Professional Development CSCE 488 Unintentional Plagiarism (And How to Avoid It) (Overheads by Roger Kieckhafer, used with permission) Rod96, Rod98 Lecture Overview Scope of Plagiarism Types of Ownership How Plagiarism Happens Common Causes of Unintentional Plagiarism Editing Tips NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, material herein: Is based on work by John Rodgers [Rod96, Rod98] But, it includes interpretations and extensions by Kieckhafer, Seth, and me So, check the refs for Rodgers’s real opinions 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 2 Scope of Plagiarism DEF: The appropriation or use of someone else’s “intellectual property” without acknowledgement Examples: Whole papers Actual text or figures (quotations) Ideas, concepts, observations, approaches “scholarship” (the effort of actually doing the research) Gets into the problem of who “owns” an idea and what constitutes theft 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 3 Two Types of Ownership Legal ownership Reflects the right to profit from the idea Protected by copyright (literally, the “right to copy”) for a limited time Can be bought and sold as a commodity Original ownership Reflects the identity of the originator Independent of who holds the copyright MetCalfe & Boggs will always be credited for writing the first paper on Ethernet Pythagorean 9/5/2001 Thrm. will always belong to Pythagoras CSCE 488: Plagiarism 4 Motivations for Plagiarism Intentional theft of Intellectual Property Tends to be rare Professionals cannot afford the risk Students sometimes try (e.g. purchased term papers) We will not discuss it further in this presentation Inadvertent Plagiarism Ignorance of the concept (a cultural phenomenon) Ignorance of requirements for proper citation Confusing legal with original ownership Subtleties in scope of plagiarism 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 5 Common Causes of Plagiarism Quotations Paraphrasing Common Knowledge Cryptomnesia Autoplagiarism Referencing without Sweating 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 6 Quotations Seems a rather obvious and easy case: Use quotation marks & cite the source But how many words constitute a quotation? Rodgers’s rule of thumb: 3 or more words is a quote “Fair Use” rule typically up to 300 words may be quoted without copyright permission (check the pub) Exceptions: New terms, labels, names, or acronyms In such a case, a single word may need to be cited If you didn’t invent the term, tell who did 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 7 Paraphrasing OK if done sparingly and without changing the meaning: Do not confuse the reader about the originator’s ideas with your interpretation State in the text that it is a paraphrase Cite the source Remember, it must be clear whose idea it is 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 8 Common Knowledge Common Knowledge does not need to be cited BUT: what constitutes “common” knowledge? The sky is blue Computers contain processors, memories, and I/O Programs and data are both stored in memory Superscalar processors are now quite popular Suggestions: Given the audience, will they consider it “common” Is the origin lost in antiquity somewhere? If you have a reference available, consider using it, especially if it’s a classic one (it rarely hurts to cite) 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 9 Cryptomnesia Common failing, especially as one gets old! You researched that topic a long time ago You can’t remember where it came from You may actually think the idea, figure, wording, etc. were originally yours Result: you inadvertently present someone else’s idea as your own Recommendations Develop a simple scheme for labeling your sources Photocopy all papers you use and file them together Use copious source labels in your research notes 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 10 Autoplagiarism DEF: re-using your own material from a previous pub. Very common practice, especially in introductions Very easy to do with “cut and paste” So what’s wrong with that? 1: Single Autoplagiarism The publisher owns the copyright on the previous text You are “original” owner, they are “legal” owner Some publishers do return some rights to the authors IEEE is pretty liberal, in general Read the publisher’s “copyright agreement” to be sure 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 11 Autoplagiarism 2: Group Autoplagiarism: Scenario: A group Then publishes a paper someone leaves the group Remaining members push on and publish more Question: if you re-use text, should the person who left be listed as an author? Recommendations: Try to keep track of who wrote what (may be hard) Upon If 9/5/2001 breakup, copy all files to a read-only directory in doubt, list former member as final author CSCE 488: Plagiarism 12 Autoplagiarism 3: Corporate Autoplagiarism: Scenario: An employee publishes a paper Another 1st employee gets upset Original ownership may vest in the firm, not the author Check This your company’s policy policy would allow sharing of material BUT: Copyright ownership vests in the publisher 1st 9/5/2001 employee “borrows” the text for 2nd paper publisher could sue if 2nd paper is published CSCE 488: Plagiarism 13 Autoplagiarism 4: Cultural Autoplagiarism: Question: Who gets to be an author, and in what order? Criteria: A had the original idea B did much of the development C did most of the writing These issues need to be discussed before you write! Different disciplines (cultures) have different practices List authors alphabetically (done in theoretical CS, not typically done in other CS or Eng.) Lab 9/5/2001 director is always an author (even if ignorant) CSCE 488: Plagiarism 14 Referencing without Sweating Scenario: The deadline is breathing down your neck You can’t find the original reference (A) But you know B cited A So you lift the reference to A from B’s reference list Why is this a problem? You are stealing B’s “Scholarship”, (i.e. time & effort) B may have a typo, error, or a bad reference Textbooks are notoriously bad for detailed data Solution: Read everything that you cite 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 15 Referencing without Sweating Variation on the theme: you want to cite a long list of references on one topic B has already cited and listed them Additional Problems: B has cited them in his/her context Some or all may be inappropriate in your context Solution: Don’t use a long list of references Use a few prominent papers as examples (e.g. [1,4,9]) Exception: may need list to convince hostile reviewer 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 16 General Editing Tips Use copious citations in your notes Try not to use the primary source while typing (Ben Franklin’s exercise – see van Leunen handout) Read what you have written, and ask: Is it clear whose idea (words, figure) this is? How close is this to the original source? If you can’t remember the source at that moment leave a marker in the text (e.g. “@ref” or “\cite{???}”) later search for and resolve all of your markers 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 17 References [Rod96] John Rodgers, Plagiary and the Art of Skillful Citation, http://condor.bcm.tmc.edu /Micro-Immuno/courses/igr/homeric.html, Modified: unknown. [Rod98] John Rodgers, How to Cite Skillfully and Avoid Plagiarizing, © John Rodgers 1998, Unpub, Available: http://condor.bcm.tmc.edu /Micro-Immuno/courses/igr/homeric.html. 9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Plagiarism 18