Write it right,

in your own words

Plagiarism: What it is
and how to avoid it
What exactly does plagiarism mean?
1) To use and pass off the ideas
or writings of another (person) as
one's own. (American Heritage
Dictionary)

2) To use anothers production
without crediting the source. To
commit literary theft To present
as new and original an idea or
product derived from an existing
source. (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary)

Note: To attribute and to cite both
refer to giving credit to someone
for using their words, ideas,
opinions, images or other work.
Image: ncsu.edu
It is stealing, then lying about it
Some actions can clearly be
labeled plagiarism:

Buying or copying essays or
other papers from online sites
and passing them off as your
own work.

Copying large sections of
another persons work
including text in print or online
without properly quoting and
citing the source.

Having someone else write
your paper for you.

Source: Purdue University Online Writing
Lab
A powerful tool, too easily misused
The World Wide Web and search
engines like Google have made it
easy to find and use information
about almost any topic or subject.

But cutting and pasting from the
Internet can lead to intentionally or
unintentionally misusing the ideas,
words, images and work of others
by passing them off as your own.

Note: The same rules apply to using
a source on the Internet as in using
a printed source.

So keep this principle in sight:
When you use information from a
web site, you must cite your source.

Image: geekosystem.com
The temptation of easy information
The amount of information
available on the Internet is
virtually inconceivable. On almost
any subject, you can find
thousands, if not millions, of
web pages with often detailed
information about the subject.
Here are the number of results a
simple Google search turned up
on four possible essay topics.
! Should same-sex marriage be
legal? 111 million hits
! We are becoming too
dependent on computers.
40 million hits
! Software, music and movie
piracy is not really a crime.
15 million hits
! We do not need religion to act
morally. 4 million hits
Scores of web sites offer essays
on every topic sometimes at a
price but often free. Here are a
just a few of the many choices:
essayforum.com / debatewise.org
teenink.com / freeessays123.com
essaydepot.com / antiessays.com
termpaperwarehouse.com

Plagiarism by copying and not citing
From an essay titled Smoking
should be banned in public
places on antiessays.com:
On the other hand smokers say
that smoking in their own office
or whatever is harmless to
other people, but on the other
hand the air conditioning
system distributes the smoke in
the whole building and finally
everybody is affected. One main
argument of the smoker lobby
is that not letting smokers and
addicted smokers smoke where
they want to is an infringement
of there right is ridiculous,
because they can choose where
they smoke, but non-smokers
cannot decide where they
breathe.
From a students essay titled
Smoking should be banned
worldwide:
On the other hand smokers say
that smoking in their own office
or whatever is harmless to
other people, but on the other
hand the air conditioning
system distributes the smoke in
the whole building and finally
everybody is affected. One main
argument of the smoker lobby
is that not letting smokers and
addicted smokers smoke where
they want to is an infringement
of there right is ridiculous,
because they can choose where
they smoke, but non-smokers
cannot decide where they
breathe.


Plagiarism by patchwork copying
This type of plagiarism may be
the most common. It occurs
when the writer weaves in
sentences, phrases or even whole
paragraphs without using
quotation marks or giving credit
to the source material.
The resulting text is like a
patchwork quilt.
Here is an example of patchwork
plagiarism.
With regard to children, they are
totally insensitive to their parents'
shyness. It is rare for child to
label a parent as shy. It is easy to
understand this, since the parents
are in positions of control and
authority in their own home. They
may not show their shy side to
their children. Moreover, since
shyness is viewed as unfavorable by
most children, it may be
threatening for them to think of
their parents in that way. During
the formative years, the parent is
idealized as all-knowing and all-
powerful -- not dumb, ugly, or weak.
Source: University of Louisiana Monroe
Library
Image: openhouseart.co.uk
Plagiarism by improper paraphrasing
Proper paraphrasing means
putting the ideas or opinions of
the original text into your own
words, and citing the source.
Even if you change the words a
little or use synonyms but still
essentially retain the thoughts
or sentence structures of the
original, this is still considered
plagiarism whether you cite
the source or not.
Here is an example of a
plagiarized paraphrase from
ClassZone.com. Though some
words and phrases have been
changed, the writer did not
summarize the original in his or
her own words or credit the
original source:
Sources: University of Louisiana Monroe
Library, ClassZone.com
Original: Among other
equipment, hurricane hunters
use a dropsonde. This is a
small, round tube. It is dropped
into the eye of the hurricane. A
parachute at the top of the
tube opens and slows it down.
The dropsonde falls toward the
ocean. It picks up information
about the storm. It then radios
this information back to the
plane.
Paraphrase: Among other
instruments, hurricane hunters
use a dropsonde. A dropsonde
is a small, round tube that is
dropped into the eye of the
hurricane. A parachute opens
and slows it down. As the
dropsonde detects information
about the storm, it radios that
information back to hurricane
hunters in the plane.

Perhaps it was done unintentionally
1) A student may carelessly or
incorrectly cite ideas and
words borrowed from another
source. This is not intentional
plagiarism.
2) A student who tries to
identify and credit the source
but has not been taught how
to properly cite sources has
not intentionally plagiarized.

Ethical writers make every
effort to attribute their
information and credit their
sources fully and properly.

Source: Council of Writing Program
Administrators
Why students plagiarize
Lack of research skills
Lack of time
Careless note-taking
Confusion about how to cite
sources properly

Survey: WritingShield.com
Knowing when you must give credit
The key to avoiding plagiarism is
to be sure you give credit where
credit is due. You must cite:
Words or ideas presented in a
magazine, book, web page,
newspaper, song, TV program,
movie, computer program,
advertisement, letter or email.
Information you gain through
interviewing or talking with
another person, face to face, over
the phone, or in writing.
The use of the exact words of a
sentence or unique phrase.
When your words reproduce a
writers style of expression, word
order, artistic turn of phrase or
use of metaphor and figures of
speech.
When you reprint diagrams,
illustrations, charts, pictures or
other visual materials.
When you use any electronic
images, audio, video or other
media.
Bottom line: Give credit for
something that someone else
said, wrote, emailed or created.
Source: Purdue University Online
Writing Lab
Is it plagiarism? You be the judge
Here is the original passage:
Students frequently overuse
direct quotation in taking
notes, and as a result they
overuse quotations in the final
paper. Probably only about 10
percent of your final
manuscript should appear as
directly quoted matter.
Therefore, you should strive to
limit the amount of exact
transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.

Source: Lester, James D. Writing
Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976):
46-47. Print.

On the handout, you will find
three examples of student
paraphrases of the passage
by Lester. Read them and
answer the following
questions for each example:
1) Has the student plagiarized
the original passage?
2) If so, how?
3) What could her or she have
done to avoid plagiarizing?

Adapted from Quote, Paraphrase and
Summarize Properly! Paola Brown,
Mesa Community College.
www.mesacc.edu

Proper paraphrasing: A high-level skill
Example 1 is mostly well done, but
the student should have used
quotation marks on the part of the
third sentence he or she used word
for word. Also the writer didnt
include the source page number.
Example 2 is plagiarism. The
wording of the paraphrased first
sentence is too close to the
original. The second is copied
verbatim and would have to be put
in quotes. The third is almost
identical. Nor has the student cited
the source of the paragraph.
Example 3 is well done. The
paraphrases are in the students
own words. He or she properly uses
a signal phrase according to
Lester to credit the author, and
cites the page number in
parentheses.
Once more, just to be perfectly clear
To avoid plagiarism, you must
attribute properly whenever you
use:

1) Another persons idea, opinion
or theory.

2) Quotations of another persons
actual spoken or written words.

3) A paraphrase or summary of
another persons spoken or
written words.

4) Facts, statistics, graphs,
drawings or any pieces of
information that are not
common knowledge.

Source: Indiana University Writing Tutorial
Services
Image: care2.com
Some things may not need to be cited
Writing about your own
experiences, your own
observations and insights,
your own thoughts, your own
conclusions about a subject.
Recording your own results
obtained through lab or field
experiments
Using your own artwork,
photographs, video, audio or
other media.
Generally accepted facts, for
example: Pollution is bad for
the environment. Mammals
are warm-blooded. Fish have
gills.
What is considered
common knowledge, such
as folklore, common sense
observations, myths, and
well-known historical events.
But note that historical
documents must be cited.

Source: Purdue University Online
Writing Lab
Just what is common knowledge?
Knowledge known by everyone
or nearly everyone.
Generally, you can regard
something as common
knowledge if you find the same
information used undocumented
in at least five credible, reliable
sources.
It might be common knowledge if
the information is something a
person could easily find in
general reference sources, such
as atlases or encyclopedias.
Widely known scientific facts,
such as: The molecular structure of
water (H
2
O).
Widely known historical facts,
such as: Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated in 1865 by John
Wilkes Booth.
But note that opinions and
interpretations generally are not
considered forms of common
knowledge.
When in doubt, cite the source.
Sources: Purdue University Online
Writing Lab, Harvard Writing Program
Deciding what to cite: An example
1) The elevation of Sumpter, a
town in Oregon, is 4,424 feet
above sea level.
2) Though it is part of the
picturesque history of Sumpter,
the gold mining dredge has left
the little valley a granite-strewn
ruin.
3) Now less than 4 percent of the
population of Sumpter is involved
in mining or other natural
resource industries.
4) The best time to visit Sumpter
is in the winter, when everyone
can enjoy snowmobiling, skiing
and dog-sledding.

