Melissa Edmondson Smith, PhD Assistant Professor Writing and Plagiarism 1

Plagiarism: 2

VIOLATION OF CODE OF ETHICS SOCIAL WORKERS’ ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES AS PROFESSIONALS 4.08 Acknowledging Credit (a) Social workers should take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performedand to which they have contributed. (b) Social workers should honestly acknowledge the work of and the contributions made by others. Source: 3

PLAGIARISM HAS SERIOUS ACADEMIC CONSEQUENCES Receiving a failing grade on the plagiarized assignment. Failing a class Referral to Student Review Committee which may lead to: – Placement on academic probation – Suspension or dismissal 4

Plagiarism Policy “Academic dishonesty includes …cheating and/or plagiarism, whether by using work as one’s own and/or without citation regardless if taken from the WEB, printed materials, or work produced by others.” (UMB SSW Student Handbook, p. 42) Consequences: – Plagiarism can lead to a referral to Student Review Committee; placement on academic probation, suspension or dismissal 5

Remember plagiarism is WRONG even if: I didn’t know that what I was doing was wrong. I didn’t have time to include citations. I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t think I would be caught. 6

7

Common Examples of Plagiarism Copying whole text directly from another source without quoting Taking pieces of text and including amongst your own writing without quoting or citing source Not citing paraphrased information (written in your own words) from other sources Not citing someone else’s ideas 8

A Note on Common Knowledge Definition a.“facts that can be found in numerous places and are likely to be known by a lot of people.” Source: plagiarism.shtmlhttp:// plagiarism.shtml b.Facts known by your peers. Examples a.Barak Obama is the 44 th President of the U.S b.NASW stands for the National Association of Social Workers 9

What is paraphrasing? Summarizing the ideas of another author using your own words and sentence structure IS paraphrasing. Changing a few words in a sentence or passage is NOT paraphrasing. Even paraphrased text should be CITED. 10

Paraphrase & Limit Quotes Graduate school papers should rarely use direct quotes (like 1-2 max!). You should be able to put all the ideas you are reading about in your own words. If you can’t paraphrase it, you don’t understand it; spend more time reading/learning before you begin writing. 11

Original Text: “The good works for which Jane Addams had become famous masked the radical nature of her criticisms of American society” (Reisch & Andrews, 2002, p.13). Is this paraphrasing? Paraphrase attempt: The good work that made Jane Addams famous disguised the radical nature of her critiques of American Society (Reisch & Andrews, 2002). 12

Original Text: “The good works for which Jane Addams had become famous masked the radical nature of her criticisms of American society” (Reisch & Andrews, 2002, p.13). No! This is an example of an incomplete paraphrase. It is NOT in your own words Paraphrase attempt: The good work that made Jane Addams famous disguised the radical nature of her critiques of American Society (Reisch & Andrews, 2002). 13

Original Text: “The good works for which Jane Addams had become famous masked the radical nature of her criticisms of American society” (Reisch & Andrews, 2002, p.13). Second attempt: Is this paraphrasing? Paraphrase attempt: Although she is known primarily for her positive social contributions, Jane Addams was also highly critical of U.S. social policy (Reisch & Andrews, 2002). 14

Original Text: “The good works for which Jane Addams had become famous masked the radical nature of her criticisms of American society” (Reisch & Andrews, 2002, p.13). Yes! Paraphrasing means put in your own words Paraphrase attempt: Although she is known primarily for her positive social contributions, Jane Addams was also highly critical of U.S. social policy (Reisch & Andrews, 2002). 15

Plagiarism in the News 16 walsh-plagiarized-thesis.html?_r=0 paper-plagiarism.html

Blackboard SafeAssign can help you out SafeAssign helps detect the use of direct quotes in your paper that may or may not be correctly attributed. Archana Bhandari will discuss using Blackboard in the next session. 17

SafeAssign identifies sources that use similar language. If these sources are not correctly cited in your paper, you may be plagiarizing. 18

Remember : Instructors are here to help you! If you are confused about what constitutes plagiarism, it is your responsibility to ask questions! 19