Plagiarism Avoid it like the Plague!

Dr. Lawrence J. Marks Kent State University

Department of Marketing

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~lmarks/ethics/Plagiarism.ppt

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Your Cheating Heart… •  No matter what you did in high school or at your

previous institution, when it comes to cheating, you need to know and understand that cheating in college is quite different.

•  It's a really big deal. •  College faculty and administrators takes

cheating seriously. –  It's not unheard of for individual students, or even

entire classes, to be expelled for "collaborating" or outright cheating

Source: http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/collegecheating.htm

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Your Cheating Heart…

According to KSU’s “Administrative policy regarding student cheating and plagiarism” (Policy 3-01.8): "Cheat" means intentionally to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of academic work so as to accrue undeserved credit, or to cooperate with someone else in such misrepresentation. Such misrepresentations may, but need not necessarily, involve the work of others.

Source: http://www.kent.edu/policyreg/policydetails.cfm?customel_datapageid_1976529=2037779

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Which of the following would be considered cheating?

(a) Getting or keeping partial or whole copies of examination, tests or quizzes before these are distributed for student use;

(b) Using notes, textbooks or other information in examinations, tests and quizzes, if it is not permitted by the instructor;

(c) Getting confidential information about examinations, tests or quizzes other than what is released by the instructor;

(d) Securing, giving or exchanging information during examinations;

(e) Presenting data or other material gathered by another person or group as your own;

(f) Falsifying experimental data or information;

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Which of the following would be considered cheating?

(g) Having another person take your place for any academic performance without the specific knowledge and permission of the instructor;

(h) Cooperating with another person to do one or more of the above;

(i) Using a substantial portion of a piece of work previously submitted for another course or program to meet the requirements of the present course or program without notifying the instructor to whom the work is presented;

(j) Presenting falsified information in order to postpone or avoid examinations, tests, quizzes, or other academic work;

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…and "Plagiarize"

"Plagiarize" means to take and present as your own a material portion of the ideas or words of another person, or to present as your own an idea or work derived from an existing source, without full and proper credit to the source of the ideas, words, or works.

http://www.kent.edu/policyreg/policydetails.cfm?customel_datapageid_1976529=2037779

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All of the following are considered plagiarism:

•  turning in someone else's work as your own •  copying words or ideas from someone else without

giving credit [INCLUDING the internet; e.g. Wikipedia] •  failing to put quotation marks around a quotation •  giving incorrect information about the source of a

quotation •  changing words but copying the sentence structure of a

source without giving credit •  copying so many words or ideas from a source that it

makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

Source: http://plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html

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Cheating and Plagiarism are Common

“Not only is cheating significantly up…, Mr. McCabe has found, but many students do not consider it a big deal, saying it was just a modern fact of life. His [2003] study…of 16,000 undergraduates at 23 colleges and universities found that 38 percent had taken material from the Internet and passed it off as their own. Forty-four percent of all the students surveyed said it was no big deal. In a 2000 survey only 10 percent of students admitted to Internet cheating.”

Source: The New York Times, October 4, 2003, Section B; Column 5, page 7

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Cheating and Plagiarism are Common

According to surveys in U.S. News and World Report •  80% of "high-achieving" high school students admit to

cheating. •  51% of high school students did not believe cheating

was wrong. •  95% of cheating high school students said that they had

not been detected. •  75% of college students admitted cheating, and 90% of

college students didn't believe cheaters would be caught. •  Almost 85% of college students said cheating was

necessary to get ahead. from the November 22, 1999 issue of U.S. News and World Report cited at http://plagiarism.org/learning_center/did_you_know.html

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If it is so common, why avoid it?A. It is WRONG and may be ILLEGAL as well,

and B. The penalties for cheating and plagiarism can

be severe. At KSU, an instructor can: (i) Refuse to accept the work for credit; or (ii) Assign a grade of "F" or zero for the project, test, paper, examination or other work in which the cheating or plagiarism took place; or (iii) Assign a grade of "F" for the course in which the cheating or plagiarism took place; and/or; (iv) Recommend further action be taken [including dismissal, suspension, and probation]

