Clearing the Clouds of
Plagiarism
Elizabeth Pyatt, ITS
Full Disclosure:
1. I am not an attorney
2. I am presenting content from external
resources
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What is Plagiarism?
How do you commit it?
 Any
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“best practices”?
Technical Definitions
Plagiarism
 “Plagiarism
is the act of stating or implying
that another person’s work is your own.”
– TLT Plagiarism Tutorial for Students
Copyright Violation
 Using
another persons creation without the
holder’s permission.
Credit doesn’t always count
 Can violate copyright without plagiarizing and
vice-versa

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Let’s Dissect Plagiarism
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Image licensed under Fair Use
Outright Nasty Plagiarism
Wholesale copying
 Calling
all paper mills!
 Is Wikipedia also available?
“The copyright info says I can….”
Commission someone else to write your
paper
 Plagiarism
without copyright violation
Stitch together sources
 “At
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least I used multiple sources….”
The Originality Report
Images, courtesy of Turnitin
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Why is this wrong?
Or is it wrong?
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Why we (PSU) are concerned
We want to know you did the work
 Especially
if PSU claims you completed the
requirements for a degree
We want to know where that data came
from
 And
separate your contributions from
previous work
Do you want to hire a lawyer who
plagiarized through law school?
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“Legitimate” Plagiarism
Cases where credit is typically not given
its due
 Speechwriters
 Ghostwriters

Esp celebrity biographies/novels
 News

stories from press wires (?)
Many Sandusky stories from one paper:________
 Instructor
PowerPoints (ahem)
That is, citations often lacking
 They often exist in the textbook though

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Accidental Plagiarism (Oops)
Inappropriate Paraphrase
 Use
almost identical phrasing as source
Missing citation
 All
data/information that is not yours must
be cited (or footnoted), even if your
phrasing is original
“Self-Plagiarism”
 Not
exactly plagiarism, but still NOT doing
the course work…
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Inappropriate Paraphrase
Images, courtesy of Turnitin
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Better Paraphrase
Tip 1: Use multiple sources across entire
paper
Tip 2: Write, then cite
 Yosemite
Valley, located in Yosemite
National park of Eastern California is a
glacial valley containing the Merced River
(NPS 2011). The Valley has had a special hold
on the mainstream American conscience ever
since it was discovered by European
Americans in 1833 (Tii 2010, Wuerthner 1994)
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Quotation
 The
modern color space as initially
developed by Albert Munsell[1],
distinguishes three parameters of color –
hue, value and saturation[2] (also known as
intensity or chroma) [3]. Munsell defines
“hue” as follows”[4]:

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“Hue is the quality by which we distinguish one color
from another as a red from a yellow, a green, a blue or
a purple” —Munsell, 1905 §21
Writing Process Tips
Find topic you like whenever possible
 You’ll
be more motivated and absorb more
Start researching as soon as possible
 Use
the Library to find quality sources
Use a notetaking system to find citations
 Notecards,
stickies, Word file, online notes.
DON’T copy text from somewhere else
 Unless
you intend to put it in quote marks
 Write freely and put in empty citations
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Citation Tips
Cite EVERYTHING
 Except

“common knowledge”
But that can be slippery slope, so cite when in
doubt.
You can cite ANYTHING
 Books,
articles, conference presentations
 Websites, videos, photos, drawings
 Your instructor or grandmother

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“personal communication”
Other Thoughts
Ask your instructor
 What
are the guidelines? Esp. citations
 Will it be checked?
Don’t write everything the night before
 Strange
things happen at 3AM….
Ask for an extension
 The
grief for being accused of plagiarism is
worse than for just a late assignment!
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References/Resources
See list on
 http://tlt.its.psu.edu/plagiarism/links
 http://tlt.its.psu.edu/plagiarism/links/other
guides/instructorguides
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Questions?
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