In this tutorial, you will learn about plagiarism.
After completing this module you will be able to:
Estimated time to complete: 10 minutes
What is plagiarism? (Links to an external site.)
According to the current Oxford English Dictionary, plagiarism is "the action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft."
But plagiarism is more than just passing someone else's work off as your own. Watch this short video to learn about the different types of plagiarism and why you should avoid them.
Plagiarism is a concept which can be easily understood but sometimes tricky to avoid. Don't be fooled into thinking that plagiarism can only happen when writing a paper for your English class (or a speech for your CST 110 class). Plagiarism happens in every discipline. It can happen when programming codes, using scientific formulas, mathematical algorithms, music notes, papers, etc., Here are some examples:
Consequences of plagiarism (Links to an external site.)
According to the UW system code (Links to an external site.) and academic misconduct policy, plagiarism is regarded as an academic misconduct behavior.
The plagiarizer may receive a lower course grade, a failure in a course, or expulsion from the university.
Avoiding plagiarism (Links to an external site.)
In general, when writing a paper, making a presentation, or creating a video it is easy to forget to show the audience the resources you used. Plagiarism commonly happens for the following reasons:
Every once in awhile, you get lucky and you don't need to cite information that you find elsewhere.
For example, you wouldn't need to cite the statement, "The capital of Alaska is Juneau" because it is considered common knowledge. Essentially, there is no individual or organization who first produced or owns the fact that Juneau is the capital of Alaska. Other examples of common knowledge include:
Get the jist? If you're referencing a commonly known fact then there's no need to cite.
Be careful, UW-La Crosse has strong tools for detecting plagiarism.
Paraphrasing and creating correct citations are effective ways to avoid plagiarism. Please remember when you are writing to express clearly between your point of view and others' points of view you are using.
However, these skills are practice-based skills and you cannot attain them immediately. With your personal practice, professors' useful help, and the resources available at Murphy Library you will obtain these helpful skills. Please be patient and learn them step by step.
Paraphrasing: using your own words to express other authors' words. If your assignment only has quotes, try to use paraphrasing to add to your methods of expression.
When you are paraphrasing, don't forget to write in-text citations such as the author and the paraphrased article's date with the selected citation style.
The steps to paraphrase effectively are:
Watch this short video that explains how to paraphrase.
You can also review the Purdue OWL "In-Text Citations: The Basics" (Links to an external site.) webpage for an overview on how to create an in-text citation when paraphrasing.
Citations: Murphy Library provides you with a library guide on citing sources (Links to an external site.). Though it can feel like a complicated and tedious process, it is a helpful skill to learn early in your college career.
Below you'll see an example of paraphrasing done well.
Writing Sample (Links to an external site.) - The link to the left is a page from the "Limits of theft law: some observations on the use of criminal sanctions in enforcing intellectual property rights." You may need to click on the image to enlarge it.
The paragraph below is an example of paraphrasing done well based on the writing sample linked above. Take a look at both and try to identify the elements that make this an example of successful paraphrasing.
As Green (2002) notes, plagiarism may be seen as akin to theft, if what is stolen is words or ideas and what is gained is credit or honor. ... Still, others may consider plagiarism a form of copyright infringement, but ultimately it is not the same thing, for as Green explains, "even plagiarism involving copyrighted work will entail an 'extra element' not present in copyright law-namely, passing off someone else's work as one's own" (2002, p. 225)
Reference
Green, S. (2002). Plagiarism, norms, and the Limits of theft law: some observations on the use of criminal sanctions in enforcing intellectual property rights. Hastings Law Journal, 54 (1), 167-1745.
PS: If the author is not mentioned in the paraphrasing, the author's last name should be first listed in the brackets.
APA Style References (Links to an external site.)
Blum, S. D. (2009). My word! : Plagiarism and college culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Murphy Library. (2016). CST 110: intro to avoiding plagiarism tutorial guide. Retrieved from http://gots.uwlax.edu/guide_on_the_side/tutorial/cst-110-intro-to-avoiding-plagiarism (Links to an external site.)
OED Online. (2016). Plagiarism, n. Retrieved from Oxford English Dictionary http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/144939?redirectedFrom=plagiarism (Links to an external site.) on Jan 10, 2017
Wisconsin State Legislature. (2016). Chapter UWS 14 students' academic disciplinary procedures, Administrative code, board of regents of the University of Wisconsin system. Retrieved from Wisconsin State Legislature https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/uws/14.pdf