PLAGIARISM

CREATED BY PAM KOPF

According to a 2001 survey by Rutgers University:

• 74% of 4500 students admitted to cheating on a test

• 97% of students admitted questionable academic honesty

• 72% admitted to serious cheating on assignments

• 52% copied web site information without documentation

• 1/2 of students admitted to some type of plagiarism on written assignments

DEFINITION

•Literary theft of someone’s words, thoughts, expressions, images or sounds and presenting them as your own without acknowledging the original source

• Plagiarism comes from the Latin word “plagiarius” which means kidnapper or to plunder

• Internet has made plagiarism more prevalent

Intentional plagiarism

• Copying and submitting someone’s work

• Buying or borrowing papers

• Cutting and pasting without proper documentation

• All of these are done with the intent to represent the original as your own

Unintentional plagiarism

• Careless paraphrasing

• Poor documentation

• Usually done because of lack of knowledge

WHY DO IT?• Poor time management and planning• Poor documentation of sources and facts, and

inadequate note taking• OK as long as not caught• Everybody does it/ peer pressure• Pressure for a good grade; need to get into college• Lack of knowledge about what constitutes plagiarism• Easiest• Think teachers have “no clue”• Low self-confidence in own abilities

ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY– Philosophy: All learning begins with a conviction in the value of integrity which is the reason why the

School District of Poynette regards academic honesty as the framework of its educational mission. It is expected that all school work submitted for the purpose of meeting course or class requirements represents the original efforts of the individual student.

– Definitions: Cheating can be defined as intentionally obtaining, and attempting to use, unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise. Plagiarism is the act of appropriating the ideas, language or work of another, and passing them off as one’s own product. Examples of cheating and /or plagiarism include, but are not limited to , the following:

– Copying from another students test or helping another student during a test– Providing or accepting information regarding specific test content

Submitting another person’s work as one’s own– Stealing copies of tests or answer keys– Copying another student’s homework, test, quiz, project, book report, assignment– or take-home test– Presenting material taken from sources such as books, newspapers, periodicals– or the Internet and submitting them as one’s own without appropriate citation – Changing answers on a test, assignment or project after grading– Changing grades or other academic records, providing false information or forgery– Using programmable calculators in a manner not specified by the instructor

• Procedure: When a teacher views, or learns, that a student has committed a form of academic dishonesty, the teacher is responsible for contacting the parent/guardian, by phone, and the building administrator concerning the incident. A description of the incident shall be provided to the parent/guardian. The student will be permitted to give a written statement with their viewpoint.

• Consequences: • First Offense• No academic credit for the product (i.e.: exam , assignment, book report, project)• Immediate parent/guardian contact by the teacher• Notification of guidance counselor and building principal• Second Offense• No academic credit for the product• Conference with parent/guardian, teacher, guidance counselor and student• Notification of building principal• No participation in extra-curricular events• Third Offense• No academic credit for the product• Conference with parent, teacher, student, guidance counselor, and building administrator• Student will be ineligible for membership in the National Honor Society or and scholarships controlled or• sponsored by the school district• No participation in extra curricular events

Common Knowledge • If found in five (5) or more sources, the

information is considered general knowledge and does not need to be cited

• Examples:– The Civil War began in 1860

– Lincoln was our 16th president

– Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941

Avoiding plagiarism

• Quotations

• Paraphrasing

• Summarizing

• Use of own words

• Works cited/bibliography

• Parenthetical citations

• Use author’s name as a lead

WHAT DO I CITE?

• Someone else’s spoken or written words or theories

• Facts or ideas not commonly known• Images, statistics, details, observations,

descriptions, eye-witness accounts, and interviews

• Opinions, arguments, and speculations• Detailed content involving descriptive terms,

proper nouns, and names

PAPER MILLS

• Their business is supplying papers, especially to students

• Some may sell customized papers while others require that you submit a paper in return

• Tell you that papers are only used as “models”

EXAMPLES OF PAPER MILL SITES:

• SCHOOL SUCKS

• EVIL HOUSE OF CHEAT

• CHUCKII’S COLLEGE RESOURCES

• AL-TERMPAPER.COM

• OTHER PEOPLE’S PAPERS

• 123HELPME.COM

EXAMPLES OF PLAGIARISM

• AUTHORS:– Stephen Ambrose– Janet Dailey– Doris Kearns Goodwin– Dan Brown (accused by found not guilty)

Kaavya Viswanathan

• Harvard sophomore said to have plagiarized twice in her novel Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life

SPORTS

• COACHES– George O’Leary--Notre Dame coach

plagiarized a resume

POLITICIANS

• SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN BORROWED FROM SPEECHES BY RFK

STUDENTS

• A New Jersey high school valedictorian denied admission to Harvard University when she plagiarized in a newspaper article she wrote.

•WHEN IN DOUBT-CITE!

Works CitedFrancis, Barbara. Other People’s Words: What Plagiarism Is and How to Avoid It. Berkeley

Heights: Enslow, Inc., 2005.

Getting a Grip on using the Web With Kids. Ms. School District of Poynette, Poynette, WI.

2005.

Lathrop, Ann, and Kathleen Foss. Student Cheating and Plagiarism in the Internet Era.

Englewood, CO.: Libraries Unlimited, 2000.

Scott, Jennifer. “Write or Wrong?” Wisconsin State Journal 26 Feb. 2006, sec. 1: I-1+.

Weidenborner, Stephen, Domenick Caruso, and Gary Parks. Writing Research Papers: a Guide

to the Research Process. . 7th Edition ed. Boston: St. Martins, 2005.