Plagiarism What it is and how to avoid it Designed by Kristina Ryan Library & Learning Resources June 18, 2011

PLAGIARISM Definition and examples

What is plagiarism? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, to plagiarize means one of two things: ◦ To steal or pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own; OR ◦ To use another’s production (words) without crediting the source.

You could be plagiarizing if you do ANY of the following: ◦ Paraphrase ◦ Use a direct quote ◦ Copy and paste from a website You must carefully consider how you use information. Plagiarism can result in a failing grade for your assignment.

Paraphrasing Paraphrasing means that you are taking the original author’s text and rewording it. The idea is still the original author’s, and needs to be credited. This website provides examples of paraphrasing: e/619/01/ e/619/01/

Direct Quotes With direct quotes, you are taking the exact text of the original author. It is alright to use one or two sentences in your paper. Any quotes need to be within quotation marks “like this” with a citation to the original work at the end of the sentence.

Copy and Paste It is never acceptable to copy and paste text from a website. Even on the internet, words and text belong to the original author. You can use information from websites, but you must still provide a citation both at the end of the sentence and on a Works Cited page at the end of your paper.

CITATIONS Helpful websites for APA style

Citations It would be very difficult to write a paper without using information from other people. When you use the words of others, even if paraphrasing, you must credit the original author.

There are two forms of citations you will need for your paper: ◦ Parenthetical ◦ Works Cited or Bibliography

Sources Information does not come only from books and websites. You may find useful facts from a television show, such as a news program. If you quote a movie, you need to cite that as well. Conducting an interview, or information from an can also be cited. The Purdue Online Writing Lab has examples for all kinds of unusual sources. 60/11/ 60/11/

Parenthetical Citations At the end of a sentence using a quote or paraphrase, you must provide a short citation. This website gives several examples of how to properly cite in the APA style. ce/560/02/ ce/560/02/

Works Cited The Works Cited page, also called a Bibliography or References page, comes at the end of the paper, and is a list of all the sources you used in your paper. The parenthetical citation only gave the author’s last name; the Works Cited page give all the information on the book so that others can find it.

There are many rules for writing a Works Cited page. Each style has its own format: MLA, APA, Turabian, etc. UNVA uses APA format. e/560/05/ e/560/05/ View all options for the Reference List on the above website.

TurnItIn: Plagiarism Detection Instructors have ways of detecting plagiarism in your papers. If you copy and paste a paper from the internet, your teacher will know about it. Plagiarism is against UNVA’s academic code and can result in a failing grade or even expulsion. This can lead to a change in visa status, so plagiarism can be a very serious issue.

TurnItIn The previous slide shows an example of plagiarism. The highlighted sections of text show information that comes from another source. This information is not properly cited in this example, and that means that the student has plagiarized, or stolen that information.

CHEATING More than just plagiarism

Working as a group If you are working on a group project in your class, it is expected for everyone to have similar information. However, this does not mean that each person turns in exactly the same paper. Each group member must submit their own assignment. If the same information must be used, cite your group members’ papers in your own, and have them cite yours.

Other “group” assignments Even if you are not working on a group project, your papers are to be completed by you and only you. Unless otherwise told by your teacher, assignments, papers, quizzes, or exams are NOT groups work. Do not let any friends or classmates bully you into doing their work.

LEARNING RESOURCES Tools to help you avoid plagiarism

RefWorks RefWorks is an online citation manager. You can import references from the online databases in the UNVA Online Library, or manually add information. You need an account, but you can then organize your references in folders.

RefWorks RefWorks is located in the “Research Support” section of the library website. Visit for tutorials and learn how to use this valuable resource.

Smarthinking For help with your papers, use Smarthinking, an online tutoring service. This is free for students to use. It is integrated into the main Moodle page, located below the link to the Online Library.

Questions If you have questions, you can the librarian at When in doubt, cite it!