PLAGIARISM IN LEGAL WRITING

(2009)

What is Plagiarism? The Responsible Plagiarist How to Avoid Plagiarizing

What to Use How to Cite

The Components of In-Text Citations The Components of a References page

Citing Legal Materials APA Style The Bluebook Examples—Citing Legal Materials using APA format

Paraphrasing Summarizing Quoting

For More Information References

Table of Contents

What is Plagiarism?

What is Plagiarism?

As per the syllabus for PA 205: Kaplan University maintains a firm stance against all forms of

plagiarism and faculty are required to investigate any questionable submissions from students. The University maintains a database of student plagiarism charges, and students who plagiarize repeatedly will be subject to increasingly serious repercussions. (Kaplan University, 2008, page 10)

However, what IS plagiarism?

What is Plagiarism?

The Kaplan University Catalog tells us that:

Students are expected to be the sole authors of their work. Use of another person’s work or ideas must be accompanied by specific citations and references. Though not a comprehensive or exhaustive list, the following are some examples of dishonesty or unethical and unprofessional behavior: Plagiarism: Using another person’s words, ideas, or results

without giving proper credit to that person; giving the impression that it is the student’s own work …

Copying work or written text from a student, the Internet, or any document without giving due credit to the source of the information. (Kaplan University, 2007-2008, p. 24)

What is Plagiarism?

Now we know that plagiarism is the act of copying someone else’s words without giving credit to the actual author. Sometimes, students can plagiarize without intending to do so.

The Responsible Plagiarist

Students can plagiarize for the best of reasons:Sometimes students cast themselves in the role of Responsible Apprentice.  Their job is to model their products after those of the masters, so they learn the canon, “lip-synch” the voices of their teachers, and use their readings to reproduce as professional-looking a product as they can. They figure that someday they may produce original work of their own, but for now their task is merely to mimic expert examples. One could easily imagine Responsible Apprentices forgetting to sign their names to their essays. They feel no need to sign work that is not their own creation. (Lipson and Reindl, 2003, p. 8)

The Responsible Plagiarist

At times in Legal Studies classes, students will want to copy the words of others because the student feels that the author has done a much better job of saying what the student wants to say. For example, students often copy the words of a court case when drafting an issue statement or statement of facts. Even though this action is well-intentioned, it is still plagiarism.

So how do students avoid plagiarizing?

How to Avoid Plagiarizing

When writing academic papers, such as essays, or when turning in work for academic credit, such as posting on a discussion board, there are two things that students must learn in order to avoid plagiarizing:

How to cite work appropriately. How to paraphrase, summarize, and quote properly.

How to Cite

What to Use

For citing general materials, Kaplan University refers to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.) (2001) as its style guide. This citation style is generally known as APA. The in-house style manual is the KU Handbook for Writers.

For citing legal materials, both Kaplan University and the APA Publication Manual follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed.) (2005). This citation style is generally known as Bluebook.

How to Cite

APA format requires two components for a proper and complete citation: an in-text citation and a References page. It is impossible to give proper credit to a source without both of these components.

In-Text Citations

The in-text citation is a short, truncated snippet of bibliographic information. In addition to signaling that you, the author of the paper, are quoting, citing or paraphrasing, the purpose of this information is to give your reader a quick key to the References page at the end of your paper, where the rest of your bibliographic information is contained.

If you are summarizing or paraphrasing, the in-text citation contains the author’s last name and the date: (Smith, 2003). If you are quoting, you will need to also include a page or paragraph number: (Smith, 2003, p. 370) or (Smith, 2003, para. 3).

References

The References page, placed at the end of your paper, contains the complete bibliographic information necessary for your reader to actually locate the material you have used in your paper. The components of a Reference depend upon the type of source used: book, newspaper article, journal article, court case, statute, etc.

Here is what a typical non-legal reference would look like:

Borman, W.C., Hanson, M.A., Oppler, S.H., Pulakos, E.D., & White, L.A. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 443-449. Retrieved October 23, 2000, from PsycARTICLES database.

In Legal Studies classes, if you are referencing legal materials, you may want to defer to the Bluebook over APA. There is more about this later.

Remember!

The in-text citation is a short, truncated snippet of bibliographic information which only allows your reader to locate the complete bibliographic record on the References page.

Without a References page, the in-text citation is meaningless, because there is not enough information available to identify the cited work. Without the in-text citations in the body of your work, the Reference page is meaningless, because your reader would not know where in your paper you were using the references listed.

You have to have both in-text citations and a References page to properly cite the materials you have used!

Citing Legal Materials

When citing legal materials in academic papers, you still need to use in-text citations and a References page.

The citation style for legal materials are slightly different, however. Instead of using the Ku Handbook for Writers as your citation guide, you would use the Bluebook.

Your References page should follow the Bluebook citation style exactly and precisely.

The type of legal material you are citing determines what your in-text citation looks like. Some examples follow on the next slides.

Citing Legal Materials—In-Text Citations

Court Cases: Italicize the name of the case and give the year of the decision in parentheses. Make sure you use “v.”—never “versus” or “vs.”

Example: The case of Dunder v. Miflin (2008) determines product liability law in this area.

Statutes: Give the name of the statute without emphasis, such as italics. Make sure that each word of the statute is capitalized. Include the year the law was passed.

Example: To protect children against sex offenders, Congress enacted the Sexual Offender (Jacob Wetterling) Act of 1994.