…at work, you could lose your job! Source: http://www.kent.edu/policyreg/policydetails.cfm?customel_datapageid_1976529=2037779

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Types of plagiarism (ways to get into trouble)

http://plagiarism.org/learning_center/types_of_plagiarism.html

A. Sources Not Cited "The Ghost Writer" "The Photocopy" "The Potluck Paper" "The Poor Disguise" "The Labor of Laziness" "The Self-Stealer"

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Types of plagiarism (ways to get into trouble)

http://plagiarism.org/learning_center/types_of_plagiarism.html

B. Sources Cited (but still plagiarized) "The Forgotten Footnote" "The Misinformer" "The Too-Perfect Paraphrase" "The Resourceful Citer" "The Perfect Crime"

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An Example from http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/prevent.html

Clarifying the distinctions between plagiarism, paraphrasing, and direct citation

Source: “The joker in the European pack was Italy. For a time hopes were entertained of her as a force against Germany, but these disappeared under Mussolini. In 1935 Italy made a belated attempt to participate in the scramble for Africa by invading Ethiopia. It was clearly a breach of the covenant of the League of Nations for one of its members to attack another. France and Great Britain, as great powers, Mediterranean powers, and African colonial powers, were bound to take the lead against Italy at the league. But they did so feebly and half-heartedly because they did not want to alienate a possible ally against Germany. The result was the worst possible: the league failed to check aggression, Ethiopia lost her independence, and Italy was alienated after all.”

(J. M. Roberts, History of the World (New York: Knopf, 1976), p. 845.)

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Version A

Italy, one might say, was the joker in the European deck. When she invaded Ethiopia, it was clearly a breach of the covenant of the League of Nations; yet the efforts of England and France to take the lead against her were feeble and half-hearted. It appears that those great powers had no wish to alienate a possible ally against Hitler's rearmed Germany.

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Evaluation?

Clearly plagiarism. Though the facts cited are public knowledge, the stolen phrases aren't. Note that the writer's interweaving of his own words with the source's does not render him innocent of plagiarism.

http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/prevent.html

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Version B Italy was the joker in the European deck. Under Mussolini in 1935, she made a belated attempt to participate in the scramble for Africa by invading Ethiopia. As J. M. Roberts points out, this violated the covenant of the League of Nations. ( J. M. Roberts, History of the World (New York: Knopf, 1976), p. 845.) But France and Britain, not wanting to alienate a possible ally against Germany, put up only feeble and half-hearted opposition to the Ethiopian adventure. The outcome, as Roberts observes, was "the worst possible: the league failed to check aggression, Ethiopia lost her independence, and Italy was alienated after all." (Roberts, p. 845.)

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Evaluation?

Still plagiarism. The two correct citations of Roberts serve as a kind of alibi for the appropriating of other, unacknowledged phrases. But the alibi has no force: some of Roberts' words are again being presented as the writer's.

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Version C Much has been written about German rearmament and militarism in the period 1933-1939. But Germany's dominance in Europe was by no means a foregone conclusion. The fact is that the balance of power might have been tipped against Hitler if one or two things had turned out differently. Take Italy's gravitation toward an alliance with Germany, for example. That alliance seemed so very far from inevitable that Britain and France actually muted their criticism of the Ethiopian invasion in the hope of remaining friends with Italy. They opposed the Italians in the League of Nations, as J. M. Roberts observes, "feebly and half-heartedly because they did not want to alienate a possible ally against Germany." (J. M. Roberts, History of the World (New York: Knopf, 1976), p. 845.) Suppose Italy, France, and Britain had retained a certain common interest. Would Hitler have been able to get away with his remarkable bluffing and bullying in the later thirties?

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Evaluation?

