Avoiding Plagiarism

What is it?

Why is it wrong?

How can it be avoided?

A 2005 survey by the Center for Academic Integrity revealed that on most college campuses, 70% of students admit to some form of cheating.

When it comes to copying and pasting information from the Internet and then weaving into a college paper, 77% of students believe this form of cheating is not a serious issue (McCabe, par. 3 & 5).

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism- representing the words or ideas of another’s as one’s own in an academic exercise.

What is Plagiarism?

Acts of plagiarism include any the following: Buying or retrieving a paper from a term paper Web site

and turning it in as your own Turning in another student’s work, with or without his or her

knowledge, as your own Copying text from a source, even an Internet source,

without providing proper documentation Copying text from a source and providing proper

documentation, but leaving out quotation marks Paraphrasing a text without providing proper

documentation

Intentional Plagiarism

use a term paper Web site (or any Web site that contains the needed information)

copy all or parts of the text, paste it into a document

submit it as original work

Intentional PlagiarismStudents intentionally plagiarize for many reasons, including the following:

They are lazy or did not study or prepare. They want to pass or achieve high grades. They feel pressured to succeed. They do not know or understand the answers, or they do not enjoy the

subject. They have too little time and too much work. It is socially acceptable in some circles to cheat. Copying and pasting is quick and tempting. They feel their own writing is inadequate. They are simply trying to receive a diploma and do not care about the

learning process. They believe cheaters are rarely caught, or if they are, they are not

disciplined seriously.

Unintentional Plagiarism

Unintentional plagiarism occurs when a student is not educated about plagiarism and does not realize he or she is doing anything wrong.

Unintentional Plagiarism

may occur when:

a writer accidentally omits quotation marks from a source

forgets to include the cited sources in a reference list.

was not taught the proper way to research and cite sources.

What Makes Plagiarism So Wrong?

Plagiarism is both a legal and moral issue Copyright -legal term that specifies if you write

something, then it is yours. If someone infringes on that writing by claiming it as his or her own, copyright laws have been violated.

If a student plagiarizes, he or she is kidnapping, or stealing, what someone else owns. By passing it off as his or her own, the student is lying.

How Can You Avoid Plagiarism?

To avoid unintentional plagiarism, cite and document your sources properly according to MLA standards.

How Can You Avoid Plagiarism?

Adhere to the following tips regarding quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing sources.

Quoting

A direct quotation —exact words from a source—requires the following three criteria to be cited properly:

Quotation marks must be placed around the quotation. Any phrase or sentence, four words or longer, taken directly from a source and unaltered by you must have quotation marks around it.

At the end of the quotation or paragraph, use a parenthetical in-text citation.

At the end of the paper, include the source information in a reference page.

Paraphrasing

In paraphrasing, you restate a point from a source, but use your own words.

Although the words in the paraphrase may be yours, the ideas are not, so credit the source of the information both in-text and in a reference list at the end of your paper.

Summarizing

Use a summary when you want to convey an overall point made by a source. Even though a summary uses your own words, you must still credit the source you discuss by using parenthetical in-text citations and by including a reference list.

In Class Reading/Writing Activity

Read the article on pages 55-61. Create a direct quote from the article. Paraphrase a section or paragraph from the article. Summarize the article in less than 200 words. Create in text citations for each. Create an MLA style citation for the article. Refer to pages 93-135 in the Little Seagull Handbook for

help. Please write neatly and review your work!