Avoiding Plagiarism
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PLAGIARISM and COPYRIGHT LAWS
What every student needs to know…
Copyright Laws
protect any created material (print,
audio, visual) as soon as it is created.
What is protected by copyright
• Books, articles, poems, stories and any
other print material.
• TV and radio programs.
• Videos, DVD’s, tapes, CD’s ,slides, etc.
• Pictures, images, artwork, etc.
• Any created material including something
you as a student have written even if you
have not applied for copyright.
Plagiarism
The act of stealing (borrowing, using,
copying) and passing off as one’s
own the ideas and words of another
Plagiarism is also
• using a created production without
crediting the source. This means anything
from TV, the radio, movies, and also from a
computer.
Cheating, copying, and plagiarizing will result in:
(from CTC Campus-wide Syllabus)
•
•
•
•
•
Students who plagiarize or commit any act of academic dishonesty will be disciplined
fairly, consistently and in proportion to the seriousness of the offense.
The disciplinary action may be as serious as dismissal from the college
for the first offense. In general, the following actions are recommended for acts of
plagiarism or academic dishonesty:
– First offense: Receipt of a zero with no opportunity to make up the assignment.
School record kept of the offense.
– Second offense in the same course: Immediate withdrawal with a grade of “F.”
Notation entered in student’s college record.
– Second offense in a different course: Receipt of a zero, as above.
Student placed on academic probation.
– Third offense: Suspension from the college for one quarter.
– Fourth offense: Dismissal from the college.
Plagiarism and the
Internet
Adapted from a presentation
(Cybercheats) by Steve Garwood
Defining Plagiarism. Do any of these apply?
• Asking your parent or a friend to suggest changes or
corrections in your written essay
• Asking your parent or a friend to rewrite your essay,
making all the changes or corrections for you
• Asking your parents or a friend to help you search the
Internet for information for a report
• Reading someone else’s term paper and then writing
your own using some of his ideas and copying part or all
of his bibliography
• Writing a report as a group and then each person
writing a report that is just a little bit different to hand in
• Listing books in your bibliography that you didn’t read
• Copying sentences or paragraphs from the encyclopedia
for your report without using quotation marks or
footnotes
• Hiring a tutor to help you write better
Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A
(data from 1998 Who’s Who in American High School Student’s survey)
Question: How common is cheating at your
school?
Answers
Almost everybody does it
Fairly Common
Pretty Rare
Never Happens
No Answer
Responses
21.8%
60.9%
16.5%
0.4%
0.3%
Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A
(data from 1998 Who’s Who in American High School Student’s survey)
Question: Which of the following have you
done?
Answers
Responses
Cheated on a quiz or test
39.6%
Copied someone else’s homework
66.7%
Plagiarized part of an essay
13.2%
Used Cliff’s or Monarch Notes to
avoid reading a book
28.9%
None of the Above
19.5%
Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A
(data from 1998 Who’s Who in American High School Student’s survey)
Question: If you have cheated…why?
Answers
Responses
Competition for good grades
55.6%
Didn’t seem like a big deal
53%
Didn’t think I’d get caught
23.6%
Not interested in the subject
28.9%
To get into a good college
14.4%
Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A
(data from 1998 Who’s Who in American High School Student’s survey)
Question: How easy would it be for you to obtain
test questions or answers at your school?
Answers
Responses
Very difficult
14.9%
Somewhat difficult
25.5%
Not very difficult
28.2%
Easy
30%
Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A
(data from 1998 Who’s Who in American High School Student’s survey)
Question: If you have cheated what
happened?
Answers
Responses
I was caught and punished
6.2%
I was caught but not punished
6.4%
I was not caught
95.1%
Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A
Question:
1.
If you’re competing to get good grades
2.
Cheating is fairly common
3.
It’s easy to obtain test questions and answers
4.
And you have a 4.9% chance of getting caught
Why NOT cheat?
Cybercheats – The Problem – Q&A
Question: What is Plagiarism?
Answers:
To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as
one’s own
…So that I do not get accused of Plagiarism the above was taken
verbatim from page 888 of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary 10th edition.
