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Academic Honesty, Integrity & Avoiding Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?

 

Do you know what plagiarism means? Plagiarism is the term used to describe a form of cheating or stealing.

Most cases of plagiarism can be identified by a professor in a few minutes using today's technology. Plagiarizing in college can have a profound impact on your future, whether you're caught or not.

To avoid plagiarism, all students must document sources properly using Footnotes, Endnotes, or Parenthetical References, and must write a Bibliography, References, or Works Cited page and place it at the end of the research paper to list the sources used.

Tips
  • Do not be tempted to get someone else to write your research paper, hand in the same essay to two or more different teachers, or purchase instant essays from the Web.
  • Do not download information from the Web or someone else's original work off the Internet and directly incorporate such information into your essay without paraphrasing and acknowledging its source.
  • Apart from being unethical, dishonest, and learning nothing in the process, your teacher probably knows you and your writing style too well for you to plagiarize successfully.
  • Most secondary schools, colleges, and universities take a dim view at plagiarism which is becoming more rampant with prevalent use of the Internet.
  • Technology has made it too easy for students to search and click for an essay and simply pay with a valid credit card for an instant download online. Consequences may be severe when students are caught plagiarizing.

Six Types of Plagiarism

 

1 - Direct Plagiarism

This type of plagiarism happens when someone takes a sentence or more from someone else’s essay or writings and puts the information directly into their paper without saying where they got the idea or information.

2 - Self-Plagiarism

This type of plagiarism is when someone writes and submits an essay or report for one class and reuses/ resubmits the same essay or work for another class. This type of plagiarism also includes sentences. In order to use that information you must quote it and cite your own name and article.

3 - Mosaic Plagiarism

This is when someone uses a sentence or more of someone else’s essay or report and changes only a few words but doesn’t change the structure.

4 - Accidental Plagiarism

This happens when a person forgets or neglects to use citations when they should have used them.

5 - Style Plagiarism

This happens when someone follows another person’s writing, using different words, but keeping the same structure and style for numerous sentences.

6 - Idea Plagiarism

When someone takes an idea from someone else and claims it as their own.

References

Barnbaum, C. “Plagiarism: A Student's Guide to Recognizing It and Avoiding It.” Valdosta State University. http://www.valdosta.edu/~cbarnbau/personal/teaching_MISC/plagiarism.htm (Accessed 8 August 2013).

Bowdoin College. “Common Types of Plagiarism.” Bowdoin College. http://www.bowdoin.edu/studentaffairs/academic-honesty/common-types.shtml (Accessed 8 August 2013).

Basic Measure to Avoid Plagiarism

 

How to give credit?

Cite where you get the information. Let the reader know where you found your information. Simply changing around a few words will not avoid plagiarism. You must make it clear where you found the information unless it is common knowledge. See the Library's citation style guides to learn more about creating citations.

Why is avoiding plagiarism so important?

Avoiding plagiarism is about making good decisions to maintain your integrity and to be honest. However, whether it is intentional or accidental, plagiarism is an act of theft. It harms your reputation as a person and as a student any erodes any worth your work may have garnered.

What Is Common Knowledge?

Common knowledge is information that most people know and understand. This information, because it is a widely known fact, does not need to be cited.

For Example:
Valentine's Day is February 14th.

What Is A Quotation?

There are many strategies you can use to avoiding plagiarising.  When writing your papers, assignments, and projects and take information directly from a source, you must place that information in quote marks.

For Example (Using APA Style):
When swarms of bees were found dead near Guelph, Ontario, researchers were shocked and claimed that "unless the reason is found and we recover from this event, our ability to grow our food will be severely diminished" (Boleshi, 2002, p. 15).

Boleshi, B. (2002, April). Bee darned. The Walrus, 67(9), 12-18.

What Is Paraphrasing?

Using someone else's ideas and words and putting them into your own words is paraphrasing. You must give credit to the original author or creator.  Even if the words are your own, the idea is someone else's.

Strategies to Avoid Plagiarism

 

Credit must be given when using one of the following in your research paper:

  • another person's idea, opinion, or theory
  • any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings or other non-textual elements used or that you adapted from another source
  • any pieces of information that are not common knowledge
  • quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words
  • paraphrase of another person's spoken or written words