What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your
work without full acknowledgement.

Common Types of Plagiarism:

Direct Plagiarism - This is the word-for-word transcription of a section of someone else’s work, without attribution and without
quotation marks.

Paraphrasing – This is the act of rephrasing a text in your own words without citing your sources. Paraphrasing itself is not
plagiarism so long as you properly cite your sources.

Accidental Plagiarism- This occurs when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally
paraphrases a source without properly citing their sources.

Mosaic Plagiarism- It is when you copy and paste together pieces of different texts to create a new text. This includes rewording
pieces of sourced material while keeping the structure of the original texts.

Citing incorrectly- a citation is not enough; you need to correctly cite all your sources. Make sure to follow the guidelines of your
citation style. (Paraphrasing, quotations, and APA style of references.)

Self-Plagiarism- This occurs when a student submits his or her own previous work, or mixes parts of previous works, without
permission from all professors involved.

Global plagiarism- This is using someone else’s work while passing it off as your own.

Citing a non-existent source – This is when you’re searching for a source to back up a statement in your paper but are unable to
find it. The last thing you should do is make up a non-existent source or include inaccurate information about a source.

How to prevent plagiarism?

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided by the following :

1. Paraphrase correctly - Restate the idea in your own words.
2. Quotation - Use quotes to indicate that the text has been taken from another paper.
3. Reference Page - Include a reference page at the end of your paper. Providing your audience with the information
necessary to find that source
4. Properly Cite Sources - all of the information must be cited within your paper using in-text citations and reference list.
Follow the document formatting guidelines (i.e. APA, MLA, etc.) used by your educational institution.
5. Citing Your Own Material - If some of the material you are using for your research paper was used by you in your current
class, a previous one, or anywhere else you must cite yourself.

References:

6 Ways to Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers. (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2019, from WriteCheck:
http://en.writecheck.com/ways-to-avoid-plagiarism
Examples of Plagiarism. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2019, from The University of Chattanooga UTC Library:
https://www.utc.edu/library/help/tutorials/plagiarism/examples-of-plagiarism.php

Nixon, Z. (2018, July 24). 10 Tips for Students: How to Avoid Plagiarism in Your Writing. Retrieved June
16, 2019, from The Writing Cooperative: https://writingcooperative.com/10-tips-for-students-
how-to-avoid-plagiarism-in-your-writing-11892264deb4

Plagiarism Tutorial: 1. What is Plagiarism? (2019, January 21). Retrieved June 15, 2019, from Columbia
College: https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/plagiarism/what_is_plagiarism

Streefkerk, R. (2018, January 17). Types of plagiarism. Retrieved June 16, 2019, from Scribbr:
https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/types-of-plagiarism/

What is Plagiarism? (2017, May 18). Retrieved June 15, 2019, from Plagiarism.org:
https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism

Example of Plagiarism

Original Source:

Descartes has been heralded as the first modern philosopher. He is famous for having made an important connection between
geometry and algebra, which allowed for the solving of geometrical problems by way of algebraic equations.

Smith, K. (2007). Descartes' life and work. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. retrieved July 12, 2010 at
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/

Plagiarized Source:

Descartes is famous for being the first modern philosopher. He promoted a new concept of matter which allowed for the
accounting of physical phenomena by way of mechanical explanations and an important connection between geometry and
algebra, which allowed for the solving of geometrical problems by way of algebraic equations.

Smith, K. (2007). Descartes' life and work. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. retrieved July 12, 2010 at
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/

Notice that, even though there is a reference at the end, and the sentences have been rearranged, the plagiarized version has
used exactly the same wording as the original.

So what is the proper way of citing one’s source?

The student author needs to enclose the quoted passages in quotation marks and include citations in the text (parenthetical
documentation). See below citation:

Solution:

According to Smith, “Descartes is famous for being the first modern philosopher. He promoted a new concept of matter which
allowed for the accounting of physical phenomena by way of mechanical explanations and an important connection between
geometry and algebra, which allowed for the solving of geometrical problems by way of algebraic equations.”
Smith, K. (2007). Descartes' life and work. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. retrieved July 12, 2010 at
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/