Make sure students know…don’t assume
Cybercheats
The Problem:
Terrible Timmy’s
Tale
(an example of how easy it can be)
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy’s Homework Assignment:
Write about 500 words on:
The Theme of Madness in Shakespeare’s
Hamlet.
(Note: This is all of the assignment, no source
requirements, no research instructions, etc. Think of
it as a first paper assignment.)
Other areas often seen at the library: biomes, literature
terms, global warming, drug abuse/treatment, pros/cons
such as driving age, voting age, biographical assignments…
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy ponders how to do his assignment
Library? – No
-I’d have to get out of my chair
-I’d have to get my mom to drive me
-The books I need will be all checked
out anyway
-Those surly librarians are mean
-It’s too cold/hot
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy ponders how to do his assignment
One of those Term paper sites? – Hmmm, maybe.
Note these are free sites and all had Hamlet essays
- most with bibliographies:
http://essays.terrashare.com/
http://www.netessays.com/
http://www.schoolbytes.com/
There are more…
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy ponders how to do his assignment
Some notes on the free sites:
Content:
Submit one/Get one
Plenty out there (Students posting to web)
Very much like fraternity test/paper files
Some papers good/some stink
“Ethics”:
Some are blatant (go ahead…sue…they’ll love you)
Ownership:
Many of these sites are owned by the same person
therefore lots of repetition
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy ponders how to do his assignment
One of those Term paper sites? – Hmmm, maybe.
Note these are pay sites some of which will write
an original paper :
http://www.geniuspapers.com/
http://www.cheathouse.com/
http://www.termpapers-on-file.com/
http://www.papermasters.com/
There are more…
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy ponders how to do his assignment
Some notes on the pay sites:
Money:
Subscription
Some pay by page
Guarantees:
Some will guarantee the grade
Content:
Some prewritten/some individualized
College kids will do anything for money
“Reminds me”:Of the ads in the back of Rolling Stone
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy ponders how to do his assignment
Search Engines? – Let me try
that first. I’ve heard that Google
is pretty good.
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy searches Google
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy sees novelguide.com info
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy copies and pastes to Word
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Timmy adds fluff and a fake
citation making work his own.
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Is Timmy alone????
NOPE…Remember…
“4 out of 5 high achievers surveyed in
1998 admitted to cheating on school work
according to Who’s Who Among American
High School Students and more than ½ of
those said such cheating was “no big deal”,
and practically none got caught.”
Actually Timmy might be less
terrible THAN typical
Cybercheats – The Problem – TTT
Is there a way to catch Timmy????
In this case yes. Since Timmy was
lazy and didn’t try to change the
work he got very much.
A “phrase search” in Alta Vista,
Google or a MetaSearch engine will
find his work. More about this in a
lil bit
However…more enterprising
Timmy’s will be hard to catch…
Types of Plagiarists:
• The Ghost Writing
•The Photocopier
•The Pot Luck Paper
•The Poor Disguise
•Labor of Laziness
•The Self Stealer
• The Forgotten Footnote
• The Misinformer
• The Too-Perfect Paraphraser
•The Resourceful Citer
•The Perfect Crime
Tools to Help Avoid
Plagiarism
•The Writing Support Lab
• TurnItIn.com
•MLA and APA Style manuals
•OWL at Purdue
•Your teacher!
Alternatives to the APA and MLA books
• Simple guidelines like at U. Of Albany
•OWL at Purdue
• Online services
Noodlebib, Easybib, Citation Machine
• Or, at least copy those necessary pages
(just beware of copyright)
To avoid plagiarism…..
Cite your sources (list where you got
your info!)
Use quotation marks on exact words.
DO NOT:
• buy papers from the internet or anyone else
• turn in another’s work as your own or copy
from another person’s work
• have another person produce your work
• omit citations for any information in your
work
• omit quotation marks when using exact
words of someone
Make sure you do…..
• cite any source you use if paraphrasing or
summarizing or if using an image,video or
audio material
• use quotation marks when using the exact
words found in a source
• cite your source for borrowed ideas even if
put in your own words
So what writing won’t need citing? NOT MUCH!
• if your teacher does not require a list of
sources for a short report or presentation
• when you analyze anything (literature) and
are expected to give your own ideas and
views or analysis of a situation
• common knowledge …..
