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Plagiarism,
and how to avoid it
What
is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism
is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “Taking and using as one’s
own the ideas or writings of another.” In
simple terms, plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas and passing
them off as your own. Sometimes the
offender does this on purpose. However,
in many cases, the person committing this crime does not realize that he has
done so.
The
information in this brochure is meant to help you determine when to give credit
to a source so that you are not committing plagiarism.
What
types of materials must be cited?
One
must cite any material that contains facts or ideas which are not part of that
person’s common knowledge. Sources
may be a book, article, movie, interview, computer program, or Web Page (Fowler,
580).
An
author’s ideas include wording, sentence structures, arrangement of thoughts,
and special graphic format (such as a table or diagram) (Fowler, 580)*.
What
does not have to be cited?
One’s
own independent thoughts, compilations of facts, or experimental results
expressed in his own words do not have to be cited (Fowler, 579).
In
addition, material considered common knowledge does not need to be cited.
Common knowledge is the “standard information of a field of study as
well as folk literature and common sense observations” (Fowler, 579).
When
does plagiarism most often occur?
In
most cases, plagiarism is committed when a person writing a paper does not give
credit for using somebody else’s ideas.
In
writing a paper, all of the information gained from a source must be cited, even
if the information is a paraphrase rather than a direct quote.
Simply changing a few words does not change or replace the original
creation of the author.
For
example, the following is a quote by Lewis Carroll: “Alice opened the door and
found it led into a small passage, not much
larger than
a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest
garden you ever saw” (Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Castle Books, 1983,
p.9).
A student
might paraphrase the quote as such: Alice
opened the door and saw a passage the size of a rat-hole, knelt down, and looked
into the loveliest garden she ever saw” (Carroll, Alice in Wonderland,
Castle Books, 1983, p.9). Because
the paraphrase is still Carroll’s idea, with only a few word changes, it still
needs to be cited the same as the original quote.
This same rule applies to
print and electronic graphics. Bibliographic
information must be given for both written and graphic works.
One may not take a graphic of any kind and use it, or modify it, without
copyright permission.
Other
forms of Plagiarism
In
some cases, plagiarism is a more blatant crime.
If a student were to copy, word for word, from a source without putting
the copied
information
into quotes and/or citing it, the student has stolen the
ideas
from the author and is committing both plagiarism and copyright violation.
Likewise, a student may not
hand in a research paper or other assignment as his own that someone else has
written.
Plagiarism
and the Internet
In
today’s society, one can find just about anything and everything on the
Internet or World Wide Web. It has
become commonplace for students to print or download papers from the Internet
and turn them in as their own. Even
if these papers are obtained through sites advertising free papers, or if the
student has paid for a paper to be written for him, it is still considered
plagiarism.
Likewise,
a student cannot use information found on a Web Site without citing the Site.
Any
time a person takes credit for something which he did not write, or ideas which
he did not initiate, he is committing plagiarism.
Plagiarism
and Chesapeake College
Any
student who is caught committing plagiarism is in violation
of
the Student Code of Conduct. Disciplinary
action will be taken
against
the student according to the Disciplinary Procedures in the Student Code of
Conduct.
Actions
may include, but are not limited to, a failing grade on the assignment, a
failing grade in the
course,
Academic Probation, or expulsion from the Institution.
Play
it safe!
If
a student has written an assignment and is not sure if what information needs to
be cited, he may go to the Writing Center, Learning Assistance Center, or
Learning Resource Center for help.
A
good general rule of thumb is: if the idea was not initially yours, cite it.
Source
used:
Fowler, H.
Ramsey and Jane E. Aaron. The
Little, Brown Handbook. New
York: Harper Collins, 1992.
&
Taken
from the publication Plagiarism and How to Avoid it
Chesapeake
College
http://www.chesapeake.edu/library/library.htm
Learning
Resource Center
P.O.
Box 23 Wye
Mills, MD 21679
410-827-5860
410-827-5861
©
1999
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