How to avoid plagiarism? Prepared by Dr. Pauline Ghenghesh The British University in Egypt

What is plagiarism? Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work, or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarise" means 1) to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own. 2)  to use (another's production) without crediting the source. 3)  to commit literary theft. 4)  to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

In other words Plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

All of the following are considered plagiarism Turning in someone else's work as your own. 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. Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

Ways to avoid plagiarism You can avoid plagiarism by: Quoting Paraphrasing Summarising

What to do? Cite sources. Acknowledge that certain material has been borrowed. Provide your audience with the information necessary to find that source.

What is citation? A "citation" is the way you tell your readers that certain material in your work came from another source. It also gives your readers the information necessary to find that source again, including: Information about the author. The title of the work. The name and location of the company that published your copy of the source. The date your copy was published. The page numbers of the material you are borrowing.

Why should I cite sources? Giving credit to the original author by citing sources is the only way to use other people's work without plagiarising. But there are a number of other reasons to cite sources: Citations are extremely helpful to anyone who wants to find out more about your ideas and where they came from. Not all sources are good or right -- your own ideas may often be more accurate or interesting than those of your sources. Proper citation will keep you from taking the rap for someone else's bad ideas. Citing sources shows the amount of research you've done. Citing sources strengthens your work by lending outside support to your ideas.

Doesn't citing sources make my work seem less original? Not at all. On the contrary, citing sources actually helps your reader distinguish your ideas from those of your sources. This will actually emphasise the originality of your own work.

When do I need to cite? Whenever you borrow words or ideas, you need to acknowledge their source. The following situations almost always require citation: Whenever you use quotes. Whenever you paraphrase. Whenever you use an idea that someone else has already expressed. Whenever you make specific reference to the work of another. Whenever someone else's work has been critical in developing your own ideas.

Quotations To quote means to copy a portion of a text, using the author's actual words.

Short Quotations If your quotations are less than four lines long (which is usually the case), place them in your text and enclose them with quotation marks.

Example of a short quotation When we learn a second language (L2), we learn to communicate with other people: to understand them, talk to them, read what they have written and write to them. To be able to communicate effectively in English involves, to a large extent, being proficient in the various language skills in the communicative process. As Raimes (1983:68) points out: “If we want our language learning classes to come as close as possible to real-life communicative situations, then we have to organise activities that let students use all the language skills.”

Long quotations If a quotation is more than four lines long, set it off from your text by indenting.

Example of a long quotation Students need to be taught how to construct sentences to make statements of different kinds, for example, to ask questions and ask for clarification. Widdowson (1980:49-50) says that: it is a radical mistake to suppose that a knowledge of how sentences are put to use in communication follows automatically from a knowledge of how sentences are composed and what signification they have as linguistic units. Learners have to be taught what values they may have as predictions, qualifications, reports, descriptions and so on.

Paraphrasing To paraphrase means to restate a portion of a text in your own words.

How to Paraphrase? Learning to paraphrase well takes practice. As you read, try to write one or two concise sentences that summarise the information for each paragraph. Be careful not to copy or just borrow phrases, but construct your own phrasing and write in a language that is simple to understand. When you are finished reading, put the passage aside and use only your notes to write your paraphrased version.

Paraphrasing Original Text From a definition of color blindness: "visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women experience some difficulty in color perception. Color blindness is usually an inherited sex-linked characteristic, transmitted through, but recessive in, females. Acquired color blindness results from certain degenerative diseases of the eyes. Most of those with defective color vision are only partially color-blind to red and green, i.e., they have a limited ability to distinguish reddish and greenish shades. Those who are completely color-blind to red and green see both colors as a shade of yellow. Completely color-blind individuals can recognize only black, white, and shades of gray.  (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

Paraphrased Text Color blindness, affecting approximately 8% of men and .5% of women, is a condition characterized by difficulty in telling one color from another, most often hereditary but in some cases caused by disease. The majority of color-blind people cannot distinguish some shades of red and green, but those who cannot perceive those colors at all see red and green objects as yellow. There are people who cannot see color at all and perceive all objects in a range of black through gray to white. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.) 

Summarising To summarise means to restate a portion of a text in a shortened form. It should bring out the main ideas of the passage, but it does not need to follow the same order as the original text.

How to summarise? Read the article. As you read underline important ideas. Circle key terms. Find the main point of the article. Write the main point of the article. Use your own words. Compare your version to the original. 

Summarising Original Text "visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women experience some difficulty in color perception. Color blindness is usually an inherited sex-linked characteristic, transmitted through, but recessive in, females. Acquired color blindness results from certain degenerative diseases of the eyes. Most of those with defective color vision are only partially color-blind to red and green, i.e., they have a limited ability to distinguish reddish and greenish shades. Those who are completely color-blind to red and green see both colors as a shade of yellow. Completely color-blind individuals can recognize only black, white, and shades of gray.  (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

Summary of Text Color blindness, usually a sex-linked hereditary condition found more often in men than women and sometimes the result of eye disease, involves limited ability to tell red from green, and sometimes complete inability to see red and green.  In a much rarer form of color blindness, the individual sees no colors at all. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

REMEMBER Like paraphrased information, summarised information must be accompanied by a citation, or in-text reference to the source from which you took the information, just as quoted material must be. Failure to provide citation will be interpreted by others as plagiarism, even if you list the source in your bibliography.

What are References? References (or bibliography), also known as a works cited page, is an alphabetical list of resources (books, magazines, websites, etc...) that has been referred to throughout your research, paper, project or article. You must include this list at the end of your work to give credit to your sources when you borrow other people's ideas. If you fail to do so, it is considered stealing and you may be accused of plagiarising.

Format for Books Books: One author Davidson, J. (1994) Homelessness: What’s the problem? London: Longman. Books: Two others Elliott, P. & Campbell, F. (1996) Housing and social inequality. London: Longman.

Format for Journals Journal Article Zamel, V. (1985) ‘Responding to student writing.’ TESOL Quarterly, 19, 79-101.

Format for Internet Article Harris, P. (1998, July 14) ‘The young generation’. Seattle: Coastal University. Retrieved June 5, 2000, from http://coastaluniversity.edu/younggen.

SOURCES http://www.turnitin.com/research_site/e_what_is_plagiarism.html http://www.nl.edu/centers/cad/resources/resources_010.cfm http://www.bridgewater.edu/WritingCenter/manual/paraphrase.htm#para