Understanding Plagiarism

Slides created by Christy Moore, D’Arcy Randall, Nadine Romig, Hillary Hart, and Jayson Galler

Do you agree with Dr. Renfro that Ted was guilty of plagiarism?If Ted actually gave credit to the source, what

was wrong with what he did?

Is your experience similar to Ted’s: was it acceptable in courses you've taken in high school or college to blend direct quotes and paraphrases without using quotation marks?

Do you know of anyone who has faced consequences for failing to use quotation marks?

What is plagiarism?

"Plagiarism' includes, but is not limited to, the appropriation, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any other means another's work and the submission of it as one's own academic work offered for credit."

“Plagiarism, strictly speaking, is not a question of intent.”

Student Judicial Services, (Section 11-802(d)) Retrieved July 18, 2005. http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/academicintegrity.html)

Evidence shows that plagiarism on college campuses in is increasing. 36% of undergraduates surveyed admitted

to plagiarizing written material (Psychological Record).

30% of a large sampling of Berkeley students admitted to plagiarizing directly from the internet (Plagiarism.org).

Roig, Miguel. (1997). Can Undergraduate Students Determine Whether Text Has Been Plagiarized? Psychological Record, 47(1), 113.Plagiarism.org. “Statistics” [online]. Retrieved July 18, 2005 from http://www.plagiarism.org/problem4.html.

Does the increase in plagiarism reflect a breakdown in ethics? “Students think it’s a game” (Mahon, 2002).

“Our work ethic is dying” (Straw 2002).

“Students . . . think short cuts are clever and adequate” (Straw 2002).

Mahon, Robert Lee. (2002, December 9). Got Plagiarism? Try the Guillotine. Community College Week, 15 (9), p. 4.Straw, Deborah. (2002, July 8). The Plagiarism of Generation “Why Not?” Community College Week, 15 (6), pp. 4-7.

Are there other reasons for the increase in plagiarism?

Does the Internet contribute?

Does the emphasis on collaboration contribute?

Are students confused about what constitutes plagiarism?

Plagiarism is not just a problem for students.

Doris Kearns Goodwin“… Goodwin has not only committed plagiarism, but lied about whether it was plagiarism (and, incidentally, paid hush money to one of the people she plagiarized)…”Noah, Timothy. (2002, January 2). Doris Kearns Goodwin, Liar. Slate. retrieved 2005 July 18 from http://slate.msn.com/?id=2061056.

Stephen Ambrose“Over the weekend, the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes nailed Ambrose for heisting several passages of The Wild Blue, his recent best seller about World War II B-24 bomber crews, from historian Thomas Childers. Ambrose had footnoted Childers but still passed off Childers' elegant prose as his own.”Plotz, David. (2002, January 11). The Plagiarist: Why Stephen Ambrose is a vampire. Slate.. Accessed 2005 July 18 from http://slate.msn.com/?id=2060618.

Is it a paraphrase or a quotation?

“When he returned to West Point, Cadet James B. Washington, a relative of George Washington, remembered hearing the crowd shout, 'Here comes Custer!' The name meant nothing to Washington, who was just entering the Academy, but he turned and saw a slim, immature lad with unmilitary figure, slightly rounded shoulders, and gangling walk, surrounded by back-slapping, laughing friends.”

Stephen Ambrose’s Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors

“On August 28, 1859, Custer returned to West Point. Cadet James Barroll Washington, a great-great-grandnephew of George Washington, entered that year. He remembered hearing the crowd shout, 'Here comes Custer!' The name meant nothing to him, but he turned, and saw a slim, immature lad with unmilitary figure, slightly rounded shoulders, and gangling walk.”

Jay Monaghan’s Custer: The Life of General George Armstrong Custer

Monaghan, Jay. (1959). Custer: The Life of General George-Armstrong Custer. Boston: Little, Brown.

Ambrose, Stephen E.. (1975). Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday.

NPR Story

Ambrose cited Monaghan in the Acknowledgments and in many passages.The Problem?

• Ambrose didn’t enclose exact wording in quotation marks.

• Ambrose indicates in notes “that the cited

work is a source for the information presented, not the actual words”

“sometimes quotes Monaghan explicitly in the book,

“but at other points, he presents Monaghan's words as his own.”

Lewis, Mark (Jan. 7, 2002) “Ambrose Has Done It Before,” Forbes. Retrieved February 20, 2006 from http://www.forbes.com/2002/01/07/0107ambrose_2.html

The same thing can happen to students. ORIGINAL"This summer, New Delhi endorsed a lawsuit under way in New York brought by Bhopal victims against Union Carbide that seeks to compel the company to clean up the site of the accident and pay damages to victims. The U.S. court had required India's permission to proceed with the case. Himanshu Rajan Sharma, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he believes Union Carbide has judged the lives of poor people in distant countries to be expendable."

McPhate, M. (November 2004) Bhopal disaster continues to be a plague. The Washington Times. Retrieved February 20, 2002 from http://washingtontimes.com/world/20041119-102440-8732r.htm.

