Avoiding Plagiarism

A lesson on how to avoid the scourge of all writers set to cheesy music

Plagiarism

the act of intentionally or unintentionally using someone’s words or ideas as

your own.

It’s a form of cheating!

Why should you avoid it?

Learn skills needed for high school, college, and career

It’s dishonest and compromises your integrity and reputation.

You may fail your paper. In college, you may fail course or get expelled.

To give credit to another’s words or ideas is called citing a source.

Ask yourself:Is the information

common knowledge?

YES

ON

Don’t citeDid the information come from an outside source?

YES

Cite

NO

Remember – you must cite the source when you use:

A direct quote

OR

Another’s idea (even if you paraphrase)

Parenthetical citations

Author’s last name and page number in parenthesis at the end of the borrowed information

(Ruffino 2)

Examples

Cloning offers inconceivable potential in terms of medical and

scientific gain. Cloning could help cure multiple diseases according to many

experts. The most predominate ones mentioned are Parkinson’s disease,

hemophilia, juvenile diabetes, and the ability to fix damaged spines (McKee

24). “If such research could help cure…then the benefits appear to

outweigh any moral repugnance we have about cloning human tissue”

(Ruesch 3). Although such things depend more on therapeutic, cell cloning

than complete human cloning, it would be very difficult to continue research

on anything related under the cloning title if a ban is placed. We, as a

society, would be leaving the ill to suffer if cloning research is banned.

What information was learned through outside sources?

How to cite each of the following: Information with the author’s name given in the sentence

(page number)Ex. According to George Lamb, researcher at UCLA, medical scientists believe stem cells can eventually be used to treat many diseases (2).

Information with no author given(article title and page number)Ex. Since 1973, 84 people awaiting execution have been declared innocent of their crimes and released (“A Case Against the Death Penalty” 5).

Information with two or three authors(all last names in order given and page number)

Quote by someone other than the author of articleName the speaker in sentence and (qtd. in author and page number)Ex. Sister Helen Prejean, counselor at Louisiana State Pen., says, “The reason you can’t take the torture out of the death penalty is that conscious human beings anticipate death . . . and die a thousand times before they die” (qtd. in Allen 34).

The Plagiarism Promise

Read the plagiarism promise at the end of your worksheet.

Sign it and abide by it.

When writing an essay on literature at home, you may not use an outside source.

Stay off the Internet!