Plagiarism A College-wide Concern

What is plagiarism? Whether deliberate or inadvertent, plagiarism is a form of stealing.

“ ‘Plagiarism’ is defined as the appropriation of any other person’s work and the unacknowledged incorporation of that work in one’s own work offered for credit” (“Student Code” 50). “The Student Code for the South Carolina Technical College System.” Spartanburg Technical College: Student Handbook & Calendar. Spartanburg, SC: Spartanburg Technical Coll., 2001.

Plagiarize: “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: use (another’s production) without crediting the source […] to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source” (“Plagiarize”). “Plagiarize.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 10 th ed

The Plagiarist as PIRATE Arghhh!

Recognize Plagiarism! Look out for these danger signs: Writing that differs markedly from student’s other written work Language too sophisticated for student Sentence structure too sophisticated for student Concepts, terminology, or applications beyond student’s previously demonstrated level of understanding

What does NOT have to be documented? The student’s own ideas, thoughts, and opinions “Common knowledge”

What DOES have to be documented? Direct quotations (these should be copied exactly and enclosed in quotation marks) Statistics, amounts, graphs, etc. Opinions and interpretations made by others Paraphrases of information that is not common knowledge

Paraphrase: “a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form.” “Paraphrase.” Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 10 th ed

Paraphrasing is NOT Substituting synonyms for words in the source Rearranging the order of words in the source Just omitting some of the words in the source Using different words while keeping sentence structure and order of the source

WHEN IN DOUBT…

DOCUMENT !!!

Consequences of Plagiarism (STC Student Code) “Certain conduct is proscribed and upon violation of such proscriptions, a student shall be subject to one or more of the sanctions specified in Section IV, C, 2, c. However, it is expected that the more severe sanctions of suspension and expulsion will be imposed sparingly and only for more extreme or aggravated violations or for repeated violations” (“Student Code” 50).

(1)An obligation to make restitutions or reimbursement. (2)A suspension or termination of particular student privileges. (3)Disciplinary probation. (4)Suspension from the college. (5)Expulsion from the college. (6)Any combination of the above. (“Student Code” 52) Consequences (cont.)

PREVENTION Explain plagiarism as a serious offense Specify method of documentation (APA, MLA, etc.) Recommend help sources Confront plagiarism Consider alternative research assignments in place of a term paper

Plagiarism Sites From Indiana University, this site defines plagiarism and provides students with strategies for its avoidance. Purdue Online Writing Lab includes practice examples to be worked by students. Cheating 101 helps faculty detect plagiarism and educates about “paper mills.” MOSS is free for instructors and can detect plagiarism in computer programming classes. JPlag, developed by Guido, is a free detector of plagiarism in student text. Use as a plagiarism detector! Type in the exact phrase under Advanced Search, Exact Phrase. Resources are selected from a listing of 44 plagiarism-related sites: Simmonds, Patience. “Plagiarism and Cyber-Plagiarism: A Guide to Selected Resources on the Web.” C&RL News June 2003:

Plagiarism is an academic crime.

is academic integrity. Our goal at STC