Keeping
it Honest: Avoiding Plagiarism
Each student entering Southwestern
pledges to support the Honor System.
According to the Student Handbook, "The
purpose of the Honor System of Southwestern
University is to stimulate and promote
the ideals of honesty and integrity
among students and to eliminate the
practice of cheating by putting into
practice these ideals of honesty and
integrity." Sometimes it is difficult
to understand what is and what isn't
academically honest, especially when
writing papers. This page is intended
to clarify what plagiarism and academic
dishonesty are and offer some suggestions
on avoiding them in your work.
Sections:
Southwestern
University Honor Code
From the Southwestern University
Student Handbook:
"Plagiarism is the submission
of another's work as one's own without
acknowledgment in the written work.
There are basically four ways in which
research papers use or incorporate
written materials, and each of these
requires footnoting.
1. Direct quotations should
be marked off with quotation marks,
with a footnote to indicate the source.
It is not necessary to place in
quotation marks every word in your
paper that appears in a source you
are using. If your paper concerns
Napoleon, for example, you need not
place "Napoleon" in quotation
marks merely because your sources
use the name. Similarly, there are
phrases of some length such as "on
the other hand" or "it
is evident that" which are common
property and act in effect as single
words.
2. Paraphrase.
Where your own language follows closely
the language of a written source,
or where your line of argument follows
a source, you need not use quotation
marks, but you are obliged to indicate
the source in a footnote.
3. General indebtedness.
Where the ideas in your paper closely
resemble and were suggested by the
ideas in a source, a footnote should
be used to indicate this.
4. Background information.
In any area of inquiry there are
matters of fact commonly known to
everyone with a serious interest.
Such information need not be footnoted
one fact at a time. Instead, a general
footnote toward the beginning of
the paper, naming the sources where
such general information was obtained,
is sufficient."
There are many other types of academic
dishonesty, including, but not limited
to, cheating on tests, providing answers
to test or homework questions to another
student, stating false attendance at
a required event, falsifying academic
records, submitting work done in one
class for credit in another class,
and claiming work done by others as
your own.
Acts of suspected academic dishonesty
are referred to the Student Judiciary
and the Dean of Students for review.
The consequences for academic dishonesty
are severe, ranging from loss of credit
for an assignment to failure in a course.
Repeated acts of academic dishonesty
may result in both academic and non-academic
penalties, including expulsion from
the University. It is far better to
avoid academic dishonesty and plagiarism
in all your work.
Copyright
and Plagiarism
Under the most recent revisions to
U.S. Copyright Law, as soon as a work
is created and put into tangible form,
including electronic form, it is copyrighted
and that copyright is the property
of the author of the work, whether
or not the work has been published
in any way. There is a common belief
that works "freely available" on
the Internet aren't copyrighted and
that copying them isn't plagiarism. This
isn't true! You may want to
read Brad Templeton's Ten
Big Myths About Copyright Explained for
more explanation.
Academic traditions emphasize the
importance of fair use, which in the
U.S. Copyright Law means that individuals
should be allowed to use portions of
copyrighted works for the purposes
of study, commentary, or criticism,
without fear of prosecution. Even so,
fair use still requires that all works
used be attributed to their original
authors. For more information about
copyright and fair use, you may want
to visit the UT
System Crash Course in Copyright by
Georgia Harper.
Types
of Plagiarism
There are two main types of plagiarism:
intentional and unintentional. The
majority of student plagiarism is probably
unintentional. The examples below show
how plagiarism may be intentional or
unintentional and offer some tips on
how to avoid unintentional plagiarism.
| Plagiarism Example
|
Intentional
|
(Possibly) Unintentional
|
|
Using someone else's
exact words without quotation
marks
|
Trying to impress your audience
by using an eloquent phrase and
letting them think that you wrote
it.
|
Copying and pasting from a source
and forgetting to add in quotation
marks.
|
|
Tip: Don't ever copy and
paste directly from an online
source into your main document.
Copy into a document labeled "Notes" instead,
so that if you get busy or
distracted you won't forget
that you copied the material.
Use special colors to indicate
copied text, or put a "Q" in
front of the text to indicate
that the material is a quote.
Always indicate the source
of the material, too, so that
you can go back and find it
later when you're doing your
citations.
|
|
Paraphrasing a source
too closely
|
Worrying about using too many
direct quotes and so deciding
to change just a few words in
the original and pretend like
it's your own phrasing.
|
Paraphrasing the original quote
word by word, without changing
the phrasing.
|
|
Tip: Paraphrasing is difficult
and requires practice. You
may have to rewrite the quotation
many times before you get a
version that is substantially
different from the original.
