| What
is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is using someone
else's ideas without giving credit to the original author. This includes:
|
|
1. |
Copying
another student's paper and handing it in as though it
were your own; |
|
2. |
Copying
any part of someone else's work; |
|
3. |
Copying
words directly out of a book for a paper, take-home
essay, or other assignment without using quotation marks
around the words copied; |
|
4. |
Taking
ideas out of a book, even if not using the exact words,
without showing in a footnote or other form of citation
where those ideas came from; |
| *** |
5. |
Copying
from the Internet. (This is especially dangerous,
since professors can easily catch Internet copying.
See suggestion #4 below.) |
|
Plagiarism usually results in a grade
of zero for the assignment. Sometimes it results in an F
for the whole course.
How
can you avoid plagiarism?
Besides the common-sense answer of not doing things that
you already know are considered to be cheating,
remember:
|
|
1. |
Always
write a citation to show where an idea came from, unless
you came up with it completely on your own (If you do
not know how to do citations, ask one of your
professors);
|
|
2. |
Whenever
you use the exact words that are written in a book, put
quotation marks around those words; the only time you
don't need quotation marks is when a professor wants you
to memorize something word-for-word, such as definitions
of terms;
|
|
3. |
Don't
be afraid to express your own ideas about something you
read in a book. Sometimes students are afraid that they
might not have understood a reading assignment, and that
if they copy the words of the author they will be sure
to get it right. These students need to realize that the
professor knows what is in the reading assignment, and
will recognize the words that the students copied.
|
|
4. |
***DO
NOT COPY FROM THE INTERNET ! ! ! It is very easy for
a professor to find the source of copied material by
taking a phrase from your paper and typing it into a
search engine. |
Trust yourself.
Know that you are an intelligent person and that your
ideas have value. Use reading assignments to help you
develop your ideas, but don't copy the ideas of others.
Take pride in your work.
When you have made your best effort to write something
in your own words, you can say, "This is really
mine, and I know that I did my best."
|
