Plagiarism
February 25th, 2008
Today’s Agenda
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Evaluations
Reminders
Plagiarism
Essay Three Trends
Checklist—are you ready to turn in Essay
Three?
Presentation
Evaluations
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Go to our class wiki and click on Class
Comments. There will be a link to the online
evaluations. Follow all instructions as prompted.
English 131-12: www.english131-12.pbwiki.com
 English 131-14: www.english131-14.pbwiki.com
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Reminders
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Summary, Quote, Paraphrase GPAW due today!
Oral Presentation Wed.!
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Come prepared to share your topic, your position, and evidence to
support your topic
Practice ahead of time! DO NOT JUST READ YOUR PAPER!
Bring a visual aid to enhance your presentation
Essay Three due Wed.!
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Must include all process work
At least two outside sources cited in MLA
At least three pages in length with audience and purpose statement cover
page
Review the requirements BEFORE turning in your essay!
Essay Three Process Work
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List of 5 ways/places to obtain sources (in class 2/13)
Freewrite on controversial issue (in class 2/13)
Freewrite on credible sources (in class 2/18)
Examining “Life without health insurance” (in class
2/18)
Freewrite– what type of evidence do you need? (in class
2/18)
MLA practice—create a works cited page with your
textbook and one electronic source (in class and
homework 2/18)
At least three peer review sheets (in class 2/20)
Writing Prompt
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What is plagiarism? How do you define
plagiarism?
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism: is the failure to give credit for the use of
material from outside sources. Plagiarism
includes but is not limited to: Using data,
quotations, or paraphrases from other sources
without adequate documentation, submitting
other's work as your own, and exhibiting other
behaviors generally considered unethical.
How to Avoid Plagiarism
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General rules:
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If you use any idea,
quote, summary or
paraphrase from someone
other than yourself you
must cite using in-text
citations and include a
matching entry on your
Works Cited page
Always air on the side of
safety and cite
EVERYTHING you
think.
How to Avoid Plagiarism
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Most common forms of plagiarism
Include in-text citations but fail to put quotation
marks around language taken from outside sources
 Putting source’s words into your own, but failing to
include in-text citations
 Mentioning the source’s name in a sentence, but
failing to include an in-text citation at the end of the
sentence
 Let’s look more specifically at each one of these….
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How to Avoid Plagiarism
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If you use an outside
sources direct wording or
language and provide a
parenthetical citation, but
no quotation marks it is
still considered
plagiarism.
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Let’s see an example of
this…
How to Avoid Plagiarism
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Example:
 Original source: The debate was rigorous and intense but
provided very little insight on the candidates policies.
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Plagiarism: A recent political debate was rigorous and
intense but provided very little insight on the candidates
policies (Smith 13)
Why is this plagiarism???
How to Avoid Plagiarism
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It is also plagiarism if
you reword a source’s
words into your own but
fail to include an in-text
citation (this is
considered summarizing
or paraphrasing and still
requires a citation!)
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Let’s see an example…
How to Avoid Plagiarism
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Example:
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Original source: It is not unusual for many college students to miss
plagiarism in their writing because they do not know that they are
plagiarizing. It is a misconception that plagiarism only occurs
when words are directly cut and pasted. There are many other
types of plagiarism beyond cutting and pasting.
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Plagiarism: Plagiarism is often misunderstood by college students
because they believe it is only the intentional cutting and pasting of
words when plagiarism is really much more than that.
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Why is this plagiarism?? What is missing?
How to Avoid Plagiarism
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Plagiarism also occurs
even if you mention the
source in the sentence
but fail to include an intext citation at the end
of the sentence.
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Let’s look at an
example…
How to Avoid Plagiarism
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Example:
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Original Source: Many students prefer to study outside of
the home to prevent distractions. Libraries, coffee shops and
campus buildings are favorite study spots among today’s
college students.
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Plagiarism: According to Smith, students often seek study
areas beyond their own homes because there are less
distractions. Some students stay on campus to study while
others seek out places such as coffee shops.
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Why is this plagiarism?? What is missing??
Let’s Look at a Few More
Examples…
Example #1
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You decide: is the following student writing
plagiarism or not??
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Original source: The weather was hot and humid in the month of
August, leading to a shortage of water resources.
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Student writing: Many experts believe that the weather was hot
and humid in the month of August, leading to a shortage of
water resources (Smith 5).
Is this plagiarism???
Example #1
YES, THIS IS PLAGIARISM!!!
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A better option: Many experts assert that water
shortage is linked to weather patterns. In
Michigan, for example, “The weather was hot
and humid in the month of August, leading to a
shortage of water resources,” (Smith 5).
Example #2
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You decide: is the following student writing plagiarism
or not??
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Original Source: Dogs are considered man’s best friend, but many
pet owners believe owning cats is a far better experience than
owning dogs.
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Student Writing: According to a recent study by Smith, a professor
at University of Michigan, pet owners claim owning a cat is
better than owning a dog.
Is this Plagiarism???
Example #2
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YES, THIS IS PLAGIARISM!!!
The sentence is fine the way it stands, but it is
missing in in-text citation because it is
borrowing an idea from the study.
A better option: According to a recent study by
Smith, a professor at University of Michigan,
pet owners claim owning a cat is better than
owning a dog (Smith 13).
Are You Plagiarizing?
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Take a look at your third essay and ask yourself
if you are plagiarizing or not
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Take a few moments to write down where you
are plagiarizing and how you can fix these areas.
Works Cited Page
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In addition to in-text citations, you must also
include a works cited page at the end of your
essay which will list each of the sources you
used in your essay
Works cited pages should be alphabetized and
formatted based on the type of source it is (i.e.
book, electronic source, bible, journal article,
etc.)
Do not forget to include a works cited page!!
Essay Three Common Trends
Are you clearly arguing for a position?
Common Trends
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Lack of thesis/argumentative statement that clearly
states the author’s position on the topic
No clearly defined reasons for position on the topic
Missing outside sources
Using too many outside sources
No works cited page
No in-text citations
Plagiarism
Checklist for Essay Three
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Go through the list below and answer the following questions
about your essay: If you do not have one of these components,
how will you work on bringing that into your essay?
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Do you have a clearly defined argumentative statement in your
introduction?
Do you include several reasons and examples to support why you believe
what you believe?
Do you successfully use outside sources to support your reasons?
Are your outside sources balanced? (You use enough, but do not
overload the reader with them)
Do you have a works cited page?
Are you including in-text citations in ALL areas you use outside sources?
Are you plagiarizing in any areas of your essay?
Homework
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Revise Essay Three—be ready to hand in Wed.
with ALL process work
Prepare for your presentation