Source: Oregon Department of Education
A gold mining dredge in Sumpter.
wikipedia.com
Private domain or public domain?
1) The elevation of Sumpter, a
town in Oregon, is 4,424 feet
above sea level.
Public domain, does not require
citation. Easily looked up in many
sources. A fact not under dispute.
No distinctive sentence structure.
2) Though part of the
picturesque history of Sumpter,
the gold mining dredge has left
the little valley a granite-strewn
ruin.
Private domain, requires citation.
Opinion, a particular perspective.
Also, the sentence structure and
phrasing are distinctive and belong
to the author.
3) Now less than 4 percent of the
population of Sumpter is involved
in mining or farming.
Private domain, requires citation.
This may be a statistical fact, but it
is the result of a particular study
conducted on a particular date. It is
data not necessarily widely known
or accessible.
4) The best time to visit Sumpter
is in the winter, when everyone
can enjoy snowmobiling, skiing
and dog-sledding.
Private domain, requires citation.
Opinion, represents a particular
point of view. (Some people would
be of the opposite opinion, valuing
fishing, hiking or other summer
sports more than the winter ones.)
Source: Oregon Department of Education
Good reasons to cite your sources
Citations reflect the careful and
thorough work you have put into
finding and exploring your sources.

Citations are an obligation and a
courtesy to the reader. They help
readers understand the context of
your argument or point of view.

Citations allow you to acknowledge
authors who made possible
particular aspects of your work.

Citations draw attention to the
originality of your own ideas and
lend credence to your work.

Source: Dartmouth College Institute for Writing
and Rhetoric
Image: jafaloo.com
Bonus: Youll become a better writer
You will encounter and engage
with new ideas, and that will
deepen your critical thinking
and writing skills.
You will learn to question and
evaluate all ideas. Accepting
others ideas without question
prevents you from reaching
your own conclusions and
forming your own ideas.
By putting in the hard work to
understand, interpret and
argue with others ideas, you
will be able to more fully
develop your own ideas.
By crediting your sources, you
will add authority and
credibility to what you write.
By understanding how to
avoid plagiarism and learning
how to cite your sources, you
will gain the confidence to
voice your own ideas and
opinions.
If I have seen further, it is
only by standing on the
shoulders of giants.
Isaac Newton
Sources: The Program in Writing and
Humanistic Studies / MIT
Arms race: Detecting web plagiarism
You can always check a passage
with a Google search. Its easy,
fast, free and effective.
But if intentional plagiarism is
suspected, computer-assisted
detection allows vast collections
of documents to be compared.
The document to be checked is
uploaded to the detection
software web site, where it is
compared to a database of
documents. The detector
searches the web and compiles
articles, journals, books and
other sources for comparison.
Here are just five of the many
plagiarism detection services:
Turnitin.com, the best-known but
also the most expensive
WriteCheck.com, a citation
checker for students
Turnitoutsafely.com, a plagiarism
checker, citation manager, and a
paraphrase helper
Grammarly.com, an automated
proofreader and plagiarism
checker.
PlagiarismChecker.com, another
tool to compare papers to search
engine results.
Sources: National Council of Teachers
of English, wikipedia
The right ways to use anothers work
2) Paraphrasing is putting a
passage from a source into your
own words. Paraphrases usually
condense and shorten the
original passage.
3) Summarizing involves putting
the main points or ideas into
your own words. You must
attribute summarized ideas to
the original source. A summary
takes a broad overview of the
ideas in the source material.

Source: Purdue University Online
Writing Lab

There are three main methods of
incorporating another writers
work into your own writing.
They differ according to how
closely you use the original
material.
But with all three methods, you
must give credit to the source.
1) Quotations must be identical
to the original, but are usually
shorter. They must match the
original word for word and be put
in quotation marks.


Recognizing and avoiding plagiarism
Source Text 1
The ways in which domesticated
animals have diverged from their
wild ancestors include the
following. Many species changed
in size: cows, pigs, and sheep
became smaller under
domestication, while guinea pigs
became larger.
Source: Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs,
and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies.
New York and London: W. W. Norton &
Co., 1999. Print. Page 159.
Student 1
There are many differences
between domesticated and wild
animals.

