Reading and Writing in International Studies

Plagiarism, paraphrasing and

integrating sources

Avoiding PlagiarismDefinition:

“Plagiarism is a form of intellectual dishonesty or theft. When a person plagiarises he or she “steals” someone else’s words or ideas by passing them off as their own.”

Source: www.services.unimelb.edu.au/llsu

Is this Plagiarism (1)?Copying some of the work of one of

your classmates without giving a reference

YESExamples 1-7 are heavily based on: Bailey, Stephen.

Academic Writing, A Handbook for International Students. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. Print.

Is this Plagiarism (2)?

Copying and pasting from a source, citing the source, but not using quotation marks

YES

Is this Plagiarism (3)?

Copying from an essay you wrote earlier and which was marked by a tutor, and giving a reference to that

essay

NO

Is this Plagiarism (4)?Copying and pasting from a source,

changing a few words and giving a citation

YES

Is this Plagiarism (5)?Miss-spelling a citation

YES

Is this Plagiarism (6)?Using information that constitutes general knowledge, and not giving a

citation

NOBut check to be sure

Is this Plagiarism (7)?Discussing an issue (for example an

essay topic) with a group of classmates and using other

classmates’ ideas in your essay

Usually noBut take care!

Paraphrasing (1)• Find synonyms using a thesaurus• Find antonyms• Change the grammar (passive to

active voice, and vice versa)• However, a much better strategy is to

write an outline with key and supporting points, put the original away, and write down what you have understood.

Paraphrasing (2)to quote / to cite = to repeat exactly what someone else has said or written (to quote from); to give the exact words of something that has been written, especially in order to support an opinion or prove an idea

a paraphrase = a statement that expresses in a shorter, clearer, or different way what someone has said or written

to summarise = to make a short statement giving only the main information and not the details of a plan, event, report etc.

Integrating sources:- Direct quotation “ ………. “- Author + reporting verb- According to (author), …….- Paraphrasing- Summarising

Library toolbox with on-line tutorials:http://www.library.leiden.edu/help/

toolbox/using-citing.html