What are Documentation and Plagiarism?

What is Documentation? Documentation style is defined as a standardized system of rules and regulations, which is used to write a research report, business report or essay. These standards are set up by various organizational boards and have a long tradition of use in academia.

What Information Needs to Be Documented? Statistics: percents or test results Historical dates Quotations from a person or written source A) Direct quote B) Indirect quote (paraphrasing) D) Summary using own words

What Information Needs to Be Documented? All periodicals (journals) and books CD’s, videos/DVD’s and movies used in research. All persons used in research i.e. personal communication, letters, phone calls or email All information that is not common knowledge (the five sources rule).

What Information Needs to Be Documented? Please note that even common knowledge is often given a reference in research. Never assume that your reader knows what you are talking about. Therefore, it is good to reference common knowledge in order to show that you know what you are talking about!!!

The Logic of Documentation Styles The Citation-Sequence System (C-S) refers to the use of footnotes in documentation of a research paper. The Name-Year System (N-Y) refers to the use of author‘s last name and reference year.

The Citation-Sequence System (C-S) Advantages The C-S does not disturb the reader while he is reading an article. Using numbers also saves space, paper and cost. Disadvantages Reader must turn to the reference section to see, who is being cited. Deleting a reference may cause reordering of the footnotes. The visibility of an authors name is lower because it is not cited in the text.

The Name-Year System (N-Y) Advantages Adding or deleting references does not cause the reference section to be reordered. Authors name and her work is readily cited and acknowledged. The date and historical significance of a work can be quickly seen. Disadvantages Citations, which are extremely long, make for difficult reading. The rules of citation, punctuation, and referencing are more complex.

Forms of Documentation Styles Modern Language Association (MLA): Uses parentheses ( ) or brackets with author‘s name and page number. Work Cited is used as a reference section and is alphabetized using author‘s last and first names with middle initial. Chicago Style: Uses footnotes with full citation at the end of the page or on a separate page. Footnotes are used as a reference section and are alphabetized using author‘s last and first names with middle initial.

Forms of Documentation Styles Council of Biology Editors (CBE): Uses Footnotes with full citation at the end of work. Footnotes go into the Cited References section and use author‘s first and last names alphabetized. Unlike other styles, the footnotes are typed in a block. American Psychological Association (APA): Uses parentheses with author‘s last name and year of publication. Author‘s last name with first and middle initials are alphabetized into the References.

The Ethics of Plagiarism

Plagiarism Defined The American Heritage Dictionary (2000) defines plagiarism as: The act of plagiarizing. To use and pass off as one‘s own (the ideas or writings of another). To appropriate for use as one‘s own passages of ideas from another-to put forth as original to oneself the ideas of words of another (p. 1383).

What is Plagiarism? It is taking someone‘s else work and not giving the author proper credit. It is failing to document a source properly. It is passing off someone‘s else's ideas as your own. It is a form of cheating that many people do voluntarily or involuntarily.

Forms of Plagiarism Stephen Wilhoit (2003) pointed to the following incidents as plagiarism: Buying a paper from a research service or term paper mill. Turning in another student‘s work without her knowledge as your own. Turning in a paper that has been written for the student.

Forms of Plagiarism Copying a paper from a source text without proper acknowledgement. Copying materials from a source text, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotations marks. Paraphrasing materials from a source text without appropriate documentation.

Forms of Plagiarism Turning in a paper from a „free term paper website“ Other forms of plagiarism are: Cutting and pasting information (maps, tables guides or graphs) from an Internet site and failing to give proper reference Cutting and pasting information from an Internet site and giving improper documentation

Making the Connection: Documentation and Plagiarism Documentation is used to reduce plagiarism! By stating where we found our information, we are showing that: We understand the rules of research. We respect intellectual property.

Making the Connection: Documentation and Plagiarism We understand fair play and good conduct. We have sound morals and ethics in regards to research.