Am I Plagiarizing?

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What is Plagiarism?

 

Why is Plagiarism a Big Deal?

 

How Can I Avoid Plagiarism?

 

Examples of Plagiarism:

According to the University of Kentucky at http://www.chem.uky.edu/courses/common/plagiarism.html

"Most commonly, this involves using one or more sentences verbatim from your original source (with or without citations). This is completely unacceptable. If you copy your source text you must put the passage in quotes or offset the passage. However, extensive quoting of this nature is generally frowned upon in scientific writing and indicates that you have made little original contribution to the work.
Do not be fooled into thinking that you can copy sentences from textbooks or journal articles and get away with it. The shift in your writing style is usually quite obvious as is the ease with which you suddenly start discussing unfamiliar terms or concepts. Your instructors know far more about the subject material than you do and are quite familiar with the common sources of information on each subject."

Example from Georgetown University Honor Council at http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html

Original Passage - "This book has been written against a background of both reckless optimism and reckless despair. It holds that Progress and Doom are two sides of the same medal; that both are articles of superstition, not of faith. It was written out of the conviction that it should be possible to discover the hidden mechanics by which all traditional elements of our political and spiritual world were dissolved into a conglomeration where everything seems to have lost specific value, and has become unrecognizable for human comprehension, unusable for human purpose. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1973 ed.), p.vii, Preface to the First Edition."

Plagiarized - "This book has been written against a background of both reckless optimism and reckless despair. It holds that Progress and Doom are two sides of the same medal; that both are articles of superstition, not of faith. Interestingly enough, Arendt avoids much of the debates found in some of the less philosophical literature about totalitarianism."
"When material is taken directly from a book, article, speech, statement, remarks, the Internet, or some other source, the writer must provide proper attribution. In this example, no credit is given to the author."

According to the University of Kentucky at http://www.chem.uky.edu/courses/common/plagiarism.html

"Assembling sentences or passages from various documents and putting a footnote at the end of each sentence or paragraph is still plagiarism. None of the words in the passage are your own."

Example from Georgetown University Honor Council at http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html

Plagiarized (referring to same original passage above) - "This book has been written against a background of both reckless optimism and reckless despair. It holds that Progress and Doom are two sides of the same medal; that both are articles of superstition, not of faith.1 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1973 ed.), p.vii, Preface to the First Edition.
"When material is quoted word-for-word, a footnote alone is insufficient. The material that represents a direct quotation must either be put within quotation marks or indented."

Example from Georgetown University Honor Council at http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html

Plagiarized (referring to same original passage above) - "The first edition of The Origins of Totalitarianism was written in 1950. Soon after the Second World War, this was a time of both reckless optimism and reckless despair. During this time, Dr. Arendt argues, the traditional elements of the political and spiritual world were dissolved into a conglomeration where everything seems to have lost specific value. In particular, the separation between the State and Society seems to have been destroyed. In this book, she seeks to disclose the hidden mechanics by which this transformation occurred."
"Even though this example includes some original material, selected phrases of the original are woven throughout the passage­ ­- a. reckless optimism and reckless despair, b. traditional elements of the {our in original} political and spiritual world were dissolved into a conglomeration where everything seems to have lost specific value, and c. hidden mechanics."

According to the University of Kentucky at http://www.chem.uky.edu/courses/common/plagiarism.html

"This is one of the most common mistakes that students make. You cannot simply reword a sentence. This is best shown by example. Consider the following sentence from Angelici (Synthesis and Technique in Inorganic Chemistry, p 46)"

Original - "Those complexes that contain unpaired electrons are attracted into a magnetic field and are said to be paramagnetic, while those with no unpaired electrons are repelled by such a field and are called diamagnetic"

Plagiarized with Paraphrasing - "Complexes that contain unpaired electrons are those that are attracted to a magnetic field. These are called paramagnetic, while those with no unpaired electrons are repelled by a magnetic field and are said to be diamagnetic."

"Those complexes that contain paired electrons are repelled by a magnetic field and are said to be diamagnetic, whereas those with no paired electrons are attracted to such a field and are called paramagnetic."

"Yes, sometimes there is no good way to make the sentence substantially different and still convey the information with the same effectiveness. It is perhaps OK to do this once or twice in an assignment, but certainly no more than that. Remember, the wording must be your own! Express information in your own words."
Remember: Paraphrasing is plagiarism!!!

 

Canaan's Rules on Plagiarism as Stated in the Handbook:

"When a person writes his or her name on the top of his/her work, that name should have honor. Academic dishonesty such as cheating, plagiarism (presenting the ideas, arguments, facts or phraseology of another as one's own work), or misrepresentation in any way of one's own work, is dishonorable and will not be tolerated. This applies to homework, papers, reports, quizzes, tests, exams, and any other assigned work. ("Working together" is not an excuse.) Any violation of this rule will result in a grade of zero, disciplinary action and a letter home to the parents. The consequences listed above will also apply to students who help other students cheat. Repeated violations of this policy will result in out-of-school suspensions. Three violations in the same class may result in failure for the semester."

 

What is the Correct Way to Cite Sources?

 

 

 

 

 

For More Help on Plagiarism You Can Go To:

 

This website is an informational site to help all students become more aware of plagiarism and the ways to avoid it. Plagiarism is dishonest and considered cheating. Make the right decision and complete your work the correct, honest, and honorable way. Thank you.