Plagiarism – It’s not just the percentage, it’s the color

Dr Andree Swanson

June 2013

Who?

So you are in receipt of an email letting you know that there is some evidence of plagiarism.

This does NOT mean that you have broken the law.

It does mean that you need to review your Turnitin.com report.

Sample 32%

Clear evidence of copying and pasting from www.caseplace.org

Sample 32% (continued)

Clear evidence of copying and pasting from www.helium.com

Sample 15%

Clear evidence of copying and pasting from www.papercamp.com

This shows a quote that was taken from Boatright (2009).

1. A quote should be presented with quotation marks.2. A page number or paragraph number must be included

in the citation (Boatright, 2009, p. #).

3. ****www.papercamp.com*** is NOT a RELIABLE SOURCE.

This raises a red flag to your instructor

What?

To fix these “plagiarism” issues highlighted from the Turnitin.com, you will need to… Rewrite and paraphrase the words that

are presented in COLOR on the TURNITIN report

Properly cite what you have pulled from outside reading material or your textbook.

Convince them you are an expert

Convince the reader that you know what you are talking about because… You have researched this from▪ reliable, academic sources▪ ProQuest▪ EBSCOHost▪ ERIC

▪ Your textbook(s)▪ Your authors are experts in the field of study

How to avoid this in the future

Run every paper through Turnitin.com

Review it for large chunks of color Contact your professor if you need

assistance They are happy to help you. They want to help you!

Create your Academic Voice Academic Voice -- Let Your Reader "Hear" Your Voice,

Not the Author(s)

You are to present your words, not those of others. Quotations should be minimal and should only be used to clearly substantiate a point that you have already made in your own words.

Typically, there should be no more than one small quote per page, and that is excessive. Avoid excessive quoting by summarizing findings in your own words... and then citing!

Ultimately, for you to be successful in your academic writing, you will need to discern when to paraphrase and when to quote.

Paraphrase What You Research

When writing your paper, use your own words.

Research your topic; incorporate what you researched in your own words.

This is called paraphrasing.

Do not copy and paste anything from an outside source.

Not even in your first draft! Put it in your own words and CITE IT!

Avoiding Plagiarism Module

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Source: http://blogs.fit.edu/blog/student-stories/vasudev/zero-tolerance-for-plagiarism/

Avoiding Plagiarism Index

1. What is Plagiarism

2. How to Recognize Plagiarism

3. How to Avoid Plagiarism

4. What is Common Knowledge

5. Additional Resources12

What is plagiarism?

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Avoiding Plagiarism Module

Cartoon used under Creative Commons from  BLAUGH.com

Cartoon used under Creative Commons from  BLAUGH.com

Plagiarism Defined

Using any of the below listed items

without citing the original source is

plagiarism:

◦ facts, opinions, or someone else’s words

◦ drawings, charts, graphics, or music

Intentional

Unintentional

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Plagiarism is:

"The action or practice of taking someone else's work, ideas, etc, and passing it off as one's own; literary theft."

Source: Oxford English Dictionary

How to recognize plagiarism

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Avoiding Plagiarism Module

Recognizing Plagiarism

Review your document by answering

these questions?◦ Did you use outside sources?

◦ Are parenthetical citations (in-text) within your

document? Did you paraphrase? Citations should exist for EVERY

paraphrase.

◦ If you have a quote in your paper, do you have

a citation?

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Clues to Your Reader

Dates and statistics

without sources

Change in the writing

style

Mentioning sources

that do not appear on

your reference list18

It is easy to spot

potential plagiaris

m.

How to Avoid PlagiarismAvoiding Plagiarism Module

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Created at Image Chef

Avoiding Plagiarism Rules

1. Your paper must be: in your own words or a direct quote from a specific source.

2. If you take three or more consecutive words from a source, this is a quote.

3. It is acceptable to use someone else’s documents as a source, if the source is… reliable, valid, paraphrased cited appropriately.

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Effective Paraphrasing

Use exact quotes sparingly

Summarize

▪ A short restatement in your own words

Paraphrase

▪ An expanded summary which would

follow the general flow of the original

work

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What is Common KnowledgeAvoiding Plagiarism Module

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Common Knowledge Defined

Common knowledge

Information that is well-known

and uncontroversial

▪ George Washington

▪ First President of the United

States

▪ Washington, D.C.

▪ Capitol of the United States23

Additional ResourcesAvoiding Plagiarism Module

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Additional Resources

Avoiding Plagiarism, Purdue OWL◦ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/

01/

Avoiding Plagiarism, Northwestern University◦ http://www.writing.northwestern.edu/avoiding_plagiarism.

html

Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism, Duke University◦ http://library.duke.edu/research/plagiarism/index

.html

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Questions?Avoiding Plagiarism Module

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