Re-using words is not plagiarism:
establishing the role of recurrent
academic phrases in
postgraduate writing
Mary Davis, Oxford Brookes University
John Morley, University of Manchester
WDHE 2010 Sustainable Writing Development: Approaches and Challenges
Reusing words?
• “Plagiarism: stealing someone else’s ideas or words and
make them appear as if they were yours. Plagiarism is a
serious offence and will always result in imposition of a
penalty.”
(School of Law, University of Manchester, 2009)
• “Plagiarism is presenting or submitting someone else's
work (words or ideas), intentionally or unintentionally, as
your own. This is considered to be a form of cheating
and may be subject to disciplinary action”
(Oxford Brookes University, 2010)
The ownership of language
• “The word in language is half someone else's.
It becomes 'one's own' only when the speaker
populates it with his own intention, his own
accent when he appropriates the word,
adapting it to his own semantic and expressive
intention. “
(Bakhtin, 1981:294)
Reusing words?
• Use your own words wherever possible
• …….. “Don't fall into the trap of thinking another
author can 'say it better' than you: your tutors are
interested in your ideas and opinions, and are not
expecting a perfectly polished writing style. Your
writing is good enough. There is no 'wrong' answer!”
University of Sussex (retrieved 2010)
The nature of language
• “a very large portion of a person’s ability to
get along in a language consists of the mastery
of formulaic utterances” (Fillmore, 1979: 92 in
Wray, 2002: 9)
• non-standard phraseology in non-native
speaker writing, reflecting a general lack of
awareness of preferred phraseological
structures
(Howarth, 1998)
Borrowing academic phrases as a
learning strategy
• “borrowing the words and phrases of others
can be a useful language learning strategy.
Certainly, you would not be plagiarizing if you
borrowed items that are commonly or
frequently used in academic English”
(Swales and Feak, 2004: 172).
Recurrent academic phrases in
Turnitin matches
Further recurrent phrases in
student work
• It would not be an exaggeration to state that
It goes without saying that many studies have already
been done on
However, there appears to be no previous work that
surveys
This research aims to examine whether
On the other hand, it was also revealed that
Student views on the difference
between reusable phrases and
those that need to be referenced
A: These phrases don’t have someone’s ideas,
they are just ways of expressing
B: These phrases don’t contain a point of view
C: They are not special phrases that belong to an
author
D: They are general, not specific
E: These phrases are for common knowledge
Student views on whether using
these phrases could become
plagiarism
A: If the writer didn’t change any content and
stole an idea
B: You need to acknowledge a view, not a form
of expression, these phrases are free
C: Common phrases are not plagiarism unless
they are connected to special things
D: No case unless there is specific information in
the phrase
E: No, common phrases are never plagiarism
Expert views on whether using
these phrases could become
plagiarism
• The whole point about plagiarism is the lifting
of ideas, not language, it’s intellectual
property theft..
• They don’t really overlap with plagiarism,
plagiarism can be avoided by quoting,
paraphrasing, citing, synthesising with
judicious use of sources.
(John Slaght, University of Reading)
Expert views on whether these
phrases could become plagiarism
• I think we should be getting students to see
the difference, to distinguish between writing
tools and content
• and if you have a clear definition…it should
make the distinction between these useful
phrases and plagiarism.
(Melinda Whong, University of Leeds)
Conclusion
• Students and language experts agree that
using these phrases can be distinguished from
plagiarism
• Using recurrent phrases can be an
empowering tool to write in a language and so
should be taught
• Using these phrases is part of a writer’s
engagement with academic discourse and
should be seen as good practice
Bibliography
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Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Austin: The University of Texas Press
McGowan, U. (2005) Does educational integrity mean teaching students NOT to 'use their
own words'? Asia Pacific Forum on Educational Integrity 1(1): 1-11.
Nattinger, J. and DeCarrico, J. (1992). Lexical phrases and language teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Swales, J. and Feak, C. (2004). Academic writing for graduate students. 2nd ed. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press
University of Manchester, School of Law (2009) Writing An Essay Retrieved 18 may 2010
from
http://www.law.manchester.ac.uk/manlaw/exams/documents/essaywritingguideoct2009.pdf
University of Sussex website (2010) Retrieved 18 may 2010 from
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/1-4-1-2-4.html
Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge: CUP
www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk
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