Avoiding Plagiarism Brought to you by the Writing Support Lab P-602 Open 8am-8:30 pm.

Avoiding Plagiarism

• Brought to you by the Writing Support Lab

• P-602

• Open 8am-8:30 pm

PLAGIARISM and COPYRIGHT LAWS

What every student needs to know…

Copyright Laws

protect any created material (print, audio, visual) as soon as it is created.

What is protected by copyright

• Books, articles, poems, stories and any other print material.

• TV and radio programs.

• Videos, DVD’s, tapes, CD’s ,slides, etc.

• Pictures, images, artwork, etc.

• Any created material including something you as a student have written even if you have not applied for copyright.

Plagiarism

The act of stealing (borrowing, using, copying) and passing off as one’s

own the ideas and words of another

Plagiarism is also

• using a created production without crediting the source. This means anything from TV, the radio, movies, and also from a computer.

Cheating, copying, and plagiarizing will result in: (from CTC Campus-wide Syllabus)

• Students who plagiarize or commit any act of academic dishonesty will be disciplined

• fairly, consistently and in proportion to the seriousness of the offense.

• The disciplinary action may be as serious as dismissal from the college

• for the first offense. In general, the following actions are recommended for acts of

• plagiarism or academic dishonesty:– First offense: Receipt of a zero with no opportunity to make up the assignment.

School record kept of the offense.

– Second offense in the same course: Immediate withdrawal with a grade of “F.” Notation entered in student’s college record.

– Second offense in a different course: Receipt of a zero, as above. Student placed on academic probation.

– Third offense: Suspension from the college for one quarter.

– Fourth offense: Dismissal from the college.

Plagiarism and the Internet

Adapted from a presentation (Cybercheats) by Steve Garwood

• Asking your parent or a friend to suggest changes or corrections in your written essay

• Asking your parent or a friend to rewrite your essay, making all the changes or corrections for you

• Asking your parents or a friend to help you search the Internet for information for a report

• Reading someone else’s term paper and then writing your own using some of his ideas and copying part or all of his bibliography

• Writing a report as a group and then each person writing a report that is just a little bit different to hand in

• Listing books in your bibliography that you didn’t read

• Copying sentences or paragraphs from the encyclopedia for your report without using quotation marks or footnotes

• Hiring a tutor to help you write better

Defining Plagiarism. Do any of these apply?

Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A(data from 1998 Who’s Who in American High School Student’s survey)

AnswersAlmost everybody does itFairly CommonPretty RareNever HappensNo Answer

Question: How common is cheating at your school?

Responses21.8%60.9%16.5%0.4%0.3%

Answers

Cheated on a quiz or test

Copied someone else’s homework

Plagiarized part of an essay

Used Cliff’s or Monarch Notes to avoid reading a book

None of the Above

Question: Which of the following have you done?

Responses

39.6%

66.7%

13.2%

28.9%

19.5%


Answers

Competition for good grades

Didn’t seem like a big deal

Didn’t think I’d get caught

Not interested in the subject

To get into a good college

Question: If you have cheated…why?

Responses

55.6%

53%

23.6%

28.9%

14.4%


Answers

Very difficult

Somewhat difficult

Not very difficult

Easy

Question: How easy would it be for you to obtain test questions or answers at your school?

Responses

14.9%

25.5%

28.2%

30%


Answers

I was caught and punished

I was caught but not punished

I was not caught

Question: If you have cheated what happened?

Responses

6.2%

6.4%

95.1%


Question: 1. If you’re competing to get good grades

2. Cheating is fairly common

3. It’s easy to obtain test questions and answers

4. And you have a 4.9% chance of getting caught

Why NOT cheat?

Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A

Answers:

To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own

Question: What is Plagiarism?

…So that I do not get accused of Plagiarism the above was taken verbatim from page 888 of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10th edition.

