Plagiarism Quiz Prof. Louisa Fordyce Instructor General Education Department 1

True or False? 2 If you paraphrase, meaning to put information from someone else into your own words, you do not need to provide an in-text citation.

FALSE!!!! Anytime that you use someone else’s ideas or thoughts, even if you paraphrase responsibly, you must provide an in-text citation giving credit to the source. Failure to do so is plagiarism. You must also have a Reference at the end of the paper. 3

True or False? If you quote someone’s words and provide an in-text citation, you don’t need to use quotation marks around those directly quoted words. 4

FALSE!!!! Even if you provide an in-text citation, if you quote word for word someone else’s words and do not use quotation marks around the directly quoted words, you have committed plagiarism. Quotation marks signal to the reader that the words are those of the source, not those of the student. 5

Plagiarism? Look at the original material on the left. Has the writer committed plagiarism on the right? Original quote: Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds. Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds (Smith, 2012). 6

Yes, the writer has committed plagiarism. Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds (Smith, 2012). Even though the writer has provided an in- text citation, the words are not surrounded in quotation marks. Additionally, because it is a direct quote, a page or paragraph number needs to be included. 7

“Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds” (Smith, 2012, p. 62). “Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds” (Smith, 2012, para. 27). 8

Plagiarism? Orginal: Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds. Paraphrase: Avian creatures are moving from northern areas to southern areas now. Big groups of black birds and gray birds are noticed traveling to where they live in the cold months (Smith, 2012). 9

Let’s see... It substituted words: birds are now avian creatures, migrating is moving, and so on. It has an in-text citation. No significant words were directly quoted so no quotation marks are needed. HOWEVER

THIS IS PLAGIARISM!!! Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds. Avian creatures are moving from northern areas to southern areas now. Big groups of black birds and gray birds are noticed traveling to where they live in the cold months (Smith, 2012). 11 The sentence pattern is the same in the “paraphrase” as it is in the original. Just substituting words, and rather clumsily, too, does not equal a good paraphrase. The sentence structure must be rearranged too.

Responsible paraphrasing Birds are migrating from north to south at this time of the year. Large flocks of starlings, grackles, and doves can be seen making their way to their winter nesting grounds. Huge groups of migratory birds, such as doves, starlings, and grackles, are moving south now to their winter residences (Smith, 2012). 12