Issues of Plagiarism*
According to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, to plagiarize is "to commit literary theft" in the sense that you "present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source" (entry, "plagiarize"). Notice that this definition does not distinguish between accidental or irrational plagiarism--and neither will your instructors. Whether you "stole" another author's words intentionally or plagiarized accidentally, severe penalties can be imposed. Consequently, you need to understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
Defining Plagiarism
The most blatant form of plagiarism involves submitting a commercially produced paper or one written by another student as your own work. Most plagiarism is, however, not so obvious.
Even a very short passage can be plagiarized. Assume, for example, the text states that "textiles [were] the most important in the number of workers employed and the value of the output" (Stavarinos 201). If you use these exact words in your work and do not use quotes and cite the source, you have clearly stolen the author's words (and it will be very hard for your Instructor to believe that you did not realize what you were doing).
Students often try to avoid the problem by paraphrasing or summarizing the original text. Unfortunately these strategies, improperly done, may also constitute plagiarism. One strategy, simply changing a few words in the original, can constitute plagiarism. For example, if you reworded the above quote to read that "textiles [were] the most important because of the numbers employed and the output generated" you must put quotes around all words that are not your own and cite the source. Otherwise, you are plagiarizing because you have used some of the author's words and his sentence structure without acknowledging that they are not your own. It is plagiarizing because you have used some of the author's words and his sentence structure without giving credit.
In addition, in the previous example you have also used the author's idea. If you use an author's "general argument . . . or simply follow the sequence of ideas" without citing the source, you have plagiarized. (Branch, Composition Chronicle 10).
Avoiding Plagiarism
You can take steps to avoid plagiarism during every phase of the writing process. Some strategies that may be helpful are described below.
Gathering Information
When you are taking notes, be very careful to put authors' exact words in quotes and to identify the page and source. As a further precaution, you might wish to use a strategy advocated in A Crash Course on Composition: Identify direct quotes with red pencil so that you don't accidentally overlook them when you write the paper (McMahan 113).
When you paraphrase or summarize, you should not look at the text as you write. Instead, close the book and rephrase the author's ideas without looking at the original text (McMahan, Crash Course 114).
To check that your summary is not too close to the original, you might try using the "dot" method (Prater, Composition Chronicle 18). Read the original text and place a dot over each word in your summary that is identical or a minor variation. More than a few dots signal trouble.
Finally, make sure that you have provided complete documentation. Summaries and paraphrases, like direct quotes, require authors' names and page numbers.
Remember the Rules of Citation
Do not have sources in your reference or works cited page unless they are cited in the text of your paper.
Always provide a citation for anyone else's work you paraphrased or quoted.
Always provide a page number for any quotations you use.
Follow the citation format for various types of sources using the examples in this handout.
*Taken from "Issues of Plagiarism and Academic Authorship: Did You Write What You Wrote? © Marcia Holbrook, Franklin University
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