Student 2
Domesticated animals diverged
from their wild ancestors in
numerous ways. Animals such as
cows became smaller, while
animals such as guinea pigs
became larger.
Student 3
A careful examination of the
ways in which domesticated
animals have diverged from their
wild ancestors shows that cows,
pigs, and sheep became smaller
under domestication, while
guinea pigs became larger.
Adapted from Recognizing and
Avoiding Plagiarism. Cornell University
College of Arts and Sciences. Web.
Use quotes, paraphrase, cite a source
Student 1
OK: By definition, domesticated
and wild animals are different;
thus, the student has not
reproduced an idea or piece of
research unique to Diamond's
work. But neither is the
statement very informative.
Student 2
Not OK: This sample uses
information and ideas from
Diamond's passage that are not
common knowledge. The writer
simply rephrases each of
Diamond's sentences in the
original order. Since the student
uses no documentation
whatsoever, this sample involves
plagiarism.

Student 3
Not OK: This writing sample
quotes two passages verbatim
from Diamond: "the ways in
which domesticated animals have
diverged from their wild
ancestors and "cows, pigs, and
sheep became smaller under
domestication, while guinea pigs
became larger." Although the
student strings these quotations
together in his/her own sentence,
both the ideas and phrasing
belong to Diamond. Without
quotation marks or an attribution
to Diamond, this writing sample
clearly constitutes plagiarism.
Adapted from Recognizing and
Avoiding Plagiarism. Cornell University
College of Arts and Sciences. Web.

Be careful in quoting, summarizing
Source Text 2
In Gothic writings, fantasy
predominates over reality, the
strange over the commonplace,
and the supernatural over the
natural, with one definite
authorial intent: to scare. Not,
that is, to reach down into the
depths of the soul and purge it
with pity and terror (as we say
tragedy does), but to get to the
body itself, its glands, epidermis,
muscles and circulatory system,
quickly arousing and quickly
allaying the physical reactions to
fear.
Source: Moers, Ellen. "Female Gothic:
The Monster's Mother." Frankenstein.
Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York and
London: W. W. Norton, 1996. 214.

Student 1
According to Ellen Moers, Gothic
writings "get to the body itself, its
glands, epidermis, muscles, and
circulatory system, quickly
arousing and quickly allaying the
physical reactions to fear" (214).
Student 2
Gothic novels were written with
one definite authorial intent: to
scare (Moers 214).
Student 3
While tragedy affects the soul,
Gothic writings affect the body.
Adapted from Recognizing and
Avoiding Plagiarism. Cornell University
College of Arts and Sciences. Web.
Remember: Not just words, but ideas
Student 1
OK: This sample introduces the
quote with an attribution to
Moers, then puts her words in
quotation marks and gives the
page number. The reader knows
which words belong to Moers and
where to find the quote.
Student 2
Not OK: The student cites Moers
and the page number, but there
is an unmarked direct quotation
in the sentence. Without quote
marks to set off this phrase, the
reader assumes that only the
idea comes from Moers, not the
actual words.
Student 3
Not OK: This writing sample
summarizes Moers opinion
about the difference between
tragic and Gothic writing. Her
definitions of tragedy and Gothic
are not common, dictionary
definitions. Instead, she proposes
a specialized way of viewing both
genres as part of her overall
theory. In addition, the student
borrows Moers opposition
between soul and body, tragedy
and Gothic. This writing sample
therefore needs to document its
sources.
Adapted from Recognizing and
Avoiding Plagiarism. Cornell University
College of Arts and Sciences. Web.

Source: United Nations Population Division Briefing Packet, 1998 Revision of World
Population Prospects. Human Population: Fundamentals of Growth Population Growth
and Distribution. Population Reference Bureau. Web. 12 May 2005. www.prb.org
World Population Distribution by Region, 1800-2050
Student Text: According to the United Nations briefing packet titled
1998 Revision of World Population Prospects, Latin America will
account for 9.1 percent of global population by 2050. (prb.org)
Cite sources of charts, tables, figures
Source: United Nations Population Division Briefing Packet, 1998 Revision of World
Population Prospects. Human Population: Fundamentals of Growth Population Growth
and Distribution. Population Reference Bureau. Web. 12 May 2005. www.prb.org
World Population Distribution by Region, 1800-2050
Student Text: According to the United Nations briefing packet titled
1998 Revision of World Population Prospects, Latin America will
account for 9.1 percent of global population by 2050.

OK: The writer gives the title and source of the original UN briefing
packet within the sentence, and the information is accurate.
Cartoon by Brian Fairrington / Cagle Cartoons