UNDERSTANDING &

AVOIDING

PLAGIARISM

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of presenting the words, ideas, images, sounds, or other creative expression of others as your own. If you have

• included, copied, or downloaded the words and ideas of others into your work and neglected to distinguish them from your own ideas and words and cite them,

• turned in someone else’s work under your name,

• had help you wouldn’t want your teacher to know about,

• you have probably plagiarized!

Plagiarism is not just copying words,

it is also…

• using another author’s sentence and paragraph structure

for your work, even if you change some of the words

• copying images from the internet and using them in your

work without citing them

• using anything but common knowledge in your work

without citing it

• failing to use quotation marks when you do copy, even if

the material is cited

• Real World Examples of Plagiarism

Avoid Plagiarism:

Always Cite Your Sources • A source can be many different things: an image, a book,

a website, a song, a database, an interview, a video, a

magazine, etc.

• As soon as you decide to use a source, record the citation

information

• For each source, you will generally be including

information about the author(s)/contributor(s), title(s),

publishers, dates, and medium (web or print).

• For each source, create one bibliography/works cited

entry

• Use a program such as NoodleTools to make it easier to

keep track of your sources.

Avoid Plagiarism:

Take Good Research Notes• Take notes using a variety of methods: summary, paraphrase,

and quotation.

• Develop a consistent method to connect a note to its citation information.

• Write key words or topics to describe your notes. This is best done after writing the notes.

• Record only information that seems important for your purpose.

• Be accurate: double check facts, statistics, spelling of names and key words, and quotations.

• Enclose direct quotations in quotation marks and include the speaker's name, if the speaker is not the author of the work.

• Use brackets [ ] to change or add words to a quotation or ellipsis (...) to leave words out of a quotation.

• Write page numbers for print sources

Avoid plagiarism:

Summary, paraphrase, quotation

• Summary—concise notes and information put in

own words; contains only main points and ideas;

much shorter than original source.

• Paraphrase—notes written in own words in more

detail than a summary. Using bullet points, short

phrases, and lists can be helpful in paraphrasing.

Note: copying words and phrases and just changing

or leaving some words out is not paraphrasing.

• Quotation—word for word notes from original

source; enclose in quotation marks. Use sparingly.

SummaryMain ideas only, much shorter than original, in own words

Tip: Use the title to help focus on the main ideas

Original

article

• Words: 590

• Chars:

2996

The public

cost of low-

wage jobs

Summary of article: Words: 130 Chars: 644

The authors discuss their report entitled "Fast Food, Poverty

Wages: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food

Industry." This report shows how low-wage jobs in the fast

food industry causes workers to rely on government

assistance in order to survive. They found that the fast-food

industry tends to pay poverty level wages and offer very few

benefits, which is not enough for people to pay for basic

needs like food, health care, and rent. The fast food industry

is able to keep wages low by relying on government

assistance. Taxpayers are financing these public assistance

programs at almost $7 billion dollars a year. The authors

recommend that wages in fast food and other low-

wage industries increase in order to both help the overall

economy and allow the workers to have the ability to take

care of themselves

Quotation copy exactly, enclose in quotation marks, use sparingly

Original text-

―It doesn’t make sense that workers like

Snider who prepare and serve food to

millions of Americans each day can’t afford

three meals a day for their own families.‖

Reason to quote: it illustrates the authors’

opinion in an interesting and effective way,

contains irony.

Paraphrase or Plagiarism? (#1)

Original - Words: 63 Chars: 299

• After two years working at a St. Louis Wendy’s, Alisha Snider still cannot afford basics like rent, food, clothes and daycare for her three daughters.

• The 26-year-old earns only $7.50 an hour and works just 20 hours a week. So how does Alisha make ends meet? She puts her kids in a taxpayer-funded daycare program and uses $398 a month in food stamps to feed them.

Notes - Words: 64 Chars: 284

• Alisha Snider, a 26-year-old mother of three in St. Louis, has worked for two years at a Wendy's. She works 20 hours a week and only makes $7.50 an hour.

• This low pay and light schedule does not allow her enough money to pay for all the necessities, so she uses a government-funded daycare and receives $398 a month in food stamps in order to get by.

Paraphrase or Plagiarism? (#2)

Original - Words: 104 Chars: 527

• This problem is not going away. A recent analysis by the National Employment Law Project shows low-wage jobs account for nearly three out of five jobs generated since the end of the recession. The Economic Policy Institute expects nearly 30 percent of American workers to be employed in low-wage jobs in 2020, the same as 2010.

• As long as pay remains low, these jobs will generate public costs. The fast-food industry is a major contributor to the growth of the low-wage economy, forcing more and more workers onto public assistance programs, which means taxpayers will be footing an even heftier bill if we don’t improve those jobs.

Notes - Words: 102 Chars: 499

• A recent analysis by the National Employment Law Project found that low-wage jobs make up almost three out of five jobs created since the end of the recession. The Economic Policy Institute thinks that almost 30% of workers in America will be employed in low-wage jobs in 2020, which is the same as 2010.

• If pay remains low, the low-wage jobs will create public costs. The fast food industry is a main contributor to the problem of the low-wage economy, pushing more workers onto public assistance. This means taxpayers will be footing an even bigger bill if we don't do something to improve

Paraphrase or Plagiarism? (#3)

Original - Words: 44 Chars: 239

• Fast-food jobs pay so little

that 52 percent of the

families of front-line fast

food workers – versus 25

percent of the overall

workforce – need to rely on

public assistance programs,

costing taxpayers nearly $7

billion a year. The cost is

highest in California at $717

million each year.

Notes - Words: 41 Chars: 234

• Fast-food jobs pay very little compared to other industries

• 52% of fast-food workers’ families use public assistance programs

• Only 25% of all workers use these programs

• $7 billion a year in taxes is spent on this assistance

• California spends the most at $717 million annually

Paraphrase or Plagiarism? (#4)

Original - Words: 40 Chars: 223

• The median wage for a

front-line fast-food worker is

$8.69 an hour, and the

median number of hours

worked per week is just 30.

Benefits are rare, with only

13 percent of workers

receiving employer-provided

health insurance, compared

to 59 percent of workers

overall.

Notes - Words: 26 Chars: 149

• median wage front-line fast-food worker $8.69 an hour

• median number of hours worked per week 30

• Benefits rare

• only 13% of these workers receive health insurance, compared to 59% of all workers

Slide one: http://ewp.rpi.edu/hartford/library/images/plagiarist.gif

Slide two: http://classguides.lib.uconn.edu/content.php?pid=50827&sid=386249

Image sources