Make sure students know…don’t assume

Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A

Cybercheats

The Problem:

Terrible Timmy’s Tale

(an example of how easy it can be)

Timmy’s Homework Assignment:

Write about 500 words on:

The Theme of Madness in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

(Note: This is all of the assignment, no source requirements, no research instructions, etc. Think of

it as a first paper assignment.)

Other areas often seen at the library: biomes, literature terms, global warming, drug abuse/treatment, pros/cons such as driving age, voting age, biographical assignments…

Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT

Timmy ponders how to do his assignment

Library? – No

-I’d have to get out of my chair

-I’d have to get my mom to drive me

-The books I need will be all checked out anyway

-Those surly librarians are mean

-It’s too cold/hot



One of those Term paper sites? – Hmmm, maybe.

Note these are free sites and all had Hamlet essays - most with bibliographies:

http://essays.terrashare.com/

http://www.netessays.com/

http://www.schoolbytes.com/

There are more…



Some notes on the free sites:

Content: Submit one/Get onePlenty out there (Students posting to web)Very much like fraternity test/paper filesSome papers good/some stink

“Ethics”: Some are blatant (go ahead…sue…they’ll love you)

Ownership: Many of these sites are owned by the same persontherefore lots of repetition



One of those Term paper sites? – Hmmm, maybe.

Note these are pay sites some of which will write an original paper :

http://www.geniuspapers.com/

http://www.cheathouse.com/

http://www.termpapers-on-file.com/

http://www.papermasters.com/

There are more…



Some notes on the pay sites:

Money:SubscriptionSome pay by page

Guarantees: Some will guarantee the grade

Content: Some prewritten/some individualizedCollege kids will do anything for money

“Reminds me”:Of the ads in the back of Rolling Stone



Search Engines? – Let me try that first. I’ve heard that Google

is pretty good.


Timmy searches Google


Timmy sees novelguide.com info


Timmy copies and pastes to Word


Timmy adds fluff and a fake citation making work his own.


Is Timmy alone????

NOPE…Remember…

“4 out of 5 high achievers surveyed in 1998 admitted to cheating on school work according to Who’s Who Among American High School Students and more than ½ of those said such cheating was “no big deal”, and practically none got caught.”

Actually Timmy might be less terrible THAN typical


Is there a way to catch Timmy????

In this case yes. Since Timmy was lazy and didn’t try to change the work he got very much.

A “phrase search” in Alta Vista, Google or a MetaSearch engine will find his work. More about this in a lil bit

However…more enterprising Timmy’s will be hard to catch…


Types of Plagiarists:

• The Ghost Writing

•The Photocopier

•The Pot Luck Paper

•The Poor Disguise

•Labor of Laziness

•The Self Stealer

• The Forgotten Footnote

• The Misinformer

• The Too-Perfect Paraphraser

•The Resourceful Citer

•The Perfect Crime

Tools to Help Avoid Plagiarism

•The Writing Support Lab

• TurnItIn.com

•MLA and APA Style manuals

•OWL at Purdue

•Your teacher!

Alternatives to the APA and MLA books

• Simple guidelines like at U. Of Albany

•OWL at Purdue

• Online services Noodlebib, Easybib, Citation Machine

• Or, at least copy those necessary pages (just beware of copyright)

To avoid plagiarism…..

Cite your sources (list where you got your info!)

Use quotation marks on exact words.

DO NOT:

• buy papers from the internet or anyone else

• turn in another’s work as your own or copy from another person’s work

• have another person produce your work

• omit citations for any information in your work

• omit quotation marks when using exact words of someone

Make sure you do…..

• cite any source you use if paraphrasing or summarizing or if using an image,video or audio material

• use quotation marks when using the exact words found in a source

• cite your source for borrowed ideas even if put in your own words

So what writing won’t need citing? NOT MUCH!

• if your teacher does not require a list of sources for a short report or presentation

• when you analyze anything (literature) and are expected to give your own ideas and views or analysis of a situation

• common knowledge …..

Common knowledge is information that the majority of people already know

• dictionary definitions

• historical information that most people know- i.e. George Washington was our first president

• current information or news such as the World Trade Center was bombed in Sept. 11.