No plagiarism. The writer has been influenced by the public facts mentioned by Roberts, but he hasn't tried to pass off Roberts' conclusions as his own. The one clear borrowing is properly acknowledged.

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Avoiding Plagiarism

•  Make sure you understand the expectations clear – What IS plagiarism? – Why is it “bad?” – What are the penalties for it?

•  Check your syllabus

Avoiding Plagiarism Techniques for Avoiding Plagiarism •  In academic writing you must show that you have read and

understood the recommended books and any other relevant reading BUT not by copying what they say. The ideas are owned by the writer. Copying in a way that makes the ideas appear to be your own is plagiarism.

•  There are two things you can do to avoid being accused of plagiarism:

•  Technique 1: Paraphrasing (re-writing in your own words) Technique 2: Follow the rules when copying directly from a text or any other source (e.g., the internet).

21 Used with permission from http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/techniques.htm

Avoiding Plagiarism Technique 1: Paraphrasing (re-writing in your own words) •  Books and articles should be used as a source of information from which

you write, in your own words, what you believe are the important points. You must acknowledge your sources of information (see below). In the parts of your writing that rely on source texts for information, paraphrasing should be used the most.

•  As well as stating the important points you should also explain the points, compare and contrast the views of different authors you have read, and add your own comments on the topic under discussion.

–  By doing these things you go beyond merely repeating the information which you have found. This is what makes a good assignment.

–  Repeating information shows only that the information has been read and possibly memorized.

–  The addition of explanations, comparisons, contrasts and comments is better because it shows that the information has been read, analyzed and understood. A teacher who is marking an assignment is sure to give higher marks for such a display of knowledge and understanding.

22 Used with permission from http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/Techniques_1.htm

Avoiding Plagiarism Technique 2: Follow the rules when copying directly from a text •  There are times when you can quote directly from your source material. However,

you must follow certain rules. •  Direct copying of part of a passage (e.g. a whole paragraph) must occur rarely in your

writing and once copied should not represent a large proportion of your own text. It should be clearly distinguished from the rest of your text in a way which makes it clear that it is a quotation.

•  Very short parts of a source text (e.g. part of a sentence) can be copied when needed. However, the words that you have copied must be immediately obvious to your reader. You must also take care not to change any of the words.

•  The exact source of your quotation must be acknowledged. This must be done in a way which shows clearly how much is copied (see following).

•  Examples of when you might want to copy directly are: –  when the exact words are relevant to your argument/discussion –  when something is expressed in a way which is unique –  when re-writing would cause a loss of impact

23 Used with permission from http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/Techniques_2.htm

Avoiding Plagiarism Showing What is Copied:

“To avoid accusations of plagiarism you must show exactly which parts of your writing have been copied from other texts. You must, therefore, mark the beginning and ending of the quotation.” (Gardner 1994, p. 108)

OR For longer passages, you can INDENT the sentences or

paragraph to offset them from the rest of your original work. (Gardner 1994, p. 108)

24 Used with permission from http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/Techniques_2.htm

Avoiding Plagiarism Acknowledging Your Source

“There are different methods for acknowledging sources. Ask your teacher which method is preferred. If this is not possible, use the method which you see most often in the materials that you are reading for your study. Once you have chosen a method it is important to remain consistent.

•  Using footnotes or endnotes –  Place a small number (usually slightly higher than the word it follows) in the text and list your

sources by number either at the foot of the page or the end of the text. The numbers must run consecutively through the text.

•  Reference in the text –  In the text you acknowledge a source by giving the author's family name and the date of

publication. Readers can then check this in a references list at the end of your writing which contains the full publication information.

25 Used with permission from http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/acknowledging.htm

Avoiding Plagiarism Acknowledging Your Source

Reference using the “in-the-text” example:

Provide the author and the date (and or page) in your writing: Gardner (1994) says that what turns good teaching material into good learning material is what teachers do with it.

