What is Plagiarism? “To use another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize. Plagiarism, then,

What is Plagiarism? “To use another person’s ideas or

expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize. Plagiarism, then, constitutes intellectual theft…”

Gibaldi, J. and Achert, W. S. (1995). MLA handbook for writers of research papers, (4th ed.). New York: The Modern Language Association.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is presenting someone else's words or ideas as your own. The following are all examples of plagiarism:

Quoting or paraphrasing material without citing the source of that material. Sources can include Web sites, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, journals, TV and radio programs, movies and videos, photographs and drawings, charts and graphs; any information or ideas that are not your own.

From: “Student guide to avoiding plagiarism” www.educationworld.com

What is Plagiarism?

Quoting a source without using quotation marks -- even if you do cite it.

Buying a paper online or downloading a paper from a free site.

Copying or using work done by another student.

Citing sources you didn't use. Turning in the same paper for more than one

class without the permission of both teachers.


Take The Plagiarism Test*

Read the following passage from Bruce Catton’s The Civil War, page 285, New York: Fairfax Press, 1980.

*From: The University of Michigan Undergraduate Library

“On Good Friday evening, April 14, driven by an insane compulsion of hatred and perverted loyalty to a cause which he had never felt obliged to fight for as a soldier – Booth strode into the President’s box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, fired a bullet into Lincoln’s brain, vaulted from the box to the stage, and rode off desperately through the night, fancying that if he could just reach Confederate territory he would be hailed as a hero and a savior.”

1. What portion of that paragraph is common knowledge?

2. Is this correctly done or has some plagiarism taken place?

Booth shot Lincoln in the head then jumped onto the stage, escaped from the Ford’s Theatre, and rode off into the night. He dreamed that if he could only reach the South he would be called a demigod by the Confederates.

Suggested Answer #2

This is simply a loose paraphrasing of Catton’s words. Since no credit is given to Catton for the ideas, this is indeed plagiarism.


John Wilkes Booth chose Good Friday to strike his first blow as a so-called soldier for the South. On the night of April 14, 1865 he murdered President Lincoln in the Ford’s Theatre.

Suggested Answer #3

This highlights little known facts of the assassination such as that it took place on Good Friday, that Booth never fought for the Confederacy, and the specific date. Since those facts are not common knowledge and are not credited to Catton, this too is plagiarism.


John Wilkes Booth murdered President Lincoln in the Ford’s Theatre, then jumped onto the stage and left the building. Although Booth never fought in the Confederate Army, he was driven by “an insane compulsion of hatred and a perverted loyalty” when he broke the peace of that Good Friday evening (Catton 285).

Suggested Answer #4In this case the items of common knowledge are listed, properly, without reference to Catton. The direct quote from Catton is in quotation marks but the citation does not appear until the end of the sentence. That indicates that both those specific words and those specific facts (“that Booth was never a soldier”, and “Good Friday”) are Catton’s.

How Can Students Avoid Plagiarism? Give credit whenever you use:

Another person’s idea, opinion, or theory; Any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings –

any pieces of information –that are not common knowledge;

Quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or

Paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written word.

Used with permission from The Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism Put in quotations everything that comes

directly from the text, especially when taking notes.

Paraphrase, but be sure you are not just rearranging or replacing a few words.

Check your paraphrase against the original text to be sure you have not accidentally used the same phrases or words, and that the information is accurate.

Used with permission from The Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

Note TakingThe best way to avoid plagiarism is to take careful notes. When taking notes, always do the following:

First, read the entire text and summarize it in your own words. Then paraphrase important points and copy usable quotes. Enclose quotes in quotation marks.

Carefully distinguish between material that is quoted, material that is paraphrased, material that is summarized, and your own words and ideas. Consider using different colored ink for each type of source.


Note Taking

Include in your notes all the information you will need to cite your sources.

Copy all source information into your working bibliography using the format your teacher has provided.

Print any Web pages you use. Write the URL and the date on the Web page if it isn't included on the printout.

Save all your notes and printouts until you receive your final grade.


Writing the Paper

The following tips on the writing process also will help you avoid plagiarism.

Read your notes carefully and make sure you understand the material before you begin to write.

Write a preliminary draft without looking at your notes. Leave spaces where you think you'll want to include quotes or supporting material.


Writing the Paper

Use your own words as much as possible. No one expects you to write like an expert or a professional writer. You should, however, write like a serious, intelligent student.

Cite all sources as you write your rough draft. Read through your final draft and make sure

all uncited ideas are your own.


QUESTIONS?

Definition of Copyright

The legal right to control every way of producing a version of an original piece of work, such as a book, play, film, photograph or piece of music.”

Examples of Using Copyright as a Noun

Under American law, a song remains in copyright for 75 years after publication.

His work is no longer protected by copyright. The school was sued for breach of/infringing

copyright (disobeying copyright laws) after a teacher photocopied some textbooks.

Who owns/holds the copyright in the play?The symbol © shows that something is protected by copyright.

From the Cambridge International Dictionary of English)http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=copyright

Detection Software: A Few Choices

1) Turnitin (www.turnitin.com)

A plagiarism prevention system used by hundreds of institutions worldwide Checks submitted papers against a database, which exceeds 100 million Web pages Software scans the paper and reports on originality (on a scale from 1 to 5). Cost? It varies depending on the institution and number of users. Anywhere from a single subscription at $100/yr, to $13,000 for a large University.

2. WordCheck – (www.wordchecksystems.com) A protected database of digital documents,

available only to the individual user of the software

The database is referred to as a "Library," and organizes documents into "Categories" selected by an individual user.

New documents are automatically compared to all other documents in the Library

Cost? Between $295 ($149 academic price*) for individuals and $1,295 ($897 academic price*) for departments

Plagiarism Search Services: A Few Choices

1. Plagiarism.org (www.plagiarism.org)

Compares student text to a database of papers, Internet databases, and web pages

Provides a report which highlights suspicious phrases

Cost? Annual fee of $150.00 plus $1 per document submitted

2. ItegriGuard (www.integriguard.com) - Provides two different services: HowOriginal.com and PaperBin.com

HowOriginal.com is similar to plagiarism.org’s service

Cost of HowOriginal.com? Free PaperBin.com is a service subscribed to

by an instructor, who has his/her students submit papers to the site for detection

Cost of PaperBin.com? $4.95 per month

Education

1. Talk openly with students about plagiarism. Define it and give examples.

2. Discuss copyright and the Internet.

3. Teach bibliographic citation.

Education4. Structure a research assignment so

that various deadlines are due at different times.

5. Discourage projects that ask students to simply gather facts about a topic.

Lincoln, Margaret (2002, Jan-Feb). Internet plagiarism: an agenda for staff inservice and student awareness. Multimedia Schools, 9, 46-49.

Plagiarism Web Sites This is site from Naples High School Media Center on plagiarism and citing sources: http://collierschools.com/nhs/lmc/citations.htm Easybib.com provides a free, online service that creates citations in MLA or APA style. http://www.easybib.com Michael Spears has developed this page with definitions of plagiarism and how to avoid plagiarizing works. http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~mspears/plagiarism.html The Writing Tutorial Services at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN created this site with definitions and examples http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html server.remc12.k12.mi.us/lhslib/copyright.htm lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/wp/copyright www.mla.org www.fno.org/may98/cov98may.html www.noodletools.com www.ncusd203.org/central/html/where/plagiarism_stoppers.html

Documents

What is Plagiarism? “To use another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize. Plagiarism, then,