Take a short self test - which are OK????

• John copies a picture from an internet site and includes the site in his list of sources.

• The band decides to play a song at the basketball game but it is not in the package Mr. Ferland purchased to use this year.

• Sally changes two words from an encyclopedia article and uses it for her report listing the article in her list of sources

More self-test….

• The junior class advertises that they are showing SHREK after school - admission just $1.

• Jeff starts his report with a dictionary definition of a common word but does not include the dictionary in his source list.

How to take notes to avoid plagiarism

• Use note cards with one topic from one source on each individual card

• If you don’t have cards, use a separate sheet of paper for each topic

• Read a paragraph or two and then close the page or turn away and write your notes only looking back to clarify facts

More ideas on note taking

• Write facts as briefly as possible and in your own words

• Write in short phrases rather than in sentences

• Try to avoid unnecessary adjectives and adverbs and abbreviate when possible

When using the internet

• If note taking directly from the internet to the computer program, minimize the site and then jot notes. Then minimize notes and return to the page. Again, use words and phrases, not sentences.

Skim and Scan

• Once you have progressed to your second, third, fourth, etc. source, skim and scan the information first.

• Do not take notes on the same material you derived from the first book or site - save time both reading and writing!

Use note cards or separate page for each topic - indicate source at top

• The First American

• Early life

• BF born 1-6-1705 - 1 of 10 kids

• parents - Josiah & Abiah

• in Boston, MA

• youngest

The First American

Early life

BF born 1-6-1705 - 1 of 10 kids

parents - Josiah & Abiahin Boston, MA

youngest

Leave room around edges for your comments

– The First

American

• Early life

• BF born 1-6-1705 - 1 of 10 kids

• parents - Josiah & Abiah

• in Boston, MA

• youngest

• • Use in intro

• This will help you organize cards later.The First American

Early life

BF born 1-6-1705 - 1 of 10 kids

parents - Josiah & Abiahin Boston, MA

youngest

Use in intro

Keep quotes exactly as they will appear in your paper and indicate page number where quote was found.

The First American

“Ben’s facility with the written word manifested itself early.” p. 16

The First American

“Ben’s facility for the written word manifested itself early.” p.16

Methods of paraphrasing

• Skim and scan your material looking for overall meaning and main ideas

• Read carefully and check meaning of words with which you are not familiar

• Review again if necessary

• Close or cover the source and write brief notes that stick to main ideas and pertinent details

The next step is checking for

• Accuracy - have I kept to the main ideas that the author is stating?

• Have I used my own words?

• Have I used quotes where needed and noted the source and page number on my note card?

An example from Big Dog’s MLA Quick Guide

• Original: Wuthering Heights is the

most remarkable novel in English. It is perfect, and perfect in the rarest way: it is the complete bodying forth of an intensely individual apprehension of the nature of man and life. That is to say, the content is strange enough, indeed baffling enough, while the artisitc expression of it is flawless. (Allen 223)

• In the next column, look at three versions of students’ writing taken from the original. Which is paraphrased best?

• Version 1: The most remarkable novel in English is Wuthering Heights. It brings forth an individual apprehension of the nature of man and life; therefore, it is perfect in the rarest way.

• Version 2: Wuthering Heights is a great English novel. It is perfect in the rarest way: It provides an individual apprehension of man’s nature.

• Version 3: Walter Allen insists that the “artistic expression” of Wuthering Heights is flawless (223). Allen admits that the content is strange and even baffling, but he argues that the novel is perfect……….

If, if if…… but, but, but

You just run out of time………………….

You just don’t understand how to do it…………………

Your life is in a shambles and it’s just not happening…………………….

Ask for help!!!!!

Better to be a day late and get a lower grade than a zero (try averaging zero into a number!) ……Better to be honest ………………..Better to try, do your best and maintain a good reputation……

Than to cheat!

THE END

Avoiding Plagiarism Brought to you by the Writing Support Lab P-602 Open 8am-8:30 pm.

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