Then, an item in the reference list at the end of your writing: References: Gardner, D. 1994 'Creating simple interactive video for self-access' in D. Gardner. and L. Miller (Eds.) Directions in Self-Access Language Learning. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press

26 Used with permission from http://www4.caes.hku.hk/plagiarism/acknowledging.htm

What about “common knowledge?” Common knowledge includes facts that can be found in numerous

places and are likely to be known by a lot of people.

•  Example 1: The earth is round. •  Example 2: John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United

States in 1960.

•  This is generally known information. •  You do not need to document these facts.

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What about “common knowledge?” However, you must document facts that are not generally

known and ideas that interpret facts.

•  Example 1: There are 57,491,000 square miles of land on the Earth, which is 36,794,240,000 acres.

–  This factual knowledge is most certainly not commonly known. You got this information from some specific source and you must cite that source (e.g., http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_acres_of_land_does_Earth_have)

•  Example 2: According the American Family Leave Coalition’s new book, Family Issues and Congress, President Bush’s relationship with Congress has hindered family leave legislation (6).

–  The idea that “Bush’s relationship with Congress has hindered family leave legislation” is not a fact but an interpretation based on someone else’s assessment; consequently, you need to cite your source.

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Do’s and Don’ts for Students Source: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/

talkingplagy.htm

Don'ts –  Don't cheat. –  Don't lie. –  Don't steal. –  Don't misrepresent others work as yours. –  Don't go to online and off line sources where term papers can be

commissioned or bought or borrowed for <wink>research purposes only</wink>.

–  Don't make up fake sources. –  Don't make up fake quotes. –  Don't make up fake interviews.

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Do’s and Don’ts for Students Source: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/

talkingplagy.htm

Don'ts

–  Don't think that by copying something over and changing every couple of words that you've put it in your own words. You haven’t.

–  Don't think that because something is on the Net it doesn't need to be cited. IT DOES!

–  Don't think that because a lot of textbooks and other printed matter you read don't site sources that you don't have to cite them either.

–  Don't think that because politicians have speech writers and actors have script writers who often go unacknowledged that you can get a writer to "secretary" your paper for you; rules that apply in other settings are different here, where the purpose is for you to do the writing.

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Do’s and Don’ts for Students Source: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/

talkingplagy.htm

Don'ts –  Don't go to the library, find a book that hasn't been checked out

often, then find a source in its bibliography, and then copy that source into a paper as yours.

–  Don't procrastinate on assignments and homework so that you end up under too much deadline pressure and become tempted to take shortcuts.

–  Don't be afraid to see your professor if you feel overwhelmed, unsure, fear missing a deadline, or start falling behind.

–  Don't try to get around any of these Don'ts by working so hard to disguise them that you might as well have just done the Do's.

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Do’s and Don’ts for Students Source: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/talkingplagy.htm

Do’s –  Do share ideas with one another. –  Do help one another write. –  Do edit and rewrite sections of one another's papers from time to

time; writers do that kind of thing all the time, and editors do it with them.

–  Do expect to make mistakes managing and citing sources. –  Do expect to correct them. –  Do take care in downloading sources and taking notes. –  Do find a way to use sources wisely and fairly. –  Do learn the many purposes that including and citing sources

can serve.

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Do’s and Don’ts for Students Source: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/talkingplagy.htm

Do’s –  Do use the word processor to help you manage sources (for

example, put sources you're quoting or paraphrasing in a different font and font color until the final draft so you don't accidentally forget they came from some other writer).

–  Do have fun with sources, think of using them as weaving, building, playing with blocks, or any other metaphor that you associate with "taking what's at hand and making something of it."

–  Do write before, while, and after you research, but especially before. Do discover an argument so you have a distinctive voice in your own essay, and aren't overwhelmed and intimidated by sources.

–  Do see your professor whenever you have a question about the course, are feeling overwhelmed, or unhappy with an assignment or your work; perhaps you can talk and find a way to make things work.

