Introduction to PLAGIARISM Adapted from Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1999.

PLAGIARISM The Latin word plagirarius (“kidnapper”) “the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind and presenting it as one’s own” (Alexander Lindley, Plagiarism and Originality [New York: Harper, 1952] 2)

PLAGIARISM Example 1: Suppose you want to use the material in the following paragraph which appears on p. 625 of an essay by Wendy Martin in the book Columbia Literary History of the United States, Some of Dickson’s most powerful poems express her family held conviction that life cannot be fully comprehended without an understanding of death.

PLAGIARISM PLAGIARISM has been committed if you write the following sentence without any documentation Emily Dickson strongly believed that we cannot understand life fully unless we also comprehend death.

PLAGIARISM As Wendy Martin suggested, Emily Dickson strongly believed that we cannot understand life fully unless we also comprehend death. (625)

PLAGIARISM In the above example, the source is indicated by the name of the author (mentioned in the sentence) and a page reference (in parentheses).

PLAGIARISM The name of the author refers to the reader to the corresponding entry in the work-cited list appearing at the end of the paper. Martin, Wendy. “Emily Dickson.” Columbia Literary History of the United States. Emory Elliott, gen. ed. New York: Columbia UP,

PLAGIARISM Example 2: (Source) Everyone uses the word language and everybody these days talks about culture […]. “Languaculture” is a reminder, I hope, of the necessary connection between its two parts […]. (Michael Agar, Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation [New York: Morrow, 1994] 60)

PLAGIARISM At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that we might call “languaculture.”

PLAGIARISM Reason: a specific term “languaculture” is borrowed without acknowledgement! Plagiarism could have been avoided by inserting suitable parenthetical documentation; for instance, At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that Michael Agar has called “languaculture.” (60)

PLAGIARISM At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that Michael Agar has called “languaculture.” (60)

PLAGIARISM The author’s name (Michael Agar)  full description of the work in the work- cited list at the end of the paper Agar, Michael. Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation. New York: Morrow The parenthetical documentation (60)  location of the borrowed material in the work

PLAGIARISM Example 3: (Source) Until now the human race has undergone two great waves of change, each one largely obliterating earlier cultures or civilizations and replacing them with ways of life inconceivable to those who came before. The First Wave of Change – the agricultural revolution – took thousands of years to play itself out. The Second Wave – the rise of industrial civilization – took a mere hundred years. Today history is even more accelerative, and it is likely that the Third Wave will sweep across history and complete itself in a few decades. (Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave [1980; New York: Bantam, 1981] 10)

PLAGIARISM There have been two revolutionary periods of change in history: the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution. The agricultural revolution determined the course of history for thousands of years; and the industrial civilization lasted about a century. We are now on the threshold of a new period of revolutionary change, but this one may last for only a few decades.

PLAGIARISM Reason: the writer presented another’s idea WITHOUT giving credit!!

PLAGIARISM According to Alvin Toffler, There have been two revolutionary periods of change in history: the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution. The agricultural revolution determined the course of history for thousands of years; and the industrial civilization lasted about a century. We are now on the threshold of a new period of revolutionary change, but this one may last for only a few decades. (10)

PLAGIARISM The author’s name (Alvin Toffler)  full description of the work in the work- cited list at the end of the paper Toffler, Alvin. The Third Wave New York: Bantam, The parenthetical documentation (10)  location of the borrowed material in the work

PLAGIARISM More details about copyright and other legal issues related to publishing can be found in Chapter 2 of the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (New York: MLA, 1998).

PLAGIARISM Online references and exercises: (written by HKU lecturer, contains good explanations of how to reference) (including 10 pages of exercises) e-plagiarismtest.htmlhttp:// e-plagiarismtest.html (contains one exercise on recognizing plagiarism)

References Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America,