Introduction to
PLAGIARISM
Adapted from Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. New
York: The Modern Language Association of
America, 1999.
PLAGIARISM
The Latin word plagirarius
(“kidnapper”)
 “the false assumption of authorship:
the wrongful act of taking the product
of another person’s mind and
presenting it as one’s own” (Alexander
Lindley, Plagiarism and Originality
[New York: Harper, 1952] 2)

PLAGIARISM


Example 1: Suppose you want to use the
material in the following paragraph which
appears on p. 625 of an essay by Wendy Martin
in the book Columbia Literary History of the
United States,
Some of Dickson’s most powerful
poems express her family held
conviction that life cannot be fully
comprehended without an
understanding of death.
PLAGIARISM
PLAGIARISM has been committed if
you write the following sentence
without any documentation
 Emily Dickson strongly believed that
we cannot understand life fully unless
we also comprehend death.

PLAGIARISM

As Wendy Martin suggested, Emily
Dickson strongly believed that we
cannot understand life fully unless we
also comprehend death. (625)
PLAGIARISM

In the above example, the source is
indicated by the name of the author
(mentioned in the sentence) and a
page reference (in parentheses).
PLAGIARISM
The name of the author refers to the
reader to the corresponding entry in
the work-cited list appearing at the
end of the paper.
 Martin, Wendy. “Emily Dickson.”
Columbia Literary History of the
United States. Emory Elliott, gen. ed.
New York: Columbia UP, 1988. 609 26

PLAGIARISM
Example 2: (Source)
 Everyone uses the word language
and everybody these days talks about
culture […]. “Languaculture” is a
reminder, I hope, of the necessary
connection between its two parts […].
(Michael Agar, Language Shock:
Understanding the Culture of
Conversation [New York: Morrow,
1994] 60)

PLAGIARISM

At the intersection of language and
culture lies a concept that we might
call “languaculture.”
PLAGIARISM
Reason: a specific term
“languaculture” is borrowed without
acknowledgement!
 Plagiarism could have been avoided
by inserting suitable parenthetical
documentation; for instance,
 At the intersection of language and
culture lies a concept that Michael
Agar has called “languaculture.” (60)

PLAGIARISM

At the intersection of language and
culture lies a concept that Michael
Agar has called “languaculture.” (60)
PLAGIARISM
The author’s name (Michael Agar) 
full description of the work in the workcited list at the end of the paper
 Agar, Michael. Language Shock:
Understanding the Culture of
Conversation. New York: Morrow.
1994.
 The parenthetical documentation (60)
 location of the borrowed material in
the work

PLAGIARISM


Example 3: (Source)
Until now the human race has undergone two
great waves of change, each one largely
obliterating earlier cultures or civilizations and
replacing them with ways of life inconceivable
to those who came before. The First Wave of
Change – the agricultural revolution – took
thousands of years to play itself out. The
Second Wave – the rise of industrial
civilization – took a mere hundred years.
Today history is even more accelerative, and it
is likely that the Third Wave will sweep across
history and complete itself in a few decades.
(Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave [1980; New York:
Bantam, 1981] 10)
PLAGIARISM

There have been two revolutionary periods
of change in history: the agricultural
revolution and the industrial revolution. The
agricultural revolution determined the
course of history for thousands of years;
and the industrial civilization lasted about a
century. We are now on the threshold of a
new period of revolutionary change, but this
one may last for only a few decades.
PLAGIARISM

Reason: the writer presented
another’s idea WITHOUT giving
credit!!
PLAGIARISM

According to Alvin Toffler, There have been
two revolutionary periods of change in
history: the agricultural revolution and the
industrial revolution. The agricultural
revolution determined the course of history
for thousands of years; and the industrial
civilization lasted about a century. We are
now on the threshold of a new period of
revolutionary change, but this one may last
for only a few decades. (10)
PLAGIARISM
The author’s name (Alvin Toffler) 
full description of the work in the workcited list at the end of the paper
 Toffler, Alvin. The Third Wave. 1980
New York: Bantam, 1981.
 The parenthetical documentation (10)
 location of the borrowed material in
the work

PLAGIARISM

More details about copyright and
other legal issues related to publishing
can be found in Chapter 2 of the MLA
Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly
Publishing (New York: MLA, 1998).
PLAGIARISM


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Online references and exercises:
http://ec.hku.hk/plagiarism/ (written by HKU
lecturer, contains good explanations of how
to reference)
www.indiana.edu.hk/~istd/practice3.html
(including 10 pages of exercises)
http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/~writing/interactiv
e-plagiarismtest.html (contains one exercise
on recognizing plagiarism)
References

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed.
New York: The Modern Language
Association of America, 1999. 30 34.