Plagiarism

Mary GallowayTexas Middle School

Texarkana Independent School District

gallowm@txkisd.netPrepared by Dr. Teri Fowler

Definition

Plagiarism is any use of another writer’s word, concepts, or sequence of ideas without acknowledging that writer by the use of proper documentation.

Plagiarism is failure to credit sources used in a work product in an attempt to pass off the work as other than the original authors’.

Texas A & M University

Types

Theft of Words Theft of Ideas

Credit is required whenever you use*another person’s idea, opinion, or theory,

*any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings, or any pieces of information that are

not common knowledge,

*quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or

*paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.

Occurrences

Copying- Words taken in sequence from another writer

Paraphrasing- A restatement of another writer’s point

- Similar in length

- Different in structure and style Summarizing - Gist of passage

- Shorter in Length

Tests for Plagiarism

Is credit given to the source, no matter how oblique or remote? If not, deception may be presumed.

Is the pattern of ideas or words clearly discernible to the astute reader? If so, and lacking any attribution, theft is apparent.

Augusta College English Department

Avoidance

Learn topic material well enough that it is not necessary for you to have the original book or journal article open in front of you while you are writing or typing.

(Texas A & M University) Distinguish clearly between material that is directly quoted

and that which is paraphrased or summarized when taking notes or writing a rough draft.

Provide citations for all direct quotations and paraphrases, for borrowed ideas, and for facts that do not belong to general knowledge. (Crews & VanSant 407)

Remember:

Always set a good

example for our

students.