Team Building Skills

Plagiarism

To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit to another person's ideas, thoughts, and words. Any time you quote statistics or state facts, you must identify where you got them. If you use artwork, photos, or graphs, you must state where they originated. Whenever you directly quote someone, whether their written or spoken words, you must state who wrote or said those words. Even if you summarize or paraphrase another's work, you must give that person credit.

With the Internet, many students do not realize that copying and changing a few words is plagiarism. Simply reordering sentences or changing some words is still taking another person's work and passing it off as your own.

Here are some suggestions to avoid plagiarism: Any wording that comes directly from a source must be contained within quotation marks. Read the source so that you understand it. Then put the source away and write out in your own words what you want to use from that source. Then reread the original source and make sure that you have not reused important phrases.

What is Plagiarism

If you are writing a paper about crime in California, using the following three examples are plagiarism:

Example 1:

Many wanted advertisements are found in poor condition because of the use and abuse of the items. Repeat offenders were common, and so an officer may have chosen to keep old circulars for future reference. (In my collection I have one man wanted in 1906 who resurfaces in 1911 after he is released from prison. The only way to connect him is by his photo as he uses many aliases in 1911.) In order to save expenses, some officers reused ledger pages by adhering newer circulars on top of older ones. Needless to say, when trying to remove wanted items from ledgers; many items are torn or have glue strips remaining on them. Because of the rarity of early 20th Century wanted ephemera, condition is relatively unimportant.

The above passage is plagiarized because it is copied directly from another source.

Example 2:
(Please note the italics are for emphasis only.)

Various wanted advertisements are found in inferior condition because of the use and mistreatment of the items. Repeat offenders were widespread, and so an officer could have chosen to keep previous circulars for future note. (In my collected works I have one male wanted in 1906 who resurfaces in 1911 when he is released from jail. The only means to associate him is by his picture as he uses several aliases in 1911.) In order to save expenses, a few officers reused ledger sheets by sticking newer circulars on top of older ones. Obviously, when trying to detach wanted objects from ledgers; numerous items are ragged or have adhesive strips left over on them. Since the scarcity of early 20th Century wanted ephemera, state is fairly unimportant.

The above passage is plagiarized because it is modified from the original source. In this case, words have randomly been changed by using a thesaurus.

Example 3:

In order to save expenses, some officers reused ledger pages by adhering newer circulars on top of older ones. Needless to say, when trying to remove wanted items from ledgers; many items are torn or have glue strips remaining on them. Many wanted advertisements are found in poor condition because of the use and abuse of the items. Because of the rarity of early 20th Century wanted ephemera, condition is relatively unimportant. Repeat offenders were common, and so an officer may have chosen to keep old circulars for future reference. (In my collection I have one man wanted in 1906 who resurfaces in 1911 after he is released from prison. The only way to connect him is by his photo as he uses many aliases in 1911.)

The above passage is plagiarized because the original sentences are reorganized.

In all three examples above, the paragraph cannot be used without citing the source, which means the author and book, speech, website, etc.

What is NOT Plagiarism

These two examples show how you can use the information without plagiarizing:

Example 1:

"Many wanted advertisements are found in poor condition because of the use and abuse of the items. Repeat offenders were common, and so an officer may have chosen to keep old circulars for future reference. (In my collection I have one man wanted in 1906 who resurfaces in 1911 after he is released from prison. The only way to connect him is by his photo as he uses many aliases in 1911.) In order to save expenses, some officers reused ledger pages by adhering newer circulars on top of older ones. Needless to say, when trying to remove wanted items from ledgers; many items are torn or have glue strips remaining on them. Because of the rarity of early 20th Century wanted ephemera, condition is relatively unimportant." (Arnaud, Velda. Wanted: Crime in California, Historical Value of Wanted Ephemera, Early 20th Century. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc., Denver, Colorado. 2007. 2-3.)

The above example includes the entire paragraph in quotes and cites the source. While this is technically correct citing, there is too much being directly quoted. A better approach would be to rewrite the meaning in your own words and cite where you found the information.

Example 2:

Items distributed to apprehend suspected criminals has been used by law enforcement officers for some time. In Wanted: Crime in California, Arnaud states that condition is not a determining value in these items since they were often treated poorly. While trying to save money, law enforcement officers reused books containing wanted posters, and they are often found glued together. The value of these papers comes from the crime, the person, and the uniqueness of the item, itself. (Arnaud, Velda. Wanted: Crime in California, Historical Value of Wanted Ephemera, Early 20th Century. Denver: Outskirts Press, Inc., Denver, Colorado. 2007. 2-3.)

In the above example, nothing is directly quoted. However, both the book and author are included in the paragraph. This gives credibility to the statement that condition is not the deciding factor. If the author is to be credited in other parts of the paper, a bibliographic reference would be better than an in-text citation.

Two very good online resources for citing information:

• The Online Writing Lab at Purdue
• Plagiarism dot org

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