Plagiarism Tutorial
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Southern Illinois University defines plagiarism as:
"…presenting another existing work, original ideas, or creative expressions as one's own without proper attribution. Any ideas or materials taken from another source, including one's own work, must be fully acknowledged unless the information is common knowledge. What is considered "common knowledge" may differ from subject to subject. To avoid plagiarizing, one must not adopt or reproduce material from existing work without acknowledging the original source. Existing work includes but is not limited to ideas, opinions, theories, formulas, graphics, and pictures. Examples of plagiarism, subject to interpretation, include but are not limited to directly quoting another's actual words, whether oral or written; using another's ideas, opinions, or theories; paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written; borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; and offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgement" (Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees 2012; Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 2012a, 2012b).
Plagiarism is committed when someone paraphrases or presents another author's written or spoken ideas and does not use a citation to give credit to the author.
Plagiarism Example:
Most domestic violence programs use the Power and Control Wheel to make sense of and define the cycle of abuse.
Correct Example:
Most domestic violence programs use the Power and Control Wheel to make sense of and define the cycle of abuse (Butler and Hammer 2012: 13).
Plagiarism is committed when students submit classwork that was prepared by another individual.
Thus, paying for papers and/or having relatives, friends or co-workers write papers for free is plagiarism.
Image: http://www.academiccomposition.com/stay-plagiarism-free/
Plagiarism is committed when statistics, facts or theories are borrowed from another work (Indiana University 2014).
Plagiarism example:
Most children who are aggressive in school tend to watch aggressive television. In fact, 22% of the children in one study displayed violence directly after a violent cartoon.
Correct example:
Most children who are aggressive in school tend to watch aggressive television. In fact, 22% of the children in one study displayed violence directly after a violent cartoon (Pearson, Klenke and Howard 2009).
Plagiarized materials may include:
Indiana University School of Education (2014) identifies two common forms of plagiarism that occur in student work:
Word-for-word plagiarism is committed when someone copies a string of 7 or more words from an original work, and represents the words as one's own (Indiana University School of Education 2014).
*In order to avoid word-for-word plagiarizing, the writer must put proper quotations around the borrowed words, placing citations at end of quotes as well as references or works cited page.
Original text:
"The gender pay gap affects all women, but for women of color the pay shortfall is worse. Asian American women's salaries show the smallest gender pay gap, at 90 percent of white men's earnings. Hispanic women's salaries show the largest gap, at 54 percent of white men's earnings. White men are used as a benchmark because they make up the largest demographic group in the labor force" (aauw.org)
Plagiarism example:
The pay gap affects all women, but for minority women it is worse. White men are usually the one people are compared to because they make up the largest group in the labor force (aauw.org)
Correct Example
The pay gap is an important issue for all women because all women, regardless of race, make less than men of the same race. Because white men tend to make the most money, studies often use them as the benchmark (aauw.org)
Original Text:
Anderson 2011, page 730.
"In the development of contemporary gender and sexuality politics, the institution of sport has played a central role in promoting a conservative form of masculinity - this is particularly true of men's teamsports."
Plagiarism Example:
Men's sports support traditional masculinity and in fact they have played a central role in promoting a conservative form of masculinity.
Correct Example:
Anderson (2011) argues that sports are the chief avenue men learn hegemonic masculinity. She says, "the institution of sport has played a central role in promoting a conservative form of masculinity (p. 730)."
Paraphrasing plagiarism is committed when someone copies or summarizes ideas from an original work, and represents the ideas as one's own (Indiana University School of Education 2014).
*In order to avoid paraphrasing plagiarism, the writer must cite the author at the beginning or the end of the passage, and provide a full citation in the references or works cited page.
Note: if the summarization contains a string of 7 words copied from the original work, this type of plagiarism would be considered word-for-word.
Original Text:
"The gender pay gap affects all women, but for women of color the pay shortfall is worse. Asian American women's salaries show the smallest gender pay gap, at 90 percent of white men's earnings. Hispanic women's salaries show the largest gap, at 54 percent of white men's earnings. White men are used as a benchmark because they make up the largest demographic group in the labor force" (aauw.org)
Plagiarism Example
The pay gap is an important issue for all women because all women, regardless of race, make less than men of the same race. Because white men tend to make the most money, studies often use them as the benchmark.
Correct Example:
The pay gap is an important issue for all women because all women, regardless of race, make less than men of the same race. Because white men tend to make the most money, studies often use them as the benchmark (aauw.org).
Plagiarism is essentially theft and fraud committed simultaneously. It is considered theft because the writer takes ideas from a source without giving proper credit to the author. It is considered fraud because the writer represents the ideas as her or his own.
Plagiarism is cheating, a serious form of academic dishonesty punishable by the university.
Plagiarism can be illegal, and a violation of Unites States copyright laws.
Students who plagiarize will recieve zero credit on the assignment submitted. Further, students may have their name submitted to the Dean of Student Affairs depending on the severity of the plagiarism case and the number of times the issue of plagiarism has been a problem for the student.
This means plagiarism could cause the student to be dismissed from the Univeristy prior to reciving a degree.
Image: howtotakecharge.com
Committing plagiarism diminishes learning: students take courses to understand the material, and plagiarizing does not foster the learning process. When someone plagiarizes, it is cheating oneself.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville issues academic credentials that represent personal achievement and integrity. Cheating in order to get a degree devalues the credentials that the university issues. Therefore, plagiarism is harmful to the university.
Plagiarism is cheating other students who worked to create their work in an honest manner.
A student should cite anytime and every time she or he use ideas or words that come from any source other than her or his own work.
Students must cite when:
Image: ii.library.jhu.edu
You must cite anytime and every time you use someone else's ideas or concepts.
These expectations differ from discipline to discipline, however for social sciences, you must follow the rules laid out within this tutorial.
What constitutes common knowledge?
Indiana University School of Education. 2014. "How to Recognize Plagiarism." Accessed on November 2, 2014 from https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/definition.html.
Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees 2012. Board of Trustees Policies. Available at http://www.bot.siu.edu/leg/policies.html. Accessed on November 1, 2014.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 2012a. Student Academic Code: Section 3(c)(2). Available at http://www.siue.edu/policies/3c2.shtml. Accessed on November 2, 2014.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 2012b. Student Academic Standards and Performance: Plagiarism. Available at http://www.siue.edu/policies/1i6.shtml. Accessed on November 2, 2014.
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