Common knowledge is information that the majority of
people already know
• dictionary definitions
• historical information that most people
know- i.e. George Washington was our first
president
• current information or news such as the
World Trade Center was bombed in Sept.
11.
Take a short self test - which are OK????
• John copies a picture from an internet site
and includes the site in his list of sources.
• The band decides to play a song at the
basketball game but it is not in the package
Mr. Ferland purchased to use this year.
• Sally changes two words from an
encyclopedia article and uses it for her
report listing the article in her list of sources
More self-test….
• The junior class advertises that they are
showing SHREK after school - admission
just $1.
• Jeff starts his report with a dictionary
definition of a common word but does not
include the dictionary in his source list.
How to take notes to avoid plagiarism
• Use note cards with one topic from one
source on each individual card
• If you don’t have cards, use a separate sheet
of paper for each topic
• Read a paragraph or two and then close the
page or turn away and write your notes only
looking back to clarify facts
More ideas on note taking
• Write facts as briefly as possible and in
your own words
• Write in short phrases rather than in
sentences
• Try to avoid unnecessary adjectives and
adverbs and abbreviate when possible
When using the internet
• If note taking directly from the internet to
the computer program, minimize the site
and then jot notes. Then minimize notes and
return to the page. Again, use words and
phrases, not sentences.
Skim and Scan
• Once you have progressed to your second,
third, fourth, etc. source, skim and scan the
information first.
• Do not take notes on the same material you
derived from the first book or site - save
time both reading and writing!
Use note cards or separate page for each topic indicate source at top
The First American
•
The First
American
•
Early life
•
•
•
•
born 1-6-1705 BF born 1-6-1705 - 1 of 10BF
kids
1 of 10 kids
parents - Josiah & Abiah
parents - Josiah & Abiah
in Boston, MA
in Boston, MA
youngest
youngest
Early life
Leave room around edges for your comments
–
The First
American
•
Early life
•
•
•
•
BF born 1-6-1705 - 1 of 10 kids
Early
life
parents - Josiah
& Abiah
in Boston, MA
BF born 1-6-1705
youngest - 1 of 10 kids
•
•
The First American
parents - Josiah & Abiah
in Boston, MA
youngest
Use in intro
Use in intro
• This will help you
organize cards later.
Keep quotes exactly as they will appear in your paper and
indicate page number where quote was found.
The First American
The First American
“Ben’s facility with the written word manifested itself
“Ben’s facility for the written
word
manifested itself early.”
early.”
p. 16
p.16
Methods of paraphrasing
• Skim and scan your material looking for
overall meaning and main ideas
• Read carefully and check meaning of words
with which you are not familiar
• Review again if necessary
• Close or cover the source and write brief
notes that stick to main ideas and pertinent
details
The next step is checking for
• Accuracy - have I kept to the main ideas
that the author is stating?
• Have I used my own words?
• Have I used quotes where needed and noted
the source and page number on my note
card?
An example from Big Dog’s MLA Quick Guide
•
Original: Wuthering Heights is the
most remarkable novel in English. It is
perfect, and perfect in the rarest way: it
is the complete bodying forth of an
intensely individual apprehension of the
nature of man and life. That is to say,
the content is strange enough, indeed
baffling enough, while the artisitc
expression of it is flawless. (Allen 223)
• In the next column, look at
three versions of students’
writing taken from the original.
Which is paraphrased best?
•
Version 1: The most remarkable novel
in English is Wuthering Heights. It
brings forth an individual apprehension
of the nature of man and life; therefore,
it is perfect in the rarest way.
•
Version 2: Wuthering Heights is a great
English novel. It is perfect in the rarest
way: It provides an individual
apprehension of man’s nature.
•
Version 3: Walter Allen insists that the
“artistic expression” of Wuthering
Heights is flawless (223). Allen admits
that the content is strange and even
baffling, but he argues that the novel is
perfect……….
If, if if…… but, but, but
You just run out of time………………….
You just don’t understand how to do
it…………………
Your life is in a shambles and it’s just not
happening…………………….
Ask for help!!!!!
Better to be a day late and get a lower grade than a zero
(try averaging zero into a number!) ……
Better to be honest ………………..
Better to try, do your best and maintain a good
reputation……
Than to cheat!
THE END