1. 1 Plagiarism and How to Prevent it Rick Greenfield EDTC 560 October 22, 2003 Home Page Home Page

2. 2 Contents:  Definitions 3 Definitions 3  What is Plagiarism? 4 What is Plagiarism? 4  When You Must Give Credit 6 When You Must Give Credit 6  When You Don’t Have to Give Credit 7 When You Don’t Have to Give Credit 7  How to Detect Plagiarism 8 How to Detect Plagiarism 8  How to Track Down Plagiarism 9 How to Track Down Plagiarism 9  Teacher Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism 11 Teacher Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism 11  Test Your Understanding 13 Test Your Understanding 13  References 17 References 17 Home Page

3. 3 Definitions: Common knowledge: facts that most people in a peer group are likely to know. Quotation: using someone else’s exact words. These words must be in quotation marks, and the source should be documented. Paraphrase: putting someone's words or ideas into your own words. Most often done in research. (IU, 2001) Home Page Home Page

4. 4 What is Plagiarism? Failure to give proper credit when using:  Another person’s words, ideas, theories, opinions, statistics, graphs, drawings,  any facts or information that are not common knowledge,  quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words. (IU, 2001) Home Page

5. 5 Plagiarism is also:  Copying and/or paraphrasing material from a document without proper acknowledgment,  Copying materials from a source text, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotation marks,  Turning in a paper from a "term paper mill" website. (Hinchliffe, 1998)

6. 6 When You Must Give Credit:  You are using an editorial from your school's newspaper with which you disagree.  You really like the particular phrase somebody else made up, so you use it.  You want to begin your paper with a story that one of your classmates told about her experiences in Bosnia.  The quote you want to use is too long, so you leave out a couple of phrases. Home Page

7. 7 When You Shouldn’t Give Credit:  You are writing new insights about your own experiences.  You mention that many people in your discipline belong to a certain organization.  You write your opinions about a new piece of legislation.  You write details about the news footage of the Kennedy assassination. (Perdue U, 2003) Home Page

8. 8 How to Detect Plagiarism  Check for formatting not common to normal word processors.  Check for uncommon jargon, vocabulary or sentence structure.  See if writing style changes throughout the paper. Compare to normal writing style of the individual.  Is bibliographic style used consistently? Does it match the sources referenced in the paper. (Hinchliffe, 1998) Home Page

9. 9 How to Track Down Plagiarism  Check sources listed in the bibliography. Search the web and search for the source documents.  Search the source documents for unique sentences or phrases from the paper.  Use search engines such as Google or yahoo to find unique sentences or phrases from the paper. (Hinchliffe, 1998) Home Page

10. 10 How to Track Down Plagiarism (Cont.)  Check it against some of these “paper mill” websites: Other People's Papers: http://www.oppapers.com/http://www.oppapers.com/ Free Papers: http://www.freepapers.com/http://www.freepapers.com/ Cheat House: http://www.cheathouse.com/http://www.cheathouse.com/ 123 Help Me: http://www.123helpme.com/http://www.123helpme.com/ And there are many more. (Hinchliffe, 1998)

11. 11 Teacher Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism  Discuss plagiarism as a moral and ethical issue.  Explain the concepts of plagiarism intellectual property, copyright, collaboration and fair use  Teach students how to correctly paraphrase, quote, and properly cite sources.  Discuss the benefits of citing sources properly (stronger paper, better grade)  Discuss penalties for plagiarism. Home Page

12. 12 Teacher Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism (Cont.)  Discuss the “paper mill” websites. Show examples. Let students know that you know.  Stagger due dates for different parts of a paper, (outline, first draft, bibliography due before final paper).  Specify types of materials students can use, i.e., online university library, etc.  Change the paper topics each time the course is offered.  Let students know you will check references. (U Alberta, 2002)

13. 13 Test Your Understanding: Please take the following test and e-mail the answers to rsgreenfield@email.uophx.edu. You will be graded on this! rsgreenfield@email.uophx.edu True or False 1. __It is not a good idea to use information from the “paper mill” sites even if you properly cite it. 2. __You must cite text copied directly and enclose it in quotation marks. 3. __Common knowledge is anything learned in a prerequisite class. Home Page

14. 14 Test Your Understanding (Cont.): 4. __It is a good idea to change research topics each time the class is offered. 5. __It is a waste of time for teachers to check for plagiarism in research papers. 6. __You must give credit for information obtained through first-hand interviews. 7. __You do not need to give credit for information if you change the words around.

15. 15 Test Your Understanding (Cont.): YES = Must give credit NO = Don’t have to give credit 1. __Information from a class lecture 2. __Discussing your own method for solving a mathematical problem 3. __Information from the class textbook 4. __Discussing Newton’s method for solving differential equations

16. 16 Test Your Understanding (Cont.): 5. __A chart obtained from a web site 6. __An author’s written work after you have changed the words around 7. __A senator’s political stand on major issues 8. __A recent statement made by a senator

17. 17 References:  University of Alberta (2002). Library Learning Services. Preventing Plagiarism. Retrieved on 10/21/03 from: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism/preventing/inde x.cfm http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism/preventing/inde x.cfm  Hinchcliffe, L. (1998). Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online Plagiarism. Retrieved on 10/20/03 from: http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~janicke/plagiary.htm http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~janicke/plagiary.htm  Purdue University. Online Writing Lab. Avoiding Plagiarism. Retrieved on 10/20/03 from: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html  Indiana University (1998). Writing Resources. Plagiarism: What it is and How to Recognize and Avoid it. Retrieved on 10/21/03 from: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.htmlhttp://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html Home Page