Plagiarism
Plagiarism Defined
1. To steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own.
2. To use a created production without crediting the source.
3. To present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
Common forms of plagiarism
Direct copying – using exact sentences from a text, with or without citation. If you copy text, you must put it in quotes. Do not think you can slip sentences you have copied past your instructors. Not only does writing style shift, but your instructors are usually familiar with sources of information on your subjects.
Direct copying from original sources, but with footnotes – Even if you cite your sources and use quotations, if your entire paper is an assemblage of these quotations, it is plagiarism since none of the words are your own.
Rewording or rearranging a sentence – You may not simply reword or rearrange sentences. An example (from Pojar, 1994, 24):
"Ethnobotany, the study of the relationships between people and plants, provides another view of the forest and its plants. Aboriginal peoples in our region have developed an intimate knowledge of plants and their uses, gained from many generations of observation and practice."
Unacceptable paraphrase: An alternative look at the woods and the association between people and plants is seen by studying ethnobotany. Pacific Northwest Native Americans passed down through their families a close awareness of the usefulness of plants.
Acceptable paraphrase: Ethnobotany is the study of how people use plants. Much of this information has been learned from local Native Americans who learned about plant usage by watching previous generations.
Borrowing organization – This happens when you go through a text paragraph by paragraph, putting it into your own words. It is unacceptable to just rewrite an author’s work; you must organize your thoughts into an original text.
Turning in someone else’s work – Copying worksheets, homework, labs, etc. It is OK to work with a partner, but you should answer questions in your own words after discussing the answer with your partner.
Forgetting to cite sources – Almost anything that in not your own idea must be cited. This includes: all facts and data, direct quotations, paraphrases of ideas, graphics such as pictures, drawings, graphs, etc that you did not create. Remember that just because you translate something into your own words does not make it yours!
How to avoid plagiarism
1. Do not procrastinate! Many students plagiarize because they have waited until the last minute to get their work done and don’t have time to do research, take notes, and write original text.
2. When doing research and taking notes, close the book and then write down, in your own words, the idea you want to convey. Do not give in to the temptation to open the book and look again at how the author wrote it! After you have written the idea out, open the book and double check to make sure you have not accidentally used too many words or phrases from the text. Mark on your notes the page number and other bibliographic information you were paraphrasing, as you still must cite the source.
3. If you want to directly quote text, you must put it in "quotations", and then site the bibliographic information.
How to cite bibliographic information
If you directly quote something, at the end of the quotation add in the author name, year of publication, and page number in parenthesis, then add the period. This will direct the reader to that particular source in your bibliography. If you are citing a source for your paraphrase, follow the same procedure, but omit the quotations. For internet sources, include enough information in the parenthesis to clearly distinguish which source from your bibliography you are using. You will not be able to include page numbers, but you can indicate the section or heading the information was under.
"In the traditional diets of aboriginal peoples of the Northwest Coast, plant
foods contributed both diversity and essential nutrients, supplementing
fish, seafoods, birds and game" (Pojar, 1994, 24).