Recognizing and avoiding plagiarism

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas, results, equipment design, visuals, wording, or even sentence structure as if they were your own.

Plagiarism can be intentional:

• You use someone’s ideas or results without citing the source;
• You copy something word for word without using quotation marks, even though you cite the source; or
• You use all or part of a visual without crediting the source.

Or it can be accidental:

• You don’t realize what is considered plagiarism in the United States;
• You can’t think of a better way to say it and so copy sentences, phrases, or even sentence structure from the original without using quotation marks;
• When you took notes, you didn’t put exact wording in quotation marks and now you plagiarize without realizing it.

Why is it important to avoid plagiarism?

In the United States, plagiarism is considered academic misconduct, and you are expected to avoid plagiarism, either intentional or accidental.

Plagiarized work can result in a failing course grade, expulsion, rejection of a paper submitted for publication, denial of an advanced degree, or loss of job. It is increasingly serious now that the Internet has made plagiarism easier than ever before.

How can you avoid plagiarizing?

For each source you read, use a Template for Taking Notes such as the one on the Cain Project web site: (External Link) . As you enter the information, proofread for completeness and accuracy. As you take notes, put quotation marks around any wording that you copy directly from the source so that later you can put it into your own words and won’t accidentally plagiarize.

If you copy something word for word, put quotation marks around it and cite it: (Jones 2005). If you paraphrase by putting ideas into your own words, cite the source of the ideas: (Jones 2005). If you copy a Figure or Table, cite it at the end of the caption and inside the period: (Jones 2005). If you adapt a Figure or Table or use only part of it, cite it at the end of the caption: (Adapted from Jones 2005). Put the complete bibliographic reference for all citations in the Bibliography (or Works Cited).

Practice paraphrasing (putting someone else’s ideas into your own words) because it’s often difficult to do. Avoid the temptation of paraphrasing too many details. Focus on the main idea or evidence that you need to cite. Once you have determined what you need to paraphrase, reread the source and then cover it up. Write the main idea from memory and then check to verify that you haven’t used exact wording or sentence structure. Simply changing the verb tense or substituting one adverb for another, but leaving the sentence structure essentially the same, is still considered to be plagiarism.