Plagiarism
Plagiarism is using others’ words and ideas without attributing them, which means without giving them credit, and it’s a serious offense in college and beyond, whether it was intentional or not.
When you think of plagiarism, you may think of the intentional form of it. Examples include downloading or buying a sample paper you found online and using all or parts of it in your own assignment, submitting as your own a friend’s or relative’s paper who had taken the class a prior term, or even turning in a paper for one class you had already written for another. All of these behaviors are dishonest and demonstrate an intention to cheat on a writing assignment.
Yet, what if a student plagiarizes unintentionally? Maybe you have even done this before. Is it still plagiarism if a student does so unintentionally? The answer is, well, yes. Forgetting to put quotation marks around a direct quote from a source and forgetting to cite it (with a signal phrase, in-text citation, and bibliographic entry) is still plagiarism. That’s what you’re here for, right? To learn how to use and cite sources. In addition to following the basics of source attribution discussed in the previous chapter section, here are some tips to help you avoid plagiarizing:
Take careful notes. When taking notes from a primary or secondary source, be sure to first write down the source’s details at the top of the page including the author, title of the article/book chapter, title of the journal/magazine/book, year, etc. Better yet, write out a complete citation in MLA for APA format (if your research database has a “cite” feature, use it and copy and paste out the citation in the format you need.) As you jot down ideas from the source, note the page and paragraph number where you found it—highlighting or underlining the text as well. Be sure to put the author’s exact words in quotation marks in your notes. If typing your notes and you choose to copy and paste from the source, be sure to add quotation marks and the page and paragraph number.
Use quotation marks for direct quotes. When it comes to using sources quotation marks are elevated beyond a punctuation editing issue; if not used correctly they could mean plagiarism. Be sure that when you use exact, word-for-word phrases or sentences from a source in your own writing project that you use two sets of quotation marks to indicate where the quote—the direct source information—begins and ends. Also, be sure to add signal phrases and in-text citations to anything that is quoted (no matter how brief or long the quote).
Paraphrase in your own words. If you choose to use a specific idea from a source but would prefer to explain it in your own words, that is called paraphrasing and it needs to do just that—be in your own words. Student writers often struggle with taking sentences from sources that seem so well written and trying to paraphrase them in their own words. Try to not look back at the quote when paraphrasing until after you write the author’s idea in your own words in your own writing project, with your own other sentences in a given paragraph. Revise and edit your paraphrase within that paragraph in your writing project draft and then check back for accuracy. This could help you work the idea into your writing project rather than trying to “translate” the quote into a paraphrase . (If you continue to struggle paraphrasing it, then quote it directly using quotation marks!) However, be sure to include a signal phrase and an in-text citation for your paraphrases, just like with quotes.
All ideas and information from sources—summaries, quotes, and paraphrases—need to be cited. In the next chapter you’ll study these and other strategies to help you join academic conversations as writer.