Plagiarism: Definition & Overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7dy5GlXyHk Links to an external site.

^^Watch this video^^

According to Purdue University Online Writing Lab Links to an external site., plagiarism is "the uncredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of somebody else's words or ideas." Apart from the unethical implications of plagiarism in student work, Santa Rosa Junior College has a strict policy against it reflected in the Academic Integrity statement.  That statement says:

"Academic dishonesty is regarded as any act of deception, benign or malicious in nature, in the completion of any academic exercise. Examples of academic dishonesty include cheating, plagiarism, impersonation, misrepresentation of idea or fact for the purpose of defrauding, use of unauthorized aids or devices, falsifying attendance records, violation of testing protocol, inappropriate course assignment collaboration, and any other acts that are prohibited by the instructor of record."

Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference, a writing handbook often used in college courses, is very clear about the meaning of plagiarism, stating,

"[your] research paper is a collaboration between you and your sources. To be fair and ethical, you must acknowledge your debt to the writers of those sources. If you don't, you commit plagiarism, a serious academic offense.

Three different acts are considered plagiarism: (1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases into your own words" (Hacker 358-359).

"Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes" -- Maggie Kuhn. Cringle Park, Levenshulme, Manchester Links to an external site. by Duncan Hull Links to an external site.

More than anything your instructors want to hear what you think and how you communicate about what you are learning. Believe it or not your instructors are genuinely interested in hearing your voice and can detect when it is not your voice speaking. If there is a slight shift in tone or if the words or sentences suddenly become more official or formal, your instructor picks up on that. It's also important to keep in mind that we live in the age of Google and your instructor can very easily copy and paste a sentence or paragraph from your assignment into the search box and will find out quickly where you got your information (and how much of it has been put into your own words).

The Writing Center @ University of Wisconsin-Madison Links to an external site. has some helpful suggestions for avoiding plagiarism. On their page, "How to avoid plagiarism," Links to an external site. they advise using quotation marks to enclose any statements you lift directly from a source, and while you may be putting information and ideas you find into your own words, you still need to cite authors in-text, as well as in your Works Cited page (The Writing Center @ University of Wisconsin - Madison).

Information that is considered common knowledge does not need to be cited, such as Abraham Lincoln is the 16th president of the United States -- UNLESS you didn't know that and needed to look it up! Common knowledge can be very tricky, so just to be safe if you aren't sure go ahead and cite the source.

Other activities that would fall under plagiarism are re-using a paper you wrote for another class, turning in a paper written by someone else (including folks you pay to write a paper for you), copying the work of other people, etc. The short video below will give you a good idea of the different aspects that plagiarism covers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDd7up936MQ Links to an external site.

Works Cited