “investing” is “gambling with the odds in your favor.” The people on the short side of the subprime mortgage market had gambled with the odds in their favor. The people on the other side – the entire financial system, essentially – had gambled with the odds against them. Up to this point, the story of the big short could not be simpler. What’s strange and complicated about it, however, is that pretty much all the important people on both sides of the gamble left the table rich.

Forms of plagiarism:An example • Version 1 (Plagiarism) – This version is direct plagiarism. It copies the text verbatim and fails to acknowledge the source in any way. • Investing can be a risky business. The line between gambling and investing is artificial and thin. The soundest investment has the defining trait of a bet (you losing all of your money in hopes of making a bit more), and the wildest speculation has the salient characteristic of an investment (you might get your money back with interest). Maybe the best definition of “investing” is “gambling with the odds in your favor.”

Forms of plagiarism:An example • Version 2 (Plagiarism) – This version is another form of plagiarism, although less direct. It is a paraphrase of the original version, but the ideas still need to be acknowledged as coming from an outside source. • Investing can be a risky business. It is actually a lot like gambling. Even a good investment is a lot like a bet, and the craziest bet looks a lot like an investment. Good investors have figured out how to gamble with the odds in their favor.

Forms of plagiarism:An example • Version 3 (Plagiarism) – This version quotes verbatim, but doesn’t use quotation marks to indicate that the material is a direct quotation. A reader may believe that much of the information is the student’s; therefore, it is plagiarism. The parenthetical citation at the end is not sufficient to show the reader which information is from Lewis. • Investing can be a risky business. It is actually a lot like gambling. The soundest investment has the defining trait of a bet (you losing all of your money in hopes of making a bit more), and the wildest speculation has the salient characteristic of an investment (you might get your money back with interest). Maybe the best definition of “investing” is “gambling with the odds in your favor.” Even a good investment is a lot like a bet, and the craziest bet looks a lot like an investment. Good investors have figured out how to gamble with the odds in their favor. (Lewis, 256)

Forms of plagiarism:An example • Version 4 (Could be better) –This version is paraphrased, and the source is acknowledged, so it is not exactly plagiarism. However, a reader will be unclear until the end of this paragraph that the information comes from an outside source. And a reader will be unclear which information comes from that source • Investing can be a risky business. It is actually a lot like gambling. Even a good investment is a lot like a bet, and the craziest bet looks a lot like an investment. Good investors have figured out how to gamble with the odds in their favor. (Lewis, 256)

Forms of plagiarism:An example • Version 5 (BEST)– This version makes it clear from the start where the information comes from and does so in a fluent and engaging way using a signal phrase to introduce the original author, and to remind the reader that all of these ideas are Lewis’s, not the paper writer’s . • Investing can be risky business, as Michael Lewis explains in his book, The Big Short, “The line between gambling and investing is artificial and thin” (256). Lewis explains that even good investments have a chance to lose all of their money, and even risky bets offer gamblers a chance to increase their money. But in the end, Lewis claims, “Good investors have figured out how to gamble with the odds in their favor” (256).

And of course, the book must be entered on a works cited page in MLA style as well • Works Cited • Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.

Plagiarism – What it is and how to avoid it