How Can I Avoid Plagiarism?

Plagiarism, Paraphrases and Quotations

Situation 1

Jack has a lot of homework and is not feeling well. After talking about the assignment, his wife Kelley offered to write one of his papers for him so he could rest. Was this acceptable?

Answer

Jack and Kelley have plagiarized. While talking about your ideas can be helpful, having someone else write a paper for you is unacceptable.

Situation 2

Jack found a great quote from a book that he wants to add to his paper. He has inserted the quote (using quotation marks) and included the author’s name and page number. What else does he need to do?

Answer

Jack is off to a good start. He just needs to make sure that he adds the source used to his works cited page. All sources used in a paper should be in the works cited page, and all sources in the works cited page should be used in the paper.

Situation 3

Elizabeth finds some great content in a book that she wants to add to her paper. Because she is not quoting, she does not add any information about the source of the content. Is she plagiarizing?

Answer

Elizabeth is plagiarizing. Even when not quoting a source directly, it is important to reference the source of ideas that you use in your paper.

Situation 4

Kelley wrote a paper about marine animals in one of her courses last semester. Now she is taking a new class where she needs to write a paper on the same topic. Kelley plans to save time by submitting the paper she wrote last semester. She thinks it is okay because she wrote the paper. Is this plagiarism?

Answer

Even though Kelley wrote the paper, it is still considered plagiarism to submit old work for new assignments. If Kelly is interested in using portions of her old marine animal paper, she should consult her instructor.

Situation 5

Jonathan plans to mention in his paper that the capital of Saudi Arabia is Riyadh, but he does not have a source for this fact. What does he need to do to avoid plagiarizing here?

Answer

Jonathan does not need to cite any sources for this information because it falls in the realm of common knowledge (i.e. information that is commonly known and easily located in a variety of sources).

Situation 6

Gretchen paraphrased from a book and added appropriate citation information and an entry in the works cited page. At the beginning she was careful not to change the author’s meaning, but towards the end she changed some ideas that she didn’t agree with. Was this acceptable?

Answer

Gretchen has plagiarized because what she wrote misrepresented the author. A paraphrase should be different grammatically and in terms of word choice, but should still convey the same meaning as the original. Gretchen needs to make a clear break between the author’s ideas and her own.

Situation 7

Matt found a great article on the internet, but it did not have an author or publication date. Matt chose to use just a little bit of material from the article without citing this source because it was too hard to create an entry in the works cited page. Was this plagiarism?

Answer

Matt has plagiarized. Regardless of the source of information, it is important to give credit to the original author. When locating reference information is difficult, you should do your best to locate as much information as possible.

Situation 8

Gretchen wrote her paper in German and then translated it into English before turning it in. She believes that this is fine because she is the original author. Is this true?

Answer

While translating individual words is acceptable, translating large sections or an entire paper is not. In addition, papers that are simply translated can be incomprehensible to readers due to the limitations of translation software.

Tips on Quotations

• Quote sparingly.• Be sure to note the author and page number

when quoting.• When quoting, be sure to use brackets “[ ]” if

it is necessary to change anything from the original. In addition, use ellipses marks “(…)” to show that you have omitted something from the original.

Paraphrasing Tips• Read the original text until you understand it

fully.• Take notes on the main points.• Put the original text aside while you write your

paraphrase using your notes.• Check what you wrote against the original,

ensuring that the structures and vocabulary choices are different, but the original meaning is maintained.

Adding Quotations and Paraphrases

• Use phrases like “According to Westwood…” or “Westwood states that…” to introduce your idea.

• Quotation marks are necessary for quotes, but should not be used for paraphrases.

• Page numbers should be included in both quotations and for paraphrases.

• Use block quotes if you have a long quotation.

Works Cited Page in MLA

The most simple type of entry is a book with a single author. It should look like this:• Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of

Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

• Westwood, Michael. The Plagiarism Police. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2014. Print.

More on Works Cited in MLA

• There are many types of sources and each addition to the works cited page needs to be adapted to the type of source material.

• Sources should be listed alphabetically. • Information about how to create citations for

different types of sources is available in your textbook. Also, the OWL at Purdue website is an excellent resource.