-WHAT IT IS -HOW TO AVOID IT Sarah Briggs, Library/Media Specialist PLAGIARISM

PLAGIARISM DEFINED Plagiarism is the act of passing off someone else’s work as your own. In other words, when you use someone’s ideas, words, pictures, etc. without giving that person credit

Some examples: Copying and pasting text online, or copying text from a book Failing to put a quote in quotations Giving incorrect information regarding your sources Turning in a friend’s paper or project as your own Paraphrasing others’ work without citing your source Self-plagiarism: turning in the same paper more than once

Why do we do it? Out of time Worried about grades Have difficulty writing Sloppy citation skills Don’t think it hurts anyone Don’t think we’ll be caught!

WHY IS IT WRONG? Copyright and intellectual property laws protect people’s work. Plagiarism is a violation of law. Plagiarism violates school and work policies. In addition to legal aspects, there are moral aspects involved. Plagiarism is taking the work of others. If you wouldn’t take someone’s purse, hack into their bank accounts, or break into their house, don’t plagiarize. You risk more than a grade, a class, a degree or prosecution. Once you are accused of plagiarizing, no one will ever think your work is your own, even if it is.

What’s the worst that could happen? If you are a student, you could fail the paper, fail the course, or be expelled (or all three!) Most colleges have a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism. Some have even revoked degrees because of plagiarism. If you plagiarized for work, you can be fired. If the work you plagiarized was copyrighted, you can be prosecuted in a court of law. You may be fined and/or spend time in prison.

But I still want to plagiarize!!! In 2000, Michael Bolton was fined 5.4 million dollars for stealing from a 1966 song to create the song “Love is a Wonderful Thing.” He was also made fun of extensively in the press and in the movie Office Space. Reporter Jayson Blair resigned in disgrace in 2003 when his employer, the New York Times, launched an investigation into his four-year career which revealed false stories, made- up quotes, and even altered photographs. Author Stephen Ambrose’s reputation was dealt a serious blow when he was accused of plagiarizing. Budding author Kaavya Viswanathan ruined her own career by plagiarizing from Megan McCafferty and Sophie Kinsella.

How to Avoid Plagiarism Write down all the necessary information about the sources you use. (I like to photocopy the first couple of pages). Take good notes. Mark quotes with BIG quotation marks, or highlight them. Some people take notes on one side of an index card, and then write the source the notes are from on the other side.

How to Avoid Plagiarism When paraphrasing, try writing “According to so and so…” Check your final draft to make sure you have in-text citations, footnotes, and a list of works cited. Do not give papers to friends, no matter how much they beg. Do not start your paper the day it is due! Most of all, do not assume everyone is plagiarizing!

COMMON KNOWLEDGE Avoiding plagiarism does not mean you have to cite every single fact in your paper. Some facts are considered “common knowledge.” You can assume something is common knowledge if you find the same fact undocumented in multiple sources, if it is something you would assume readers already know, or if you can find the information in general reference sources. When in doubt, however, CITE IT!

CITING YOUR SOURCES On the Media Center home page, click “Citing your Sources.” There are several options for citing sources; my favorite is Citation Machine: Click this link, and select “MLA.” Select “Magazine Article.” For this exercise, you are citing an article from People magazine, pages 58-64, called “Lucky to be Alive: Portia de Rossi’s Anorexia Battle.” It was written by Portia de Rossi and was featured in the November 15, 2010 issue of People.

DID YOU GET SOMETHING LIKE THIS? Bibliographic Citation: de Rossi, Portia. "Lucky to be Alive: Portia de Rossi's Anorexia Battle." People. 15 November 2010: Print. In-Text Citation: (de Rossi 58-64)

So People may not be “Scholarly…” Internet Public Library (ipl.org)ipl.org Google Scholar ( WebPath Express (Type your search term into Destiny, our online catalog, and click the “Web Sites” tab) Or try any of our online databases! Visit the Media Center’s home page, then click on “Online Databases.” Or try this link: l/lawmedia/apt1.aspx

Turn It In! Turn It In is a website that checks papers for plagiarism. Once you upload your paper, it is compared to Turn It In’s databases. These databases include: past and current websites available to the public, books, magazines, journals, and papers already submitted to Turn It In. Webcrawlers continuously archive materials available on the Internet.

WORKS CITED Barnes, Fred. "Stephen Ambrose, Copycat." The Blog. The Weekly Standard, 4 Jan Web. 10 Nov fddv.asp Barry, Dan, David Barstow, Jonathan D. Glater, Adam Liptak, and Jacques Steinberg. "Correcting the Record: Times Reporter who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception." U.S.. The New York Times, 11 May Web. 10 Nov &en=d6f511319c259463&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND Gordinier, Jeff. "Law is a Wonderful Thing." EW.com. Entertainment Weekly, 27 May Web. 10 Nov Smith, Dinitia, and Motoko Rich. "A Second Ripple in Plagiarism Scandal." Books. The New York Times, 2 May Web. 10 Nov Stolley, Karl, and Allen Brizee. "Avoiding Plagiarism." Purdue Online Writing Lab. Purdue University, 26 Oct Web. 10 Nov "What is Plagiarism?." Plagiarism.org. iParadigms, LLC, 5 July Web. 10 Nov