Citation Style Examples

•  APA Citation Style Examples: http://www.library.cornell.edu/node/147

•  Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

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Citation/style guides available online

The Chicago Manual of Style Online. 16th ed. | Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide Citation Management Help: Maintained by the Documentation Committee. Includes

citation examples in MLA style and APA style as well a link to The Chicago Manual of Style and the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide.

Duke University Libraries' Documentation page: shows APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, and CSE examples side by side

Quick Style Guide for Students Writing Sociology Papers: from the American Sociological Association

Citing References to Documents Found in LexisNexis Sample MLA, APA, and Chicago citations are shown for document types found in LexisNexis databases.

Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States. Citation styles in the life and physical sciences: American Chemical Society (ACS) style: from the Williams College Library Council of Biology Editors (CBE)/Council of Science Editors (CSE) style: from the

University of North Carolina Libraries

35 Source: Olin & Uris Libraries, Cornell University -- http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/bibcitations.html

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Detecting Plagiarism How can you get caught? There are search engines dedicated to finding plagiarized work. These will catch most papers downloaded off of the web.

•  http://www.google.com/ –  And/or Google Scholar

•  http://www.metacrawler.com/

Source: http://www.canadacollege.edu/inside/acad_integrity/HowtoPreventPlagiarsm.pdf

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Detecting Plagiarism

•  Freeware Software to detect plagiarism: WCopyfind http://plagiarism.phys.virginia.edu/Wsoftware.html

•  Inexpensive Software to detect plagiarism: EVE Plagiarism Detection System http://www.canexus.com/

•  Safe Assign via KSU’s BLACKBOARD course site.

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Cheating and Plagiarism

MY experiences and actions: –  How I try to avoid undergraduate exam

cheating: •  Number exams, number scantron sheets, create

two versions, intermix the versions, require students to show ID to obtain exam, check the name off of a class list of names

•  Have students sit in a random seat and remove ALL objects from the desktop

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Cheating and Plagiarism MY experiences and actions:

–  Undergraduate and MBA students “sharing” their work (to the extent that one is virtually copied from the other) •  Highlight the identical wording (after making sure

that it is not, for example, copied from a common source like the textbook)

•  Bring the students in and listen to their explanation •  Do something like assign the grade and then

divide it by two (for example) •  Or assign an F and take the student to conduct

court.

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Cheating and Plagiarism

MY experiences and actions: – Doctoral student plagiarized a paper from on

line – Doctoral student making up data for an

experiment – Doctoral students failing to use adequate and/

or proper citations in their research papers

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Cheating, Plagiarism, and YOU

•  UNDERSTAND IT •  DON’T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! •  BE SURE OTHERS DON’T DO IT

EITHER

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Resources •  For an excellent review of the topic, browse

http://ec.hku.hk/plagiarism/introduction.htm

•  A good “summary” site http://www.library.kent.edu/page/11299

•  Other: http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/plagiarism.html http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/about/what.html

http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

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References •  Canada Academic integrity Committee, “Tips for

Preventing Plagiarism,” 8/13/04, http://www.canadacollege.edu/inside/acad_integrity/HowtoPreventPlagiarsm.pdf

•  Carbone, Nick, New Media Consultant Bedford/St. Martin's, “Talking About Plagiarism: A Syllabus Strategy for Talking About Plagiarism with Students”

•  EVE Plagiarism Detection System; http://www.canexus.com/

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References •  Gross Davis, Barbara, “Tools for Teaching”,

http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/prevent.html •  http://plagiarism.org/learning_center/

what_is_plagiarism.html; Document provided by Turnitin.com and Research Resources. Turnitin allows free distribution and non-profit use of this document in educational settings.

•  http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/plagiarism/default.asp?s=&n=&i=&v=&o=&ns=0&t=&uid=0&rau=0

•  Kent State University Policy Register, http://www.kent.edu/policyreg/

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References

•  The New York Times •  U.S. News and World Report •  WCopyfind;

http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/03/02/my-secret-plagiarism-detection-weapon/

New Ref

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