How to Avoid Plagiarism

Read, Engage, Comprehend, Learn Copying has never been okay for school assignments. It’s called cheating. Using materials from the library, the Internet, books, magazines, movies, songs—in fact, from any source—must be done in a legal and acceptable manner or it is plagiarism. You also are here to learn. Copying is not a learning tool.

What’s the Problem? Plagiarism is Illegal Unacceptable Avoidable Even a cause for losing your college credits and being removed from college or losing your professional standing one day.

But I Didn’t Mean To… Ignorance of the issue is no excuse. Learn what you are supposed to do and just do your job.

Ways to Plagiarize Copying and pasting on the computer Copying word for word without quotation marks and citation Copying but changing word order Copying but substituting synonyms or similar phrases Putting information in your own words but not providing citations

How to Avoid Plagiarism Read and understand and think about the information you need. Take notes in short words and phrases without copying entire sentences or paragraphs. Try looking away from what you read and retell it (paraphrase) in your own mind to see if you understand and recall what you read. It’s hard to plagiarize when you are not looking at the source. If you copy word for word, include quotation marks—even when you take your notes.

Compare Original Text to Plagiarized Text- What’s wrong? ORIGINAL “Les Paul started his professional life as a teenage guitarist during the 1930’s broadcasting on radio stations, playing country as ‘Rhubarb Red’ and dipping into R&B and jazz as well” (Bacon 85). STUDENT VERSION Les Paul started his professional life as a teenage guitarist during the 1930’s broadcasting on radio stations, playing country as “Rhubarb Red” and dipping into R&B and jazz as well.

Compare Original Text to Plagiarized Text- What’s wrong? ORIGINAL “Les Paul started his professional life as a teenage guitarist during the 1930’s broadcasting on radio stations, playing country as ‘Rhubarb Red’ and dipping into R&B and jazz as well” (Bacon 85). STUDENT VERSION Les Paul began his professional life as a guitarist when he was a teenager during the 1930’s playing country music as “Rhubarb Red” and playing a little bit of R&B and jazz also (Bacon 85).

Compare Original Text to Plagiarized Text- What’s wrong? ORIGINAL “Les Paul started his professional life as a teenage guitarist during the 1930’s broadcasting on radio stations, playing country as ‘Rhubarb Red’ and dipping into R&B and jazz as well” (Bacon 85). STUDENT VERSION Les Paul started out playing guitar as a teenager during the 1930’s. He broadcast on radio stations under the name of Rhubarb Red. He was also playing R&B and jazz. Mostly he played country.

Compare Original Text to Plagiarized Text- What’s wrong? ORIGINAL “Les Paul started his professional life as a teenage guitarist during the 1930’s broadcasting on radio stations, playing country as ‘Rhubarb Red’ and dipping into R&B and jazz as well” (Bacon 85). STUDENT VERSION Les Paul started out playing guitar as a teenager during the 1930’s. He broadcast on radio stations under the name of Rhubarb Red. He was also playing R&B and jazz. Mostly he played country (Bacon 85).

Taking Notes from Original Text to Avoid Plagiarizing- The right way ORIGINAL “Les Paul started his professional life as a teenage guitarist during the 1930’s broadcasting on radio stations, playing country as ‘Rhubarb Red’ and dipping into R&B and jazz as well” (Bacon 85). STUDENT NOTES Played mostly country music as a teen 1930’s stage (radio) name—Rhubarb Red Played some R&B and jazz

Taking Notes from Original Text to Avoid Plagiarizing- The right way ORIGINAL “Les Paul started his professional life as a teenage guitarist during the 1930’s broadcasting on radio stations, playing country as ‘Rhubarb Red’ and dipping into R&B and jazz as well” (Bacon 85). STUDENT NOTES Played mostly country music as a teen 1930’s stage (radio) name— Rhubarb Red Played some R&B and jazz STUDENT VERSION WRITTEN FROM NOTES AND CITED By the time Les Paul was a teenager, he was playing country music on the radio under the name of Rhubarb Red. He was also playing a little bit of R&B and jazz by then (Bacon 85).

Ms. Ballard’s Big Tips Take notes only in phrases—not in sentences. Do not look at the original when you write your own version. When taking notes, be sure to write down the page number and the source for the notes. If an original sentences is worded so well you can’t rephrase it, use a quote. Only for WOW sentences.

Citations and Bibliographies (References) Citations are inside the paper that you write. Citations are short versions of the entries in the Bibliography or References. Bibliographies or References are listed at the end of the paper that you write. Bibliographies or References are full versions of information found on the original source.

Things to Gather for a Bibliography Book: Title (and subtitle, if any) (found on title page—not cover) (underlined or in italics) Author Place of publication (on back of title page) Name of publisher (on back of title page) Date of publication (on back of title page—use newest date) Page numbers if you only used a small section of the book. Volume number if it is part of a set. Write down page numbers for every note your write.

Things to Gather for a Bibliography Magazine: Title (and subtitle, if any) (found on title page— not cover) (underlined or in italics) Author Name of magazine Date of magazine Page numbers Volume and edition numbers if it is a journal instead of a magazine. Write down page numbers for every note your write.

Things to Gather for a Bibliography Encyclopedia or Reference Works: Title of article (and subtitle, if any) (in quotation marks) Author (if shown—usually at beginning or end of article, sometimes shown in pages like About Me) Name of Set of Books Volume Number Edition Page Numbers

Things to Gather for a Bibliography Online article or web site: Title of article and/or web site (and subtitle, if any) (in quotation marks) If web site has pages with individual page names, include that as well. Author (if shown—usually at beginning or end of article) URL of article Date of web site or copyright dates (at bottom of home page usually) Date you accessed the site and took the notes

Things to Gather for a Bibliography Images: Title of image (in quotation marks) Photographer or artist URL if found on Internet Date you accessed the site and took the notes

Citation Machine has a tool to use to insert your bibliographic information to create an entry for your Bibliography or References.

Sample Reference List Reference List Ballard, Charlotte. "Do Schools Still Need Brick and Mortar Libraries?." Learning and Leading with Technology (2009): Journal Article Bolden, Michael. "Student Citizenship." Manual of Classroom Management. 2nd ed. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Web.. Online Reference Book. Cusack, Joe. "Roberson Middle School Computer Class Instructions." Roberson Middle School. 26 Jan Spring ISD, Web. 26 Jan Online Document. Gittens, Thad. "Success on Mandated Testing." Encyclopedia of School Principalship. 1st Rev. ed. 13. Chicago: Little, Brown, Print Encyclopedia Martin, Jason, and Ashlee Kane. "Sharing Gym Space with Multiple Classes." Physical Education Today 23 Jan 2010: Web. 26 Jan Online Magazine Article. Perry, Edward. Making Music with Middle Schoolers.. 3rd ed. New York: Lippincott, Book. Perry, Russell. "Why Young Adults Need Sports." Sports Illustrated 15 Jan 2010: Print Magazine. Rockhill, Erin. "Starting a School Newspaper." Houston Chronicle 20 Jan 2010: B4. Newspaper Article in Print. Walker, Tracey. "Leading Students to Academic Success." School Administrators Journal 42.1 (2009): Web. 26 Jan Online Journal Article.

Things to Gather for a Bibliography Database information: Title of article (and subtitle, if any) (in quotation marks) Author (if shown—usually at beginning or end of article, sometimes shown in pages like About Me) Name of database Date you accessed the site and took the notes

by Charlotte Ballard Bacon, Tony. The History of the American Guitar: From 1983 to the Present Day. New York: Barnes and Noble, Citation Machine: qstyleid=1 qstyleid=1