let the hunt begin

Now what?

Start your

research

early!

“Students are expected to uphold

the University’s values. Cheating

of any kind, plagiarism, and other

forms of academic dishonesty are

prohibited.”

Quotations must be identical to the

original

• Must match the source document word for word

• Must be attributed to the original author

• Different formats depending on the length of the

quote

< 40 words – can be inserted into a paragraph in “ ”

>40 words – must be in its own indented paragraph

Paraphrasing involves putting a

passage from source material into

your own words. • Must be attributed to the original source

• Usually shorter than the original passage

• Don’t just substitute one word for another!

• In fact, don’t paraphrase at all! Interpret instead!

Be careful when you paraphrase because

it can be tricky.

If you just change a few things around so

it looks like something different, but the

word order, paragraph structure, and

even some of the actual words are the

same… That’s plagiarism.

It is better to interpret what you think the

author is talking about instead.

The original phrase:

The interpretation:

(Badke, 2008)

An interpretation

• Uses very few of the author’s exact words

• Reveals an UNDERSTANDING rather than an

IMITATION of the original; and

• Is considerably shorter than the original text

In paraphrasing, you are essentially

rewriting the original phrase by phrase.

When you interpret, you read the text,

step back and ask, “What is this person

saying?”

With interpretation, you are not

depending on what the author said

phrase by phrase, but what the author

meant overall.

Your friend says to you, "I haven’t eaten for a long time, so why don’t we stop at McDonalds?" Someone nearby says, "What does he want?"

• Paraphrase: “He hasn’t had a meal for awhile and wants to go to McDonalds.” (Changes words but not basic structure. No attempt to interpret)

• Interpretation: “He’s hungry and wants to get a burger." (Gets at underlying meaning)

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). • Must be attributed to the original source.

• Generally significantly shorter than the original Think bullet-points

• Takes a broad overview of the source material.

• Also used to combine points from multiple articles All sources must be cited

When you paraphrase, interpret or summarize• Use your own words & sentence structure

• Should be much shorter than original text

When you quote text directly• Use quotation marks appropriately

• Indent if more than 40 words

Remember to cite the source!

Your professors know

all the tricks!

So, how do you avoid it?

A necessary evil

Proper citations help avoid plagiarism

Style guides & short-cut books available

in the Library

Once you know the basics, it really isn’t

all that hard

Keep track of the

bibliographic

information on all

resources you even

think you might use

in your paper!

Author

Title

Journal name

Date of publication

Name of database

Date retrieved

Page numbers

Publisher

Etc.

Easybib.com – the very best $15 you’ll

ever spend

CitationMachine.net – free but fewer

options

Microsoft Word 2007 can do this as well

Here are a few examples of plagiarism

In the broadest sense, the first technology was the primitive

modes of communication used by prehistoric people before

the development of spoken language. Mime, gestures, grunts,

and drawing of figures in the sand with a stick were methods

used to communicate -- yes, even to educate. Even without

speech, these prehistoric people were able to teach their

young how to catch animals for food, what animals to avoid,

which vegetation was good to eat and which was poisonous.

Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring education through technology.

Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation

In examining technology, we have to

remember that computers are not the

first technology people have had to deal

with. The first technology was the

primitive modes of communication used

by prehistoric people before the

development of spoken language.

The student copied, word-for-word, text

from the original source material.

No credit was given to the author of the

text and quotation marks were not used.

The student didn't provide a reference.

In examining technology, we have to

remember that computers are not the

first technology people have had to deal

with. The first technology was the

primitive modes of communication used

by prehistoric people before the

development of spoken language.

In examining technology, we have to remember that computers are not the first technology people have had to deal with. Frick (1991) believes that "... the first technology was the primitive modes of communication used by prehistoric people before the development of spoken language" (p. 10).

References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring education through technology. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.

The passage begins with the author and

year of the publication.

Quotation marks are used to indicate that

this passage is a word-for-word citation

from the original document.

The student has correctly cited his source

document.

The concept of systems is really quite simple. The basic idea is that a system has parts that fit together to make a whole; but where it gets complicated --and interesting -- is how those parts are connected or related to each other.

Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring education through technology. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.

A system has parts that fit together to

make a whole, but the important aspect of

systems is how those parts are connected

or related to each other (Frick, 1991).

References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring

education through technology.

Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa

Educational Foundation.

Although the author is cited at the end of

the paragraph and a reference is given,

the student copied word-for-word from

the original source material and did not

use quotation marks.

A system has parts that fit together to

make a whole, but the important aspect of

systems is how those parts are connected

or related to each other (Frick, 1991).

References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring

education through technology.

Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa

Educational Foundation.

Frick (1991) states that "... a system has parts that fit together to make a whole ..." but the important aspect of systems is "... how those parts are connected or related to each other" (p. 17).

References: Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring education through technology. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.

The passage begins with the author and

year of the publication.

Quotation marks are used to indicate that

the passages are word-for-word citations

from the original document.

The author is listed in the references.

A student uses an internet article in

researching her paper. She finds several

of the ideas in the article useful, and

develops them in her own paper. Since

she does not quote from the text, she

does not cite it in her paper, but she does

put the reference in the bibliography.

Is this plagiarism?

Yes

If she uses the ideas in her paper, she

needs to acknowledge the source of

those ideas in the paper itself. Even with

this reference, the paper should also

include an in-text citation.

In researching a paper on Mary Kingsley,

a student discovers that Kingsley was

born in Islington in 1862. She didn't know

this fact previously. However, every

article she reads on Kingsley reports the

same fact. She does not acknowledge the

source of this information with a citation.

Is this plagiarism?

No

Although the student didn't know this fact

before, it is an easily established fact that

is well known to anyone who has written

on Kingsley. Since it is undisputed and

well known, it would fall into the category

of "common knowledge," and does not

need to be cited.

A student finds a picture on the web that perfectly illustrates a point she wants to make in her paper. She downloads the picture, but does not use the website's analysis; in addition, she writes her own caption for the picture. Since the analysis and caption are her own, she does not include a citation for the picture.

Is this plagiarism?

Yes

If the image is the product of another individual's artistic or intellectual work (i.e., a personal photograph; or a graph or chart that forms part of another person's paper or research) it would be considered plagiarism. In general, if the image represents the artistic or intellectual work of another person, it should be cited.

You find a very interesting quote from

Gregor Mendel's "Experimentation in

Plant Hybridization" in a book about

Mendel's life. In your paper, you include

the quote, and cite Mendel's paper as the

source.

Is this plagiarism?

Yes

Even though you are acknowledging the source of the quotation, you have failed to acknowledge the source of your own information – the biography of Mendel. The correct way to avoid plagiarism in this instance would be to cite the original source of the quote (Mendel's "Experiments in Plant Hybridization") and your source for the quote ("quoted in . . . .").

We are here to help!

Badke, W. (2008) A rationale for

information literacy as a credit-bearing

discipline. Journal of Information Literacy,

2(1).

Frick, T. (1991). Restructuring education

through technology. Bloomington, IN: Phi

Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.