© 2008 Martha J. Bianco Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations What is Plagiarism?  using someone else’s words as if they were your own?  Yes!  using someone else’s ideas as if they were your own?  Yes!  paraphrasing someone else’s words, ideas, phrases, grammatical structure as if they were your own?  Yes!  copying or closely copying another student’s work as “collaboration”?  Yes!  turning in a paper that closely resembles another student’s, as long as you and the other student worked together on the paper with the professor’s permission?  Yes!

It’s Wrong

It’s Illegal

You Could Fail...

You Could Be Expelled.

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism  For note taking:  Take word-for-word notes from source material  Use quotation marks & record all required information.  For summarizing :  Write summaries from your word-for-word quoted notes.  Write complete sentences  Use your own words (paraphrasing)  Always with “author tags”  Include direct quotes in a summary only when absolutely necessary  Remember citation info (page number, etc.)

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism “Technology has significantly transformed education at several major turning points in our history. In the broadest sense, the first technology was the primitive modes of communication used by prehistoric people before the development of spoken language. Mime, gestures, grunts, and drawing of figures in the sand with a stick were methods used to communicate -- yes, even to educate. Even without speech, these prehistoric people were able to teach their young how to catch animals for food, what animals to avoid, which vegetation was good to eat and which was poisonous.” From: Frick, Theodore W. Restructuring Education Through Technology. Bloomington: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1991, p. 10. Example note from source material:

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism  Always record all pertinent citation info:  Author(s) and/or editor(s)  Title and subtitles  Year of publication  Page number of quotation For all Books and Articles

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism  Edition (if other than first)  City where published  Publisher name  If a chapter or subsection of a book, Author of chapter Page ranges of chapter Books:

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism  Title of article  Name of journal  Volume number  Issue number  Page number range Articles:

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism  Quote any words that come from another source  Provide the appropriate citation information  Author  Page number Prehistoric people used “mime, gestures, grunts, and drawing of figures in the sand” (Frick 10). Frick explains that prehistoric people used “mime, gestures, grunts, and drawing of figures in the sand” (10).

© 2008 Martha J. Bianco, Ph.D. Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism Paraphrasing Pitfalls...  Unless summarizing, avoid paraphrasing altogether.  If the original author’s words are important enough for you to use even in paraphrased form, then just quote them directly.  Otherwise, you have “paraphrasing plagiarism.”

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations How to Avoid Plagiarism  Even if...  you change around the words, and  try to “put the original author’s words into your own words,” you are still using the author’s ideas and words: They do not belong to you!  Even adding a citation does not correct the offense!  You still have committed the offense of “paraphrasing plagiarism”

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations So Why Use Sources at All?  Sources provide credibility.  Rarely do college professors want your unsubstantiated opinion or belief.  We want you to think critically about what scholars – experts in a field – report, theorize, and suggest. Do their ideas make sense to you? Do you agree with them? Have you come across opposing viewpoints? If you disagree with a proposition, can you find compelling academic (empirical) evidence to the contrary?

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations So Why Use Sources at All?  Until and unless you are an expert in a field, you must provide the sources of your information, theories, and arguments, unless you actually set forth an idea or theory that is genuinely your own.

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations So Why Use Sources at All?  Exceptions include “common knowledge facts”  George Washington was the first American president  America is a representative democracy  The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations Why A Specific, Detailed Style?  Numerous accepted citation methods  MLA, APA, Chicago, and more  Different disciplines require different methods  Different professors require different styles  Different publishers require different styles  Different funding institutions require different styles  Government agencies require different styles That’s just the way it is...

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations Why A Specific, Detailed Style?  Task is not so much how to master a specific style, but to understand WHY.  What are the goals and purposes of citation?  What are the common elements of all citations?  Why is attention to detail so important?  What does a careful, correct, and accurate citation and Works Cited list tell the reader about the writer?  Or: What does a careless, sloppy, inconsistent, incorrect, and incomplete Works Cites list tell the reader? What message do YOU want to send?

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations The material on the following slides adapts or uses in whole material from: “Examples—Paraphrasing Plagiarism: How to Recognize Plagiarism.” School of Education. Indiana University at Bloomington. 21 Jun “Examples—Word for Word Plagiarism: How to Recognize Plagiarism.” School of Education. Indiana University at Bloomington. 21 Jun “Overview: How to Recognize Plagiarism.” School of Education. Indiana University at Bloomington. 21 Jun

© Dr. Martha J. Bianco Plagiarism and Citations A Simple Decision Tree

Definitions & Examples  Word-for-Word Plagiarism  Direct quote without quotation marks or block quote  Same words or phrases  Could be just one or two words

Definitions & Examples  Paraphrasing Plagiarism  Paraphrasing = condensing another author's work  Paraphrasing = putting original “into your own words”  A paraphrased example must be cited.  Treat same as a word-for-word quote.

