What is it and how do I avoid it? Plagiarism Prewriting: What is it and how do I avoid it?

Basically, it’s stealing someone else’s work. What is Plagiarism? Basically, it’s stealing someone else’s work.

Copying someone’s work The first and most basic form of plagiarism is the deliberate copying of someone else’s words, paragraphs, or finished products. Example: Original: Technological innovation will drive new product development. Plagiarized: Technological innovation will drive new product development. You will see in this example that no changes have been made and the plagiarized wording is exactly the same as the original.

Partially copying someone’s work Changing just a couple or words is still plagiarism. Example: Original: Technological innovation will drive new product development. Plagiarized: Technological improvement will drive product development. This is still considered plagiarism...

What if I put it into my own words? Summarizing information is a great way to avoid plagiarism, but it’s not the complete solution. Plagiarism can also include copying someone’s ideas without giving them credit. It is a good idea to attribute (give credit) to the original source whenever possible.

Still not sure what plagiarism is? So far, we’ve covered some basic concepts of what plagiarism is. Let’s go a little deeper because there is more we can cover.

How is plagiarism defined? The Online Writing Lab (OWL) @ Purdue says… http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/

According to… The Council of Writing Program Administrators… “plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source.” http://wpacouncil.org/node/9

You may also be plagiarizing if you are: Their definition applies to texts published in print or on-line, to manuscripts, and to the work of other student writers. You may also be plagiarizing if you are: submitting someone else’s words as your own or attempting to blur the line between your own ideas or words and those taken from another source, or not citing ideas and words borrowed from another source correctly.

Are you plagiarizing? Let’s see… On Thursday the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would force social media platforms to pro-actively monitor and censor users to prevent them from posting words or images that might violate copyright.

By the way…here’s the original online article http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/14/opinion/sigal-mackinnon-copyright-internet/index.html?hpt=hp_bn9

Original On Thursday the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would force social media platforms to pro-actively monitor and censor users to prevent them from posting words or images that might violate copyright. Revised Recently, the House of Representatives voted on the Stop Online Piracy Act, which forces social media platforms to pro-actively monitor users to prevent them from posting words or images that might violate copyright. IS THIS FINE? WRONG

Original On Thursday the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would force social media platforms to pro-actively monitor and censor users to prevent them from posting words or images that might violate copyright. Revised The Stop Online Piracy Act, which is being considered by the House of Representatives, may stop social media groups from violating copyright laws by closely watching their use of content. HOW ABOUT THIS? RIGHT

Citing and Referencing Another way to prevent yourself from plagiarizing, in addition to summarizing, is to attribute, refer to, or cite the original source. Please note, however, that you should use this technique sparingly. If you make too many references, your work still may not be entirely your own. Following are some examples.

Some easy ways to reference 1. According to… According to Bass, … 2. In his/her book (article, essay, etc…) In his article, insert title here, Bass explains… 3. …said (insert author’s name and title of work) Bass said in his 2012 article that…

Try this… Read a passage from a textbook. Close the book. Now, tell someone what you just read or write down what you just read – IN YOUR OWN WORDS and WITHOUT looking at the passage again! You have just summarized the passage and used YOUR OWN WORDS!

Final thoughts… The real key to avoiding plagiarism is to make your work your own. Avoid using words that you do not know, or that you would not commonly use. When summarizing, use words that you would normally use or look up the original word in a dictionary or thesaurus and use something that means the same thing. Also, remember to reference the original work and give credit to the original source.

Quiz 1. What is the most basic form of plagiarism? 2. Is it ok to use someone else’s exact words or ideas if you give them credit? 3. Name two methods for avoiding plagiarism and explain them. 4. Is it still plagiarism if you “accidentally” copy someone’s work? 5. Is it still plagiarism if you change a few words here and there?

Put It In Your Own Words Read the following passage. On a separate sheet of paper, summarize the content in such a way that it is not considered plagiarism. What happens in Iran over the next few months may be one of the biggest wild cards in the 2012 election, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was characteristically blunt about the stakes. "If they decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon," Panetta told CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday.