What is Plagiarism, and how can I avoid it?

Plagiarism is using another person’s work or ideas without giving credit. Plagiarism also includes:  turning in someone else's work as your own  copying words or ideas (or images) from someone else without giving credit  failing to put a quotation in quotation marks  giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation  changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit opying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not Just changing the words doesn’t work! You’re still stealing the ESSENCE!

Types of Plagiarists: “The Ghost Writer" The writer turns in another's work, word-for-word, as his or her own. "The Laborer of Laziness" The writer takes the time to paraphrase most of the paper from other sources and make it all fit together, instead of spending the same effort on original work. "The Potlucker" The writer tries to disguise plagiarism by copying from several different sources, tweaking the sentences to make them fit together while retaining most of the original phrasing. "The Self-Stealer“ The writer "borrows" generously from his or her previous work, which is still considered plagiarism! "The Poor Disguise“ Although the writer has retained the essential content of the source, he or she has altered the paper's appearance slightly by changing key words and phrases. "The Photocopier a.k.a. Cutter/Paster" The writer copies significant portions of text straight from a single source, without alteration. Which one are you?

Let’s see an example: The original source says: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999).

The Original Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999). In research writing, sources are cited to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas. Can I put it this way in my paper? NO! That’s Plagiarism!

The Original Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999). In research writing, sources are cited to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas (Johnson). What about this way? NO! That’s still Plagiarism!

The Original Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999). In research writing, we cite sources for a couple of reasons: to notify readers of our information sources and to give credit to the writers we borrow from. Can I do it this way, changing the words around? NO! That’s still Plagiarism!

The Original Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999). Writing a research paper with citations doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, citations are really easy to do. Why do people cite sources? Good question! Citations are good to alert readers to the sources of your information. Another reason to cite sources is to give credit to the writers from whom you have taken words and ideas. What about this way? NO! That’s still Plagiarism!

The Original Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999). “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas” (Johnson, 42). Then what is the right way?? YES! You’ve avoided Plagiarism!

The Original Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999). According to Johnson, “in research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas” (42). And another way! YES! You’ve avoided Plagiarism again!

The Original Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.” (from a book called Plagiarism, by Kenneth Johnson, pages 42-45, published in 1999). Writing a research paper with citations doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, citations are really easy to do. Why do people cite sources? Good question! Citations are good to alert readers to the sources of your information. Another reason to cite sources is to give credit to the writers from whom you have taken words and ideas (Johnson, 42). And another way! YES! You’ve avoided Plagiarism once again!

Important to Remember: Charts, Graphs, Drawings, Photos, Tables and Figures are treated exactly like direct quotations: Citing Sources Parentheses Author Page Number (Johnson, 42) (Johnson, 42)

STAY AWAY FROM IT!! Plagiarism is BAD.