HOW TO AVOID PLAGIARISM This handout aims to help you avoid plagiarizing, particularly in your written work. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of somebody else's work and/or ideas. Please note that Mount Allison University has academic regulations pertaining to academic dishonesty. This handout will detail those regulations, illustrate what constitutes plagiarism and finally provide some strategies for avoiding plagiarism. RULES AND REGULATIONS “Academic Dishonesty” regulation from the Mount Allison University Academic Calendar 2005-2006 (page 23): “All students at Mount Allison are expected to conduct themselves in an ethical manner in their academic work. It is the policy of the University that academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. The following offences constitute major instances of academic dishonesty, and are subject to discipline: • plagiarism or the misrepresentation of another's work, whether ideas, or words, or creative works, published or unpublished, as one's own; • submission of any work for credit for which credit has previously been obtained or is being sought in another course, without the prior express written consent of the appropriate instructor." • The Sociology Department’s policy is that any work involving plagiarism will be given a grade of zero. • Please see the Citation Guide for the Department of Sociology for the citation style required by the Department. WHAT IS PLAGIARISM? The Oxford English Dictionary (1999) defines ‘plagiarize’ as “to take and use as one’s own the thoughts, writings, or inventions of another.” This section will show you different examples of what constitutes plagiarism. The original source: “ In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas” (Hacker 1995:260). Student writes: Verdict Why In research writing, sources are cited to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas. Plagiarism (same words, no quotation marks and no citation) The student has used the author's exact words, leaving out only a phrase, without quotation marks or a citation. In research writing, sources are cited to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas (Hacker 1995:260). Plagiarism (same words, no quotation marks but a citation) The student has used the author’s exact words, leaving out a phrase, without quotation marks but with a citation. Without quotation marks, the reader thinks that the words are the student’s own and that he/she has paraphrased Hacker’s sentence when in fact they are the author’s exact words. In research writing, we cite sources for a couple of reasons: to notify readers of our information sources and give credit to those from whom we have borrowed (Hacker). Plagiarism (inadequate paraphrase and incomplete citation) The student has made only slight changes, substituting words such as "a couple of" for "two", "notify" for "alert", and "our"/"we" for "your"/"you," leaving out a few words, and giving an incomplete citation. A researcher cites her sources to ensure her audience knows where she got her information, and to recognize and credit the original work (Hacker, 1995:260). Solution (appropriate paraphrase) The student has paraphrased in her own words, while accurately reflecting and citing the author's ideas. In her book A Writer's Reference, Hacker (1995:260) notes, "In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas." Solution (quotation with citation) By introducing his source, the student signals that the following material is from that source. All verbatim words are in quotation marks, and the source of the quote is cited with a page number. Adapted from “Avoiding Plagiarism http://sja.ucdavis.edu/avoid.htm BASIC RULES 1. Need to cite: when using someone else's direct words, including any phrases when referring to someone else’s ideas when using information gained through interviewing someone when using ideas or information gained in personal communication, such as through in- person conversations, lectures/seminars, classroom discussions, letters, telephone conversations, email, web blogs, chat rooms • when using any diagrams, illustrations, charts, graphs, pictures • when referring to statistics • • • • 2. No need to cite: • when writing on your own experiences, observations, insights, thoughts, conclusions • when using common knowledge. Material is probably common knowledge if at least five other sources present the same information in an undocumented format • when writing up your own experimental findings or research results 3. Citing paraphrased material: • When you use information from a source but express it in your own words, this is called paraphrasing. • Paraphrased material must be cited in the same way you would for a direct quotation. • You must use page numbers in sources whenever the idea, the argument, the finding, the result, etc. is in a particular part of the source. • If you are summarizing a theme, idea or argument of the whole source, then you may cite without page numbers. THE CONTRADICTIONS OF ACADEMIC WRITING Academic writing is difficult. It involves being influenced and referring to earlier writers but also making one’s argument one’s own. There are tensions in academic writing, as detailed below, but these tensions cannot be solved by plagiarism. Show you have done your research ---BUT--- Write something new and original Appeal to experts and authorities ---BUT--- Use academic vocabulary by mimicking what you hear and read ---BUT--- Use your own words, your own voice Give credit where credit is due ---BUT--- Make your own significant contribution Improve upon or disagree with experts and authorities Adapted from "Avoiding Plagiarism" http://owl.english.purdue.edu PREVENTING PLAGIARISM IN THE RESEARCH AND WRITING PROCESS Actions during the writing process When researching, note-taking and interviewing • Mark everything that is someone else’s words with a big Q (for quote) or with big quotation marks • Indicate in your notes which ideas are taken from sources (S) and which are your own insights (ME) • Keep the right hand side of the notebook for research notes, and the left hand side for your own thoughts Appearance in Paper • Proofread and check your notes (or photocopies of sources) to make sure that anything taken from your notes is acknowledged in some combination of the following ways: • quotation marks • indirect quotations • in-text citation • bibliography • Record all of the relevant citation in your notes When paraphrasing and summarizing When quoting directly • First, write your paraphrase and summary without looking at the original text, so you rely only on your memory • Begin your summary with the statement giving credit to the source • Ex. According to… • Next, check your version with the original for content, accuracy, and any direct phrases • Put any unique words or phrases that you cannot change or do not want to change in quotation marks • Keep the person’s name and the page number near the quote in your notes • Mention the person’s name at the beginning, middle, or end of the quote • Select those direct quotes that make the most impact in your paper - use direct quotes to further your argument as they are your evidence • Put quotation marks around the text that you are quoting. Put the page number in the intext citation • Indicate added phrases in square brackets ([ ]) and omitted text with ellipses (…) The following chart is adapted from “Avoiding Plagiarism” http://owl.english.purdue.edu