1. Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Prevent It
Lori Rottenberg
INTO Mason

2. What is plagiarism?
With your partner, discuss what plagiarism is. Think of examples you have seen or heard about.
Is plagiarism considered a problem in your country?

3. What is plagiarism in the U.S.?
Using someone’s work and pretending it’s your own. 
Using information—from the Internet, other students, or anywhere else—without documenting the source or giving credit to the original author/speaker by using quotation marks and proper citation. 
Using writing borrowed from family, friends, or classmates. 
Turning in old assignments as new.
Considered a form of stealing—illegal in U.S. schools.
Called “Honor Code” or “Academic Integrity” violations.

4. Plagiarism in Core Class
Copying or paraphrasing for writing assignments without citation
Copying from SparkNotes or other sources for reading assignments
Having a more fluent friend or family member write or edit your work
Copying or using phones/watches during tests
Turning in an old essay or journal as new

5. Plagiarism in OCS Class
Copying listening log summaries from the internet or another student
Cutting and pasting from the internet for presentation slides without citation
Copying or using phones/watches during tests
Having a more fluent friend or family member write or edit your work
Turning in an old listening log or presentation

6. Why do students plagiarize?
With your partner, discuss why you think students plagiarize.

7. Possible reasons for plagiarism
(I will write students’ ideas here)

8. Intentions don’t matter
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
You might have plagiarized by accident or let a friend use your work. That still doesn’t make it okay.

9. Results of Plagiarism You will get a 0 on the assignment.
You will be referred to the GMU Office of Academic Integrity.
Repeat offenders may receive an F for the course or even get expelled and sent home.
GMU Honor Code violations may be kept in your academic record for three years.
You won’t learn or develop your skills!

10. Ways to Prevent Plagiarism
Use proper citation for anyone else’s ideas or words!
Do not let more fluent friends or family members review the work you do for me.
Do not use Grammarly or Google Translate!
Do all work yourself!
Understand that mistakes are part of learning. You won’t be perfect. That’s okay.
Budget plenty of time for big assignments!
Get help from the LRC tutors or me if you are lost!

11. Scenario #1
#1: Your roommate knows that you are in a higher-level AE class and asks you to edit his or her essay/presentation. What do you do?

12. Scenario #2
#2: Your American roommate offers to read your essay or presentation to "fix it up" for you. What do you do?

13. Scenario #3
#3: You didn’t allow enough time to do the novel homework or do your presentation. Both are due tomorrow. What do you do?

14. Scenario #4
#4: Your best friend has a hard time reading in English, so he asks you if he can copy your reading homework. What do you do?

15. Scenario #5
#5: You have a cause-effect essay due. You remember you wrote a cause-effect essay last semester and got a good grade on it. What do you do?

16. Plagiarism or Not? You decide!
Review the handout and discuss with your partner.

17. Sources
Some material in this presentation was inspired by my colleague Noele Simmon’s syllabus statements.
Plagiarism handout from Bunting, Diniz, and Reppen (2013). Grammar and Beyond 4. Cambridge University Press, pp. A3-A5.