Plagiarism:  What is it?  How to avoid it!

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One of the most serious, yet rampant, problems in the academic world today is plagiarism.  Although you may think that this is just a problem faced by students, even respected writers, historians, and scholars of various academic disciplines have been “found guilty” of plagiarism in recent years.  Plagiarism can ruin a professional’s career and it can certainly do the same for your academic career and personal reputation.  So the purpose of this handout is to help you avoid plagiarism by providing clear definitions and examples, and to give you some tips on how to avoid it!

Let’s start by defining the term.  Plagiarism is broadly considered to include one or all of the following elements:

Taking passages, phrases, and/or words from someone else’s work, whether published or not, and using these without giving credit to the author.

In doing this you misrepresent the words as your own and you mislead the reader into thinking that the words are your own creation.    This could be as old-fashioned as taking a passage from a book, no matter how obscure or old or how long out of print, and copying the words directly into your assignment.  It could be something as modern and as commonplace as surfing the internet, finding relevant information, and “cutting and pasting” the words into your own work file.  But no matter what means you use, this is academic theft and fraud…acts also known as plagiarism!

EXAMPLE:    Jean Deaux, History 202, Essay Assignment:  FDR and World War II.  
 
       World War II was a really important time in our nation’s history.  It followed the Great Depression and World War I.  Like many Americans of his generation, Franklin Roosevelt was determined to avoid repeating the apparent mistakes of national policy during World War I.  Mindful of the calculated hysteria embedded in the propaganda of fear and hate of Woodrow Wilson’s Committee on Public Information, Roosevelt shunned another public adventure in hyperbole….  

While a history professor might love to get this caliber of writing from students, it is immediately apparent that much of this work was taken from another source.  Indeed, all but the first two sentences are copied verbatim from page 21 of John Morton Blum’s V Was for Victory:  Politics and American Culture during World War II (New York:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976). 

When you borrow passages, phrases, and/or words from someone else’s work, give them credit, but fail to put their words in quotation marks.

EXAMPLE:  Jean Deaux, History 202, Essay Assignment:  FDR and World War II.
 
        World War II was a really important time in our nation’s history.  It followed the Great Depression and World War I.  Well-known historian John Blum noted that, like many Americans of his generation, Franklin Roosevelt was determined to avoid repeating the apparent mistakes of national policy during World War I.  Mindful of the calculated hysteria embedded in the propaganda of fear and hate of Woodrow Wilson’s Committee on Public Information, Roosevelt shunned another public adventure in hyperbole….  

This plagiarism example could be corrected by simply adding quotation marks and a citation (footnote or endnote) according to guidelines provided by your instructor.  Here is what the passage should look like:  

        World War II was a really important time in our nation’s history.  It followed the Great Depression and World War I.  One well-known historian noted that, “Like many Americans of his generation, Franklin Roosevelt was determined to avoid repeating the apparent mistakes of national policy during World War I.  Mindful of the calculated hysteria embedded in the propaganda of fear and hate of Woodrow Wilson’s Committee on Public Information, Roosevelt shunned another public adventure in hyperbole.”^{1 
                                      
        1} John Morton Blum, V Was for Victory:  Politics and American Culture during World War II, (New York:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), p. 21.

Taking passages, phrases, and/or words from someone else’s work and closely paraphrasing them.

EXAMPLE:  Jean Deaux, History 202, Essay Assignment:  FDR and World War II.
 
Original passage
 Like many Americans of his generation, Franklin Roosevelt was determined to avoid repeating the apparent mistakes of national policy during World War I.  Mindful of the calculated hysteria embedded in the propaganda of fear and hate of Woodrow Wilson’s Committee on Public Information, Roosevelt shunned another public adventure in hyperbole….
 
Plagiarized passage
Well-known historian John Blum noted that like many people of his time, Roosevelt was determined to not repeat the mistakes of national policy during World War I.  Mindful of the hysteria that emerged in the propaganda of fear and hate of President Wilson’s Committee on Public Information, Roosevelt hoped to avoid another public adventure in hyperbole…..

When comparing this to the original passage you will note that this example maintains virtually all of the same language.  But even with a few words deleted or substituted it still easily identifiable as the work of Blum….and this is still plagiarism. 

A fair use of this material might look like this:

EXAMPLE:  Jean Deaux, History 202, Essay Assignment:  FDR and World War II.
 
Original passage
Like many Americans of his generation, Franklin Roosevelt was determined to avoid repeating the apparent mistakes of national policy during World War I.  Mindful of the calculated hysteria embedded in the propaganda of fear and hate of Woodrow Wilson’s Committee on Public Information, Roosevelt shunned another public adventure in hyperbole….
 
Paraphrased passage 
One well-known historian noted that Franklin D. Roosevelt consciously tried to avoid what he perceived to be policy mistakes made by President Woodrow Wilson.  Roosevelt believed that one of Wilson’s substantial errors was creating the propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information.  This agency used exaggerated language in its publications as a means calculated to outrage and inflame the American public.^{1
 
        1} John Morton Blum, V Was for Victory:  Politics and American Culture during World War II, (New York:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), p. 21.

Note that this example exactly conveys the meaning the author Blum intended, but the meaning is now expressed in words that are different. Also please observe that the notation still gives credit to the author.  This is an acceptable paraphrasing of an author’s work. 

Now let us turn to some helpful tips on how to avoid plagiarism.  As stated in point three above, the challenge of effective research–based writing is understanding the source material and giving it logical, coherent, expression using your own words.  This necessarily involves good, basic research skills.

One of the easiest ways to avoid plagiarism is to put the material into your own words as you take notes from your sources.
If you simply copy passages from the source, when you get around to writing your paper, you are much more likely to put the same words into your assignment.  So, practice reading, comprehending, and reformulating the material into your own words in the research phase of your work.  Then, when you get around to writing your paper, there is absolutely no chance that you will put the original words into your assignment!
 
Another easy way to avoid plagiarism is to be intentional and careful when selecting material for quotation.
Once you become accustomed to putting things into your own words, you will become more selective and intentional about what you want to quote.  Some phrases, sentences, or brief passages are so beautifully written that you want to capture exactly how the author said it; other passages are colorful and you may want to use them to add a distinctive “flavor” to your writing.  In either case though, you are intentionally selecting the passage to enhance your writing, and you will carefully give the author proper credit.
 
Start your project early.
This seems like overly simplistic advice, yet students frequently wait too long before starting important writing projects.  Once they get into a “time crunch,” taking shortcuts becomes an attractive means of getting the project done quickly.   This increases the likelihood of sloppy work and poor writing.  It also makes the temptation of resorting to plagiarism more appealing for some.  So start early and give yourself plenty of time to complete your project.
 
When in doubt, ask your Instructor!
Remember that this handout is meant to give you broad guidance on the topic of plagiarism and how to avoid it.  Your instructor may have slightly different expectations or definitions.  Your instructor will know of the variations in writing style, methods of citing material, etc. that are specific to their particular academic discipline.  So, if you have any doubts about how to proceed on a writing project, always ask the Instructor for additional guidance. 

Be sure to sign and date the bottom portion of the answer sheet, verifying you have reviewed this document.

This page updated January 17, 2008