Technology has significantly transformed education at several major turning points in our history. In the broadest sense, the first technology was the primitive modes of communication used by prehistoric people before the development of spoken language. Mime, gestures, grunts, and drawing of figures in the sand with a stick were methods used to communicate -- yes, even to educate. Even without speech, these prehistoric people were able to teach their young how to catch animals for food, what animals to avoid, which vegetation was good to eat and which was poisonous. Frick, Theodore W. Restructuring Education Through Technology. Bloomington: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, Original Source Material:

Original: Technology has significantly transformed education at several major turning points in our history. In the broadest sense, the first technology was the primitive modes of communication used by prehistoric people before the development of spoken language. Mime, gestures, grunts, and drawing of figures in the sand with a stick were methods used to communicate -- yes, even to educate. Even without speech, these prehistoric people were able to teach their young how to catch animals for food, what animals to avoid, which vegetation was good to eat and which was poisonous. In examining technology, we have to remember that computers are not the first technology people have had to deal with. The first technology was the primitive modes of communication used by prehistoric people before the development of spoken language.

Plagiarized! Explanation: This example of student written work is plagiarized. The student copied, word-for-word, text from the original source material. No credit was given to the author of the text and quotation marks were not used. Also, the student didn't provide a page reference.

In examining technology, we have to remember that computers are not the first technology people have had to deal with. Frick believes that “[...] the first technology was the primitive modes of communication used by prehistoric people before the development of spoken language" (10). Explanation: Here the passage begins with the author. The writer uses quotation marks to indicate that this passage is a word-for-word citation. Square brackets and ellipses indicate missing words. The writer provides a properly punctuated parenthetical page number citation. Corrected

Original: Technology has significantly transformed education at several major turning points in our history. In the broadest sense, the first technology was the primitive modes of communication used by prehistoric people before the development of spoken language. Mime, gestures, grunts, and drawing of figures in the sand with a stick were methods used to communicate -- yes, even to educate. Even without speech, these prehistoric people were able to teach their young how to catch animals for food, what animals to avoid, which vegetation was good to eat and which was poisonous. When we consider technology, we should remember that computers are not the first technological tool in human history. Early forms of communication included gestures, mimicking, and stick figures. These modes, while primitive, were both forms of communication and education.

Plagiarized! Explanation: This is an example of paraphrasing plagiarism. Although there is very little word-for-word copying, the paraphrasing is too close to the original. No credit was given to the author of the text and quotation marks were not used. Also, the student didn't provide a page reference.

When we consider technology, we should remember that computers are not the first technological tool in human history. As Fricke notes, early forms of communication included “[m]ime, gestures, grunts, and [stick] drawing [...]” (17). These modes, while primitive, were both forms of communication and education (Fricke). Explanation: Here the writer names the original author and then retains, rather than paraphrases, most of the original quote – indicating changes and deletions with square brackets. The writer provides the specific page number on which the quoted material appears. Because the final sentence is also not the writer’s own original idea, a parenthetical citation is again provided. Corrected

The concept of systems is really quite simple. The basic idea is that a system has parts that fit together to make a whole; but where it gets complicated -- and interesting -- is how those parts are connected or related to each other. Frick, Theodore W. Restructuring Education Through Technology. Bloomington: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, Original Source Material:

Original: The concept of systems is really quite simple. The basic idea is that a system has parts that fit together to make a whole; but where it gets complicated -- and interesting -- is how those parts are connected or related to each other.. A system has parts that fit together to make a whole, but the important aspect of systems is how those parts are connected or related to each other (Frick 10).

Plagiarized! Explanation: This example of student written work is plagiarized. Although the author is cited at the end of the paragraph, the student copied word-for-word from the original source material and did not use quotation marks.

“A system has parts that fit together to make a whole [...]” but the important aspect of systems “[...] is how those parts are connected or related to each other” (Frick 17). Explanation: Here the writer puts the word-for-word quoted material within quotation marks, using square brackets and ellipses where there is an interruption in the quote. The author’s name and page number appear as a parenthetical at the end. Corrected