What Is Plagiarism?

In his Little Book of Plagiarism Richard A. Posner defines plagiarism as “fraudulent copying” (33). It is fraudulent because the copier, intentionally or not, is claiming another person’s words and ideas as his or her own.

 

Credit must be given when using one of the following in your own research paper:

• Another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;
• Any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings, or other non-textual elements used or that you adapted from another source;
• 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.

 

Plagiarism’s Possible Consequences (see the Student Handbook for the complete College policy) 

• Receiving no credit for the assignment
• Failing the assignment
• Failing the class
• Suspension and expulsion from college

 

Avoiding Plagiarism

While you are starting your research, taking notes, writing your outline, and beginning your first draft, record all books, articles, websites, and other resources that you consult.

 

Plagiarism Example

Original text from John Keegan’s The Battle for History	The history of the Second World War has not yet been written… the passions it aroused still run too high, the wounds it inflicted still cut too deep, and the unresolved problems it left still bulk too large…to strike an objective balance.2	Plagiarism? YES or NO
Acceptable quotation from original text	Military historian Sir John Keegan argues that, “The history of the Second World War has not yet been written . . . [because] the passions it aroused still run too high, the wounds it inflicted still cut too deep, and the unresolved problems it left still bulk too large . . .to strike an objective balance” (30).	NO
Acceptable paraphrase	Military historian Sir John Keegan maintains that no one has written the true history of the Second World War yet because the conflict was so complicated, aroused such passion, and left too many issues unsettled for anyone today to write a balanced account (30).	NO
Unacceptable paraphrase	The true history of the Second World War hasn’t been written yet because the struggle was so complicated, the passions the war aroused still too high, and the wounds still too deep for historians to write an objective account.	YES
Acceptable. Student’s original thought in his own voice	The history of World War Two is very complex, too complex for an accurate understanding at the present time.	NO

 

 

Plagiarism’s Self-Tutorial