Writing Responsibly

Plagiarism defined and how to avoid it.

Plagiarism Defined

• The act of presenting someone else’s ideas/words as your own.– Spot plagiarism: using a sources key words or

phrases and not giving its original author credit.– Word for word plagiarism: repeats exact words of

author without giving proper credit.– Paraphrase plagiarism: changing only a few minor

words from the original and claiming it as your own.

– http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=B2EE01C0-E467-42A9-A163-EE27B4FDE915&blnFromSearch=1

Obvious Plagiarism…

• Buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper (includes copying a whole article from the web).

• Hiring someone to write your paper for you• Copying large sections of text without giving

credit to author.

Not so obvious plagiarism…

• Using words which are too close to how the original source was written when attempting to paraphrase a source (not changing the wording enough).

• Building upon someone else’s ideas without citing their original spoken or written work.

Common Knowledge

• “You owe it to your sources, your readers, and yourself to give credit for the ideas you use, unless those ideas are accepted a common knowledge” (Sebranek, et al 179).

• Common knowledge: information most people already know or can locate in any common reference book on the subject. Ex. The fact that there are 365 days in a year or that thunder occurs after a lightning strike are pieces of common knowledge.

What needs to be credited or documented

• Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, web page, letter, interview…etc.

• When you copy exactly word for word

• When you reprint images, graphs, charts, pictures, or other visual material.

• Whenever you reuse or repost any electronically-available media

What does NOT need to be cited

• Your own experiences, observations, or insights

• When you write about your results from a lab or field experiment.

• Your own artwork, digital photos, audio, or video

• When you are using “common knowledge”—things like myths, legends, observations, and factual historical events.

• When you use generally accepted facts.

Safety Net…

• When paraphrasing an article, website, or book always try to give the author credit within the paraphrased information. Ex. According to Joseph Campbell, myths have influenced cultures all over the world.

• Even if you have only paraphrased information and not taken anything word for word, still cite that source on your works cited page.

How to cite an entire website

• You need:– Title of the site (underlined)– Name of the editor of the site (if given)– Electronic publication information, date of latest

electronic update, and the name of any sponsoring institution or organization

– Date of access and URL

How to cite an article in a reference book

• You need:title of article, title of reference book (underlined), edition number, year of publication.“Mandarin.” The Encyclopedia Americana. 2nd

ed. 1994.

Citing a book by a single author

• You need: author’s name, title of book, publication information.

Holmes, Francis. The World as We Know It. New York: Farrar, 2003.

Works Cited

• Avoiding Plagiarism. Purdue Owl. 17 September 2008

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resources/589/02/

• Sebranek, Patrick, Verne Myer, Dave Kemper. Writer’s INC. Wilmington, MA: Houghton Mifflin

Company, 1996.