Plagiarism Learning Enrichment

Plagiarism We know that plagiarism is bad because it's like cheating. But what exactly is plagiarism? In this presentation, we hope to make clear the definition of plagiarism, identify examples of plagiarism, and use strategies to avoid plagiarism.

Identifying Plagiarism In the following slides, we will present you with some scenarios in which you will identify whether or not what the student

Is This Plagiarism? You read this sentence in an online article by Mark Crester and decide to use it in your paper: "Federal statistics show that 42% of Latinos drop out of high school." But your professor says that she wants you to paraphrase rather than quote, so you change it a bit: "National statistics demonstrate that 42% of Hispanics drop out of high school."

The Answer is... YES Changing a few words from the original quote STILL counts as plagiarism! Let's look at another example.

Is This Plagiarism? You read this sentence in a book (Incredible Science by Jones and Hughes) and decide to use it in your paper: "Nikola Tesla invented Alternating Current, or AC Power, in the late 19th century." This time, you choose not to paraphrase and instead use the quote in your paper: "Nikola Tesla earned a number of prizes because he 'invented Alternating Current, or AC Power, in the late 19th century.'"

The Answer is... YES Though you used quotation marks around the information you took directly from the source, you didn't give credit to the book or the author.

Is This Plagiarism? You find the perfect source through a database (an article by Hector Rodriguez) and decide to use this sentence: "Kate Chopin used short stories as a way of comminucating her feminist ideology." Here's what you came up with: "According to Hector Rodriguez, Kate Chopin revealed her 'feminist ideology' in her short stories."

The Answer is... NO By giving credit to the author, paraphrasing accurately, and quoting any information you took directly from the source, you've avoided committing plagiarism.

Definition According to MLA, plagiarism is "using another person's ideas, information, or expressions" without giving credit to him or her.

Consequences Plagiarism can result in a number of things for students: Failure on the assignment, Expulsion from class, or even... Expulsion from school! And plagiarism also reflects your institution!

Consequences And if you think you can get away with it, think again. Your professors have access to a plethora of resources that allow them to locate instances of plagiarism IN LESS THAN 10 SECONDS.

Safe Assign Safe Assign is a program designed by Blackboard that allows BOTH students and faculty to compare their own work against other sources online. The program looks at phrases and key words in a document and compares them with other phrases and key words in other documents. Safe Assign then gives a percentage of how much information matches a selected source AND highlights that information.

Safe Assign Do NOT be surprised if the program says you have 7% matching. That 7% can be information that you quoted AND cited correctly.