How To Avoid Plagiarism OCHS ENGLISH DEPT Joseph Trimmer, A GUIDE TO MLA DOCUMENTATION

What is plagiarism? Theft Using someone else’s words or ideas without giving proper credit (or no credit) Intentional or unintentional Serious offense (HS & college)

How to AVOID doing it… (1) Document a source whenever you: - Use a direct quotation - Summarize or paraphrase a passage - Copy a table, chart, or other diagram - Construct a table from data provided by others - Present specific examples, figures, or facts that you’ve taken from a specific source used to explain or support your judgments

How to AVOID doing it… (2) Take notes CAREFULLY, making sure you identify quotations in your note cards or electronic files (be sure to note source!) Formulate and develop your own ideas, using your sources to support rather than replace your own work

The Contradictions of American Academic Writing Show you have done your research ---But--- Write something new and original Appeal to experts and authorities ---But--- Improve upon, or disagree with experts and authorities Improve your English by mimicking what you hear and read ---But--- Use your own words, your own voice Give credit where credit is due ---But--- Make your own significant contribution

ACTIONS that may be seen as PLAGIARISM Buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper Hiring someone to write your paper Building on someone else’s ideas without citation Using the sources words too closely when paraphrasing Copying from another source without paraphrasing (on purpose or accidentally)

Need to Document When you are using or referring to somebody else’s words or ideas from a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium When you use information gained through interviewing another person When you copy the exact words or a "unique phrase" from somewhere When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, and pictures When you use ideas that others have given you in conversations or over

No Need to Document When you are writing your own experiences, your own observations, your own insights, your own thoughts, your own conclusions about a subject When you are using "common knowledge" — folklore, common sense observations, shared information within your field of study or cultural groupcommon knowledge When you are compiling generally accepted facts When you are writing up your own experimental results

Deciding if Something is "Common Knowledge" Material is probably common knowledge if.. You find the same information undocumented in at least five other sources You think it is information that your readers will already know You think a person could easily find the information with general reference sources

According to Mark Twain in Roughing It,the rider for the pony express was usually a little bit of a man, brimful of spirit and endurance. Guilty According to Mark Twain in Roughing It, “the rider for the pony express was usually a little bit of a man, brimful of spirit and endurance”(52). OK!

The pony express rider's horse wore a little wafer of a racing-saddle, and no visible blanket (Twain 53). Guilty The pony express rider's horse, “wore a little wafer of a racing-saddle, and no visible blanket”(Twain 53). OK!

The rider traveled two-hundred, fifty miles a day, ten miles per horse. Guilty The rider traveled two-hundred and fifty miles a day, ten miles per horse (Twain 53). OK!