ORIGINAL"This summer, New Delhi endorsed a lawsuit under way in New York brought by Bhopal victims against Union Carbide that seeks to compel the company to clean the site and pay damages to victims. The U.S. court had required India's permission to proceed with the case. Himanshu Rajan Sharma, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he believes Union Carbide has judged the lives of poor people in distant countries to be expendable."

Student Paraphrase“The Indian government endorsed a New York lawsuit pursuing grievances brought by Bhopal victims against Union Carbide that will force the company to pay damages and clean up the site of the accident. The attorney for the plaintiffs said that the company is guilty of judging the lives of poor people living in foreign countries as expendable.”

Student Paraphrase“The Indian government endorsed a New York lawsuit pursuing grievances brought by Bhopal victims against Union Carbide that will force the company to pay damages and clean up the site of the accident. The attorney for the plaintiffs said that the company is guilty of judging the lives of poor people living in foreign countries as expendable.”

The same thing can happen to students.

An alternative to the common drain field is the Seepage Pit (Dry Well). In this type, liquid flows to a pre-cast tank with sidewall holes, surrounded by gravel. (Older versions usually consist of a pit with open-jointed brick or stone walls.) Liquid seeps through the holes or joints to the surrounding soil.

Here’s an example of exact wording from a website, but no quotation marks or citation.

Here is the citation, but that’s not enough! An alternative to the common drain field is the

Seepage Pit (Dry Well). In this type, liquid flows to a pre-cast tank with sidewall holes, surrounded by gravel. (Older versions usually consist of a pit with open-jointed brick or stone walls.) Liquid seeps through the holes or joints to the surrounding soil (Miller 2004).

. . .

ReferenceMiller, T.H. , “Septic Systems and Their Maintenance,” Maryland Cooperative Extension, http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/wye/personel/Miller/septic.html

Here is the way to “use” that passage in your own writing.

As experts have noted, the drain field is not the only possible septic system. “An alternative to the common drain field is the Seepage Pit (Dry Well). In this type, liquid flows to a pre-cast tank with sidewall holes, surrounded by gravel. (Older versions usually consist of a pit with open-jointed brick or stone walls.) Liquid seeps through the holes or joints to the surrounding soil” (Miller 2004). . . .

Understanding Plagiarism:Why does it happen?Why is it prohibited?What are the penalties?

Prepared by Christy Moore, Nadine Romig, D’Arcy Randall, Hillary Hart, and Jayson Galler

Why does plagiarism happen?

For students?

For professionals?

Doris Kearns Goodwin explains herself in “How I Caused That Story.” 900-page book

3,500 footnotes 10 years to write Primary sources

Manuscripts Private letters Diaries

Notes on 300 books

Goodwin, Doris Kearns (Jan. 2002) How I Caused That Story: A historian explains why someone else's writing wound up in her book. Time Online Edition. Retrieved Feb. 20, 2006 from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,197614,00.htm.l.

Similar problems plague students

You don’t have the citation information Your research notes get confused You get tired It doesn’t seem important to let the reader know where

every “borrowed” idea or group of words came from.

The most common forms of student plagiarism occur because of negligence. Omitting quotation marks

Poor paraphrasing

Missing citation (Hardin, 1968 p.1245)

What are the penalties for plagiarism? For students?

For professionals?

Joseph Biden had to pull out of the U.S. presidential race when he was accused of plagiarism.

Kinnock (original)Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in thousand generations to be able to get to university?

Was it because our predecessors were thick? Does anybody really think that they didn't get what we had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment? Of course not? It was because there was no platform upon which they could stand.

BidenI started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college?

Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? . . . No, it's not because they weren't as smart. It's not because they didn't work as hard. It's because they didn't have a platform upon which to stand . . .

Harvey, Michael (2003). The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing. Indianapolis: Hackett. Retrieved July 18, 2005 fromhttp://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/plagiarism.html.

Why is plagiarism prohibited?

Kim Lanegran’s argues that her very work was stolen when her dissertation was plagiarized.

Demonstration of your achievement

Credit for scholarly work is the currency of academia “Scholars, teachers, and students all participate in a

community of learning, where the ideas and information that have been developed over centuries are disseminated, elaborated upon, and added to in a continual process of intellectual advancement. High standards of academic integrity help ensure that this process functions smoothly.”

Lanegran, K. ( July 2, 2004) Fending Off the Plagiarist. Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved Feb. 20, 2006 http://chronicle.com/jobs/2004/07/2004070201c.htm.

Student Judicial Services, http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/academicintegrity.html

Goodwin explains why it’s important to attribute sources properly.“What made this incident particularly hard

for me was the fact that I take great pride in the depth of my research and the extensiveness of my citations. The writing of history is a rich process of building on the work of the past with the hope that others will build on what you have done. Through footnotes you point the way to future historians.”

