What is Plagiarism?
1.
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What is it?
How can we
prevent it?
What are the
consequences?
Definition
Academic Dishonesty:
Acts of academic dishonesty include, but
are not limited to, the following:
Plagiarism
Cheating—distribution
or use of external assistance relating to an
examination, test, quiz, homework, project, or the like, without express
permission of the teacher.
Fabrication—falsification or invention of data, citation, or other authority in an
academic exercise.
Plagiarism—use
of another's ideas, words,
or work as one's own. Plagiarism includes,
but is not limited to, the misuse of published
material, internet material, and the work of
other students.
Theft
or Alteration of Materials—unauthorized taking, concealment, or
alteration of student or teacher materials.
Copying from Another Student
“Hey, did you do the homework
in Mr(s). X’s class? Can I borrow
it?”
“Sure.”
And the student copies the
answers and turns them in as
his/her own work.
Is This Plagiarism?
Copying from Another Student
This is the most difficult form of plagiarism
for teachers to catch. If the answer for #1
on the homework is A, or 4x, or George
Washington, or anything that is a short
answer, it is difficult for the teacher to
determine if a student found the answer by
doing the work, or by copying it from a
fellow student.
How Can You Prevent It
Listen to your teachers when they tell you:
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don’t share your work.
if you copy, then you are not doing the
brainwork…the brainwork is why you were given the
homework to do in the first place.
that the information you did not process (because
you copied) will most likely show up again on a test
you will have to study more because you have spent
your study time copying instead of doing the
brainwork from the beginning
What Teachers Might Do…
Teachers can design a variety of assignments so
the majority of your homework assignments are
not short answer or fill in the blank. Teachers can:
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ask students to show work.
grade worksheet or short answer types of
assignments for credit only, then, to ensure students
know the material, give a homework quiz asking
students to answer questions relating to the
questions that they did earlier on their homework.
confront students that teachers see copying
homework while sitting with their friends before
school or before class. Give the copied work to the
student’s teacher.
Is This Plagiarism?
Background Info
The assignment was to choose one of the
English language arts state standards,
write a response to literature essay about
a self-selected book, and apply the
standard to that book.
 This student chose to write about Tuck
Everlasting, a book usually read in
elementary or early middle school.
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Indicators
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The “green text” in her conclusion could
be a paraphrase of the standard, and is
not necessarily plagiarism.
The standard this student selected was:
3.9 Explain how voice, persona, and the choice of a narrator affect
characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text.
Indicators
However, the “red text” in her conclusion
is quite sophisticated in word choice (and
generic in detail), and did not match the
writing style of the earlier part of the
essay.
 TurnItIn.com indicates that the “red text”
has been plagiarized.
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In addition to copying the text, she made
no attempt to quote it directly (with
quotation marks) or paraphrase it--both
of which would require a parenthetical
reference to cite the source.
Is This Plagiarism?
Background
The student was asked to pick a place he
had visited, ask a question about the
place, and research the answer.
 This student selected the Coliseum in
Rome, but the title immediately indicates
that he has not answered a question
about the Coliseum; instead, this paper
becomes a basic “My Report on the
Coliseum” type of writing.
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Background
Thus, the introduction becomes a series
of facts.
 He does give credit to two sources.
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So, is this plagiarism, or is he simply a
student who didn’t quite complete the
assignment?
TurnItIn.com
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This is a cut and paste version of the
TurnItIn.com report. Overall, the report
indicates that 69% of the paper was
copied from Internet sources.
Know the Assignment
Many writing assignments ask questions about
a topic--it is more difficult to find a paper on the
Internet about “How did the Coliseum’s structure
and type of entertainment affect class distinctions
in Roman society?” then it is to find one simply
about the Coliseum.
 The more you have to pull facts from various
sources, arrange them in your order, rewrite them
in your words--the more the paper becomes your
own thoughtful work, and not a copy of someone
else’s thought process.
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Example of Sentence Combining
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Practice finding a few facts then combining
the facts into a sentence that you write on
your own.
Actors often had to be creative with
special effects in plays during
Shakespeare’s time, hiding bladders
full of pig’s blood under their costumes
to create bloody fight scenes, or rolling
cannonballs to sound like thunder
(Martin).
Note Taking
Take notes. Writing one fact per notecard,
etc. forces you to paraphrase and creates
fewer chances for you to lift chunks of text
(plagiarize) from your sources.
 Notecards also allow you to combine facts
from various sources. You can
shuffle/organize the notecards by topic,
which is a great way to use synthesis.
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What Can Students Do
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This advice is
posted in most
English classes
and in the library.
The poster
advertises a book
by Barry Gilmore
about plagiarism.
Consequences
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In all instances of academic dishonesty, a
referral will be placed in the student's
cumulative folder and parents will be contacted.
Any student guilty of academic dishonesty will
receive a zero on the affected activity. That zero
may not be dropped from the record and will be
averaged into the student's grade. Upon a
second instance of dishonesty in either
semester of that course, the student will be
removed from that course and receive a final
grade of F/U.
Plagiarism…Conclusion
Ask the teacher’s expectations for an
assignment if you are unclear.
 Learn the consequences and expect to be
held accountable.
 Practice combining/synthesizing facts and
asking research questions.
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Note: Here at LJHS we use MLA format
for research papers.
Presentation by Carole LeCren
La Jolla High School
September 2009