Successful paraphrases often
use fewer words than the original,
and they use phrasing and language
that is natural to you. Try
writing a paraphrase without
looking at the original to
let your own voice come through,
but always compare your version
to the original to make sure
you've changed it enough. Also,
mix quotations and paraphrase
-- leave striking phrases as
they are in the original, with
quotation marks around them,
and paraphrase the rest of
the material: "In keeping
with the idea of 'democratic
dictatorship,' the government
allowed only limited elections
during this period, and the
results were known to everyone
in advance" (Simmons,
1983, 24).
|
|
Paraphrasing a source
without providing a citation
|
Trying to present an idea written
by someone else as your own.
|
Thinking that you don't need
to cite a source because you
changed their words.
|
|
Tip: All ideas that you've
found in your research should
be cited in your paper, whether
you quote them directly, indirectly
(by paraphrasing them), or
just use them as background
knowledge. A good strategy
is to introduce the original
author before you mention the
idea: "In 1915, according
to Alexander Thomas, the American
sense of equality and fair
play led to a general reconsideration
of the idea of votes for women."
|
|
Not crediting significant
indirect influences on your
work
|
Not citing a textbook used in
another class because you want
your instructor to think that
you've thought of these issues
for yourself.
|
Forgetting to cite a book you
read last year although the author's
ideas are important to your argument.
|
|
Tip: Always be honest with
yourself and your instructor.
If you have any question about
whether or not your work is
derivative, that is, based
on someone else's ideas, ask
your instructor or a librarian
for guidance. If you realize
after you've submitted a paper
that you left out some sources,
contact your instructor to
let them know what happened.
You're here to learn, so don't
be afraid to ask for advice!
|
|
Plagiarizing an entire
paper
|
Buying a paper from a paper
mill, or turning in a paper written
by someone else.
|
Turning in a paper you wrote
for a different class because
the topics were very similar.
|
|
Tip: If you ask your instructor
for permission in advance,
you may be allowed to reuse
parts of your own work without
worrying about being academic
dishonest.
|
Print
Sources for Avoiding Plagiarism
Below is a list of titles for some
of the books on plagiarism and writing
manuals with plagiarism and citation
advice that are available in our library.
Other manuals that address specific
disciplines of study are also available.
Some of these manuals are available
for check out, but
in some cases the most recent editions
will be in the reference collection
and will not circulate.
Plagiarism
Buranen, Lise, and Alice M. Roy, editors. Perspectives
on Plagiarism and Intellectual Property
in a Postmodern World
(808 P432)
Decoo, Wilfried. Crisis on Campus:
Confronting Academic Misconduct
(378.1958 D358c)
Harris, Robert. The Plagiarism
Handbook: Strategies for Preventing,
Detecting, and Dealing with Plagiarism.
Companion Web site at www.antiplagiarism.com
(808 H243p)
LaFollette, Marcel. Stealing Into
Print: Fraud, Plagiarism, and Misconduct
in Scientific Publishing
(179.9 L133s)
Mawdsley, Ralph D. Legal Aspects
of Plagiarism
(346.0482 M449l)
Mallon, Thomas. Stolen Words:
Forays Into the Origins and Ravages
of Plagiarism
(808 M297s)
Writing Manuals
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. The St.
Martin's Guide to Writing
(808.042 Ax22s)
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers.
6th ed.
(Reference 808.027 G35mh 2003)
Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook
(Reference 808.042 H115b 2002)
Heffernan, James A.W., John E. Lincoln,
and Janet Atwill. Writing, a college
handbook 5th ed.
(808.042 H361w 2001)
Shields, Nancy. Where Credit Is
Due: A Guide to Proper Citing of
Sources -- Print and Nonprint. 2nd
edition.
(Reference 808.027 Sh61w)
Slade, Carol. Form and Style:
Research Paper, Reports, Theses.
11th edition.
(Reference 808.02 Sl12f 1999)
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for
Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations. 6th edition.
(Reference 808.02 T74m 1996)
Walker, Melissa Writing Research
Papers: A Norton Guide. 4th
edition.
(Reference 808.02 W153w 1997)
Xia Li. Electronic Styles: A Guide
to Citing Electronic Information.
(Reference 808.027 W15s 1998)
Online
Sources for Avoiding Plagiarism
There are many resources available
online for learning about copyright
and plagiarism. Some sites are targeted
more at instructors, while others have
writing advice for students to help
them avoid plagiarism. There are also
several online plagiarism detection
services, many of which allow limited
free use of the service.
Carbone, Nick. Bedford
Workshops on Teaching Writing Online:
Plagiarism
Part of the online workshop, "Strategies for
Teaching with Online Tools," this page includes
advice for instructors on ways to introduce students
to the concept of plagiarism and ways to design assignments
that lessen the chance that students will intentionally
plagiarize.
Purdue University Online Writing Lab
(OWL). Avoiding
Plagiarism.
A good primer on plagiarism for students from one
of the most respected online writing labs in the
country, with exercises to help them decide if they
are at risk of plagiarizing.
Stoerger, Sharon.
Plagiarism.
An annotated webliography of news articles and resources
about plagiarism for both instructors and students,
adapted from work done at the Office of the Vice
Chancellor of Research, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign.
Plagiarism.org
By the developers of Turnitin.com, this site offers a brief
overview of the rise of online plagiarism and a review of
technologies available for plagiarism detection.
Turnitin.com
Turnitin.com offers subscription-based plagiarism-detection
services to faculty and staff using software originally
developed at the University of California, Berkeley.
Note that there are intellectual property issues
associated with Turnitin.com's practice of adding
papers submitted for testing to its database; see
Andrea L. Foster's "Plagiarism-Detection
Tool Creates Legal Quandary" in the May
17, 2002 edition of the Chronicle of Higher
Education.
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