What is Plagiarism
Scenario 1:
The assignment is to research a topic of interest and make a website with
that information. A student is particularly interested in goldfish and notices
that no single website compiles all of the information about goldfish into
one location. Much of his research is already online so the student simply
cuts and pastes language from multiple websites and reorganizes this
information into his new website.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>.
What is Plagiarism
Scenario 2:
The assignment is to research a topic of interest and make a website with
that information. A student is particularly interested in goldfish and notices
that no single website compiles all of the information about goldfish into
one location. Much of his research is already online so the student simply
cuts and pastes language from multiple websites and reorganizes this
information into his new website. The student thinks it over, and the night
before he submits his final project, he cites where he took the information
from at the bottom of each webpage.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html.
What is Plagiarism
Scenario 3:
A student is surfing the web and finds the perfect photograph for her
website. She clicks on the images, saves it into her website's folder, and
inserts the image onto her website's homepage. She includes a citation of
the photograph on her bibliography page and links to the specific website
from which she took the photograph.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>.
What is Plagiarism
Scenario 4:
A student is having trouble writing his paper. One magazine article is really
good and particularly close to the topic that he is writing about. The student
decides to use the structure of this really good article using headings and
even some of the text. He cites other sources in his final paper, but omits
this one journal article from his bibliography.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>.
What is Plagiarism
Scenario 5:
A student is assigned a project. She notices that a student from a previous
class forgot to delete their project on the same topic from the laptop she is
using. She opens the file and uses it as a template--cutting, rewriting, and
reorganizing the document before handing it in.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>.
What is Plagiarism
Scenario 6:
One page on a student's website lists names and email addresses for OMS
staff found on the OMS homepage. The student cuts and pastes this
information directly from the OMS homepage site onto his own website.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>.
What is Plagiarism
Scenario 7:
A student takes a project that she did for Social Studies class and reworks it
into a project in her English Language Arts class. She does not tell the
teacher that the content of her project has already been submitted for
another class.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>.
What is Plagiarism
Scenario 8:
A student is giving a presentation in Science class. Much of this information
is available online at on websites. The student cuts and pastes this
information together into an outline and presents the information to the
class.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty & Staff. Rutgers
University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>
Answers to What is Plagiarism
Answer to Scenario 1:
Yes, this is plagiarism. Just because the student has free access to information on the web does not mean that it is there for the taking.
If a student cut and pasted several articles and book chapters together into an essay, it would count as plagiarism. The same goes for
creating a website.
Answer to Scenario 2:
This is still plagiarism. By citing the source, the student simply has admitted that he plagiarized. Authoring a website means compiling
and adding to existing information in a new and useful way. It does not mean only linking together information from several existing
websites.
Answer to Scenario 3:
If the teacher gives the class permission, the student is covered for using the photograph under "Fair Use" for educational purposes.
However, the student should not use the photograph for a commercial website. If the manager of the website asks the student to take
the photograph down, the student should comply immediately.
Answer to Scenario 4:
Yes, the student has plagiarized by copying both the author's language and organization. And she has purposefully tried to cover it up by
omitting the journal article from her bibliography.
Answer to Scenario 5:
Yes, this is plagiarism. This is not your work.
Answer to Scenario 6:
No, this does not count as plagiarism. Facts, such as names, dates, and phone numbers, are common knowledge. No one can claim
ownership of them.
Answer to Scenario 7:
No, this is not plagiarism. It is your work. But it is cheating. And the student will still fail the design project and possibly the class as
well.
Answer to Scenario 8:
Yes, this is plagiarism. If a student is simply putting together other people's ideas, the work is not the student's own. The students needs
to add his own ideas to the existing information in order for the work to be his own.
Magrino, William. "Rutgers Business & Technical Writing - Teacher Resources - Plagiarism." Computing Services for Faculty
& Staff. Rutgers University, 8 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bizntech/teacher_resources/plagiarism/index.html>.