Avoiding Plagiarism

Dr. Wood

Freshman Seminar

Fall 2009

What is plagiarism?

Official definition in Union and You 2008-09:

“PLAGIARISM shall be defined as the appropriation of previously authored material for presentation as one’s own work without proper acknowledgment of the source of the appropriated material” (23).

What is plagiarism?

THEFT of someone else’s ideas Intentional

– Deliberately presenting another’s paper, paragraph, sentence, or idea as your own

Unintentional– Forgetting quotation marks– Omitting clear identification of source

Sources of information

Encyclopedias (both print and online)BooksPeriodical articlesWebsites

Take notes

Copy accurately, with quotation marksParaphrase (see Handbook 275-76)Summarize (Handbook 276-77)Record page numbers and complete source

information

Pic: Cannell Library, Clark College

Example of plagiarism:

He was known to his audiences as the "Master of Suspense" and what Hitchcock mastered was not only the art of making films but also the task of taming his own raging imagination.Lopez-Guzman, “Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense” (1995)http://nextdch.mty.itesm.mx/~plopezg/Kaplan/Hitchcock.html

He was known to his audiences as the 'Master of Suspense' and what Hitchcock mastered was not only the art of making films but also the task of taming his own raging imagination.“Alfred Hitchcock - Introduction” (1997)http://www.qumulus.nl/hitchcock/eng.htm

Also too near plagiarism:

Alfred Hitchcock was worthy of being honored on a stamp. Known to his audiences as the “Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock mastered not only the art of making movies but also the task of subduing his own raging imagination (Lopez-Guzman).

* Sentence structure and word choice too close to original * Citation at end does not make clear what came from the Web site

Correct citation in text:

Lopez-Guzman asserts that Hitchcock had to master “the task of taming his own raging imagination.”

In Works Cited:

Lopez-Guzman, Patricio. Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of

Suspense. 26 Mar.1995. 10 Nov. 1998 <http://

nextdch.mty.itesm.mx/~plopezg/Kaplan/

Hitchcock.html>.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Original: “The idea of an underworld where men live some kind of grim half-life after death is common to Mesopotamia and Greece.”

G. S. Kirk argues that many Greek myths derive from Mesopotamia, including one “of an underworld where men live some kind of grim half-life after death” (206).

Works Cited entry for Kirk:

Kirk, G. S. The Nature of Greek Myths. New

York: Penguin, 1974.

See Handbook 310 for basic MLA entry for

books. MLA = Modern Language Association

Example of plagiarismOriginal: The text of a poem should be compared with a modern score of music or perhaps the script of a play, rather than with a novel or poem designed from the start to be read.

Plagiarized: When we think about the Odyssey, the text should be compared with a modern musical score or play script, rather than with a novel or poem intended to be read (Perseus Encyclopedia).

Correct use of source

Correct: The Perseus Encyclopedia points out that the Odyssey was meant to be heard, so that the nearest modern comparison is a musical score or playscript (“Homer”).

Original: The text of a poem should be compared with a modern score of music or perhaps the script of a play, rather than with a novel or poem designed from the start to be read.

Work Cited

“Homer.” Perseus Encyclopedia. Tufts

University. 8 Sept. 2009 <http://

www.perseus.tufts.edu/>.

Site provides-No author-No date of last update

Parts of Works Cited entry for Web source:Author’s name, last name firstTitle - in quotation marks if it’s a part, in

italics if the wholeDate posted, or last revisedName of institution or organization

sponsoring the site (if given)Date you accessed itThe complete URL, in angle brackets

Example of plagiarismOriginal: Desdemona in iconography reveals more about societal ideology—racial and gender issues in particular —than about accurate interpretation of Shakespeare. Plagiarized: Pictures of Desdemona reveal more about society’s ideology--particularly racial and gender issues--than about accurate Shakespeare interpretation (Hancock).Correct: Hancock contends that the depiction of Desdemona in illustrations reflects the illustrators’ bias, not Shakespeare’s.

Work Cited entry (new MLA):

Work Cited

Hancock, Nancy Glass. “Picturing Desdemona: Verbal

Imagery, Iconography, and Screen.” Shakespeare in

an Age of Visual Culture. 1999. Folger Institute. Web.

8 Sept. 2009.

More information

“Avoiding Plagiarism,” St. Martin’s Handbook, 6th ed., Ch. 16

“Documenting Sources: MLA Style,” St. Martin’s Handbook, Ch. 18

Questions?

??

??

??

The End