How to Paraphraseand Avoid Plagiarism

the dreaded Plagiarism!On Facebook we “share” pictures and articles. On

Tumblr we “repost” memes and comments. We “pin” images on Pinterest…the list goes on. Thanks to the

internet, we’ve become accustomed to taking things we did not make, and using them for our own purposes,

often, without linking to or crediting the source.

This is harmless when it is clear and obvious that we are not trying to

take credit for making/writing something. It becomes harmful

when the habit of copying things follows us to school or work.

WHAT IS Plagiarism?According to the Merriam-Webster Online

Dictionary…

1. To steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own.

2. To use another's production without crediting the source.

3. To commit literary theft. 4. To present as new and original an idea or

product derived from an existing source.

Why is Plagiarism Bad?Because it is an act of fraud. It involves first stealing someone else's work, and

second, lying about it by leading others to believe it is your own work.

Why does Plagiarism Occur?1. Lack of Knowledge and Skills: Students

don’t know procedures for citation and paraphrasing.

2. Insecurity or Lack of Preparation: Students take other’s work because they did not put the effort into learning the material, or they want to sound more impressive.

3. Developmental Issues: Students do not perceive what they are doing as unethical.

Types of Plagiarism1. The Clone

Direct copy and paste from the

internet. Submitting

another’s work, word-for-word, as

your own.

Types of Plagiarism2. The Mashup

Some of the text is original, but other parts are copied from one or more sources without

citing.

Types of Plagiarism3. Find & Replace

Parts of the text are copied from the

internet, and certain words and phrases

have been changed to make the passages

sound different.

Types of Plagiarism4. The Para-fail

Similar to “find and replace,” an attempt

has been made to paraphrase, but the text is too close to

the author’s original wording OR structure.

Types of Plagiarism5. The Hybrid

When some sources are cited

correctly, but other sources are copied

and included without citation.

Types of Plagiarism6. The Recycler

Submitting work you did for one

class to a different one, or directly

reusing your old work for a new

assignment.

Types of Plagiarism7. The 404 Error

All copied text is cited, but some

citations are inaccurate or

leading to non-existent sources.

Types of Plagiarism8. The Braindead

Includes proper citations, but the paper includes

almost no original work to go with the chosen quotes or

paraphrases.

But…it was an accident!

In education, it does not matter if plagiarism was intentional or not. The consequences are usually the same.

1. Cite your sources accurately. 2. Learn to paraphrase properly.

How to Avoid Plagiarism:

Summary ParaphraseThe goal of a summary is to condense the main ideas of a text.

The goal of a paraphrase is to put someone else’s ideas in your own words.

You use a summary to take notes for class or to help you remember what happened in a reading assignment.

You use a paraphrase when writing an essay or paper.

A summary should be as short as possible.

A paraphrase does not shorten a text, it just puts the ideas in a text into original words.

How to Paraphrase:Step 1: Gain a thorough understanding of

the ideas in the source text. If you don’t understand the author’s ideas, it will be difficult to put them in your own words.

How to Paraphrase:Step 2: Re-state the author’s ideas using

as few words as possible from the source text. Try to write the author’s

ideas down without looking at the source text - this will help you succeed.

Don’t look at the source text!

How to Paraphrase:Step 3: Cite your paraphrased

passages. Yes - you still have to cite a paraphrase just like a quote!

I just read a book called Writing Research Papers by James D. Lester. The passage I want to paraphrase is on page 46.

Original Text ParaphraseStudents frequently overuse direct quotation when taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper. Probably only about 10% of your final paper should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact copying of source materials while taking notes.

In research papers, students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the number of direct quotes you add to your notes (Lester 46).

Original Text Plagiarism!Students frequently overuse direct quotation when taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper. Probably only about 10% of your final paper should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact copying of source materials while taking notes.

In research papers, students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the number of direct quotes you add to your notes.

Original Text Plagiarism!Students frequently overuse direct quotation when taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper. Probably only about 10% of your final paper should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact copying of source materials while taking notes.

Students often use too many quotations when taking notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while note-taking. (Lester 46).

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