Citing Legal Materials—References

A References page using legal materials would refer to the Bluebook for all bibliographic elements:

Examples:

Court Case

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

Statute

     Tex. Penal Code § 49.09 (LEXIS through 2007 legislation).

How to Paraphrase, Summarize and Quote

How to Paraphrase

Paraphrasing is the most common way of synthesizing ideas from someone else. It is a skill you will learn early and use often. The purpose of paraphrasing is to give an in-depth treatment of the material in question– this may allow you, the writer, to methodically critique the paraphrased material, for example.

A good writer uses his or her own personal writing style throughout the paraphrase– he or she does not simply change the wording from the original source. This skill can be difficult because it requires that you, the writer, really understand the source you are paraphrasing.

Even when paraphrasing, you will want to include an in-text citation with the authors name and the date of the publication to alert your reader to the fact that are relying upon someone else’s work or idea.

Example: (Smith, 2003)

Paraphrase Example:

Consider the case of Katko v. Briney (1971). In this instance, a property owner tried to protect his unoccupied farmhouse from vandals and burglars by using a “trapgun”—a shotgun rigged to go off when a door in the house was opened. A burglar was shot by the trapgun when he entered the house, incurring serious injury. Upon appeal, the Supreme Court of Iowa held that property owners may not protect unoccupied real property from criminal invaders by use of deadly force, since the value of human life outweighs simple property interests.

Reference

Katko v. Briney, 183 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 1971).

How to Summarize

Summaries differ from paraphrases in length and intent. The purpose of a summary is to quickly distill the main idea of the material in question. Summaries do not include the same level of detail as paraphrases do. They are intended to provide brief, factual accounts of the material you wish your reader to be aware of on a less-detailed level than the material you paraphrase.

Remember that as with paraphrasing, you must be faithful to the author’s meaning and intent. Do not editorialize or insert your own opinion in a summary.

Also as with paraphrasing, you will want to include an in-text citation with the authors name and the date of the publication to alert your reader to the fact that are summarizing someone else’s work or idea.

Example: (Smith, 2003)

Summary Example

In Katko (1971), the court held that a real property owner may not protect unoccupied real property from criminal invaders by use of deadly force, since the value of human life outweighs simple property interests.

Reference

Katko v. Briney, 183 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 1971).

How to Quote

Quoting is an important but over-used technique in student writing. Quotes should be used sparingly, and your entire paper should not be more than 20 percent quotation from all sources.

Try to paraphrase and summarize when you can, but quote when you need to precisely critique the original author, or when the original author worded something in a particularly eloquent way.

When quoting, you need to include an additional element in your in-text citation: the page or paragraph number from which the quotation came.

Example: (Smith, 2003, p. 370)

Quotation Example

In Katko (1971), the court relied more heavily upon a secondary source than it did its own prior decisions. See, for example how extensively it quoted Prosser on Torts:

Prosser on Torts, Third Edition, pages 116-118, states: “…the law has always placed a higher value upon human safety than upon mere rights in property, it is the accepted rule that there is no privilege to use any force calculated to cause death or serious bodily injury to repel the threat to land or chattels, unless there is also such a threat to the defendant's personal safety as to justify self defense… [S]pring guns and other man-killing devices are not justifiable against a mere trespasser, or even a petty thief. They are privileged only against those upon whom the landowner, if he were present in person would be free to inflict injury of the same kind.“ (Katko v. Briney, 1971, p. 660).

Reference

Katko v. Briney, 183 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 1971).

Remember!

The above examples were given for use in academic papers, such as persuasive or analytical essays. As a student, you may not need to use in-text citations in everything you write here in the School of Legal Studies. For example, you will not be using APA format to cite your work in a legal brief, or a legal memorandum. Instead, you will cite your work using the Bluebook exclusively, and use the accepted brief or memorandum format for legal documents. When in doubt, ask your instructor.

For More Information on the Bluebook

You will be learning how to use the Bluebook in many of your Legal Studies classes, most notably PA 201. If you need help with the Bluebook, please ask your instructor. There are many materials available in the School of Legal Studies to help you develop your Bluebooking skills.

Here is a website that may help you:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/

For More Information on APA

All Kaplan students should have a copy of and use the KU Handbook for Writers. This book, in hard copy form, is the main style guide for writing and citation at Kaplan.

In many classes, students have access to Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers. The full text of this book is available under Doc Sharing in PA 201 and PA 205.

There are also many wonderful guides to APA citation available on the Internet. Here are a few websites that may help you:

http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citapa.htm http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_o.html http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

References

Aaron, J. E. (2001). The Little, Brown compact handbook. (Revised Custom 4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review & The Yale Law Journal. (2005). The bluebook: A uniform system of citation (18th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association.

Hacker, D. (2008). Rules for writers. (6th ed.). New York: Bedford/St. Martin.

Kaplan University. (2007-2008). Kaplan university catalog. Davenport, IA: Author.

Kaplan University. (2008). Syllabus for PA 205. Retrieved January 6, 2009 from PA 205 website.

Lipson, A. & Reindl, S. (2003) The responsible plagiarist: Understanding students who misuse sources. About Campus, pp 7-14. July–August 2003 Retrieved January 6, 2009, from http://media.wiley.com/assets/165/44/jrnls_ABC_JB_lipson803.pdf

VanDam, K. & Tysick, N. (Eds.). (2008). KU handbook for writers. (2nd. ed.) New York: Cengage Learning.