Goodwin, Doris Kearns (Jan. 2002) “How I Caused That Story: A historian explains why someone else's writing wound up in her book.” Time Online Edition http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,197614,00.htm.l

What can you do to avoid plagiarism?

Keep the distinction between what youyou said, developed, invented, discovered and what othersothers discovered/said.

Protect the expression of ideas (yours and others’) whatever form they take.

Document your sources

Use quotation marks scrupulously

Works Cited

Ambrose, Stephen E.. (1975). Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday. Goodwin, Doris Kearns (Jan. 2002) How I Caused That Story: A historian explains why someone else's writing wound up in her book. Time Online

Edition. Retrieved Feb. 20, 2006 from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,197614,00.htm.l.

Harvey, M. (2003). The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing. Indianapolis: Hackett. Retrieved Feb. 20, 2006 http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/plagiarism.html.

Lanegran, K. ( July 2, 2004) Fending Off the Plagiarist. Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved Feb. 20, 2006 http://chronicle.com/jobs/2004/07/2004070201c.htm.

Lewis, M. (Jan. 7, 2002). “Ambrose Has Done It Before.” Forbes. Retrieved Feb. 20, 2006 from http://www.forbes.com/2002/01/07/0107ambrose.html.

Mahon, Robert Lee. (2002, December 9). Got Plagiarism? Try the Guillotine. Community College Week, 15 (9), p. 4. McPhate, M. (November 2004) Bhopal disaster continues to be a plague. The Washington Times. Retrieved February 20, 2002 from

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20041119-102440-8732r.htm. Monaghan, Jay. (1959). Custer: The Life of General George-Armstrong Custer. Boston: Little, Brown. Noah, Timothy. (2002, January 2). Doris Kearns Goodwin, Liar. Slate. Retrieved July 18, 2005 from http://slate.msn.com/?id=2061056. Oates, Stephen. (2002, May 15). I Stood Accused of Plagiarism. History News Network. Retrieved July 18,

2005 from http://hnn.us/articles/658.html. Plagiarism.org. Statistics. Retrieved July 18, 2005http://www.plagiarism.org/problem4.html. Plotz, D. (2002, January 11). The Plagiarist: Why Stephen Ambrose is a vampire. Slate.. Retrieved July 18, 2005 from

http://slate.msn.com/?id=2060618. Roig, M. (1997). Can Undergraduate Students Determine Whether Text Has Been Plagiarized? Psychological Record, 47(1), 113. Straw, Deborah. (2002, July 8). The Plagiarism of Generation “Why Not?” Community College Week, __(_), pp. 4-7 Student Judicial Services, (Section 11-802(d)).Retrieved July 18, 2005 from http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/academicintegrity.html).

The same thing can happen to students. ORIGINAL

"To the young American architects who made the pilgrimage, the most dazzling figure of all was Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School. Gropius opened the Bauhaus in Weimar, the German capital, in 1919. It was more than a school; it was a commune, a spiritual movement, a radical approach to art in all its forms, a philosophical center comparable to the Garden of Epicurus."Source: Tom Wolfe, From Bauhaus to Our House (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1981), 10.

Student Paraphrase“As Tom Wolfe notes, to young American architects who went to Germany, the most dazzling figure was Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School (Wolf, 1981). Gropius opened the Bauhaus in the German capital of Weimar in 1919. It was, however, more than a school, it was a commune, a spiritual movement, a philoso-phical Center like the Garden of Epicurus.”

http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/academicintegrity.html#plagiarism

ORIGINAL

"To the young American architects who made the pilgrimage, the most dazzling figure of all was Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School. Gropius opened the Bauhaus in Weimar, the German capital, in 1919. It was more than a school; it was a commune, a spiritual movement, a radical approach to art in all its forms, a philosophical center comparable to the Garden of Epicurus."Source: Tom Wolfe, From Bauhaus to Our House (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1981), 10.

Student Paraphrase“As Tom Wolfe notes, to young American architects who went to Germany, the most dazzling figure was Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School (Wolf, 1981). Gropius opened the Bauhaus in the German capital of Weimar in 1919. It was, however, more than a school, it was a commune, a spiritual movement, a philoso-phical Center like the Garden of Epicurus.”

The same thing can happen to students. ORIGINAL

"To the young American architects who made the pilgrimage, the most dazzling figure of all was Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School. Gropius opened the Bauhaus in Weimar, the German capital, in 1919. It was more than a school; it was a commune, a spiritual movement, a radical approach to art in all its forms, a philosophical center comparable to the Garden of Epicurus."Source: Tom Wolfe, From Bauhaus to Our House (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1981), 10.

“As Tom Wolfe notes, to young American architects who went to Germany, the most dazzling figure was Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School (Wolf, 1981). Gropius opened the Bauhaus in the German capital of Weimar in 1919. It was, however, more than a school, it was a commune, a spiritual movement, a philoso-phical Center like the Garden of Epicurus.”

http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/academicintegrity.html#plagiarism

POOR PARAPHRASE