This document provides a guide to avoiding plagiarism and maintaining academic integrity. It defines plagiarism as using another's work without proper citation or attribution. The document outlines signs of plagiarism, such as abrupt changes in writing style or including information without citing the source. It recommends conducting thorough research, taking detailed notes, and properly documenting all sources used. Maintaining a research log with full citations and quotes can help prevent accidental plagiarism. The document stresses the importance of citing sources through in-text citations or footnotes any time another's ideas or words are used.

1. DO THE WRITE THING!
A Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism & Maintaining Academic Integrity

2. WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?
 Random House dictionary- "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts
of another and the representation of them as one's own original work.
 Northwestern University: "Failure to acknowledge the sources from which we borrow ideas,
examples, words and the progression of thought."

3. LINKS TO VIDEOS IN THIS
PRESENTATION ARE AVAILABLE ON
THE SAME “WRITE PLACE” WEB PAGE
WHERE YOU FOUND THIS (see
“Tutorials”)

4. Signs of Plagiarism
 When Information that is not “common knowledge” is included without mention of source
 When style and tone of writing changes abruptly

5. There’s a thin line between good use & bad
use of sources
GOOD BAD
Using quotations quoting material without attribution
Using someone else’s key terms imitating a passage's structure or argument
without attribution
Summarizing someone else’s main point passing off another's ideas as your own, even if re-
worded (the underlying idea of plagiarism is
unacknowledged borrowing of ideas, not just
words)
Putting someone else’s words in your own words
(paraphrase)
Concealing the extent to which you've borrowed

6. Are you a cheater?
o 75% of college students admit to cheating (Huffington Post)
o 1 out of 3 high school students admitted that they used the internet to plagiarize an assignment
(The Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics)
o 40% of college students admit to cheating on written assignments (Donald McCabe, Rutgers
University)

7. Why does it matter?
 When you plagiarize you run the risk of academic consequences
 When you plagiarize, you signal that you are not a trustworthy student, everything becomes
suspect
 When you plagiarize, you rob yourself of knowledge—but isn’t gaining knowledge the reason
you’re here?

8. “But research is too hard…”
It’s not hard, it just takes time

9. 3 Steps to Avoid Plagiarism
 Researching
 Note-taking
 Documenting

10. Researching
 Estimate the amount of time you think it will take to conduct your research, and then double it!
 Expect to make trips to the library—or at least the library databases
 Allow time for gathering materials
 Allow time for reading

11. Reading
 Read the chapter (or article) to get a basic understanding
 In a sentence write what the main point of the
chapter is (hint: what’s the title?)
 Read through the 2nd time more slowly—
section by section
 Write a sentence or 2 summary of each section in the margin or in your notebook

12. Trouble understanding something you read?
o Email your teacher
o Partner up—with a classmate or study group
o Call on us! Make an appointment at the Writing Center

13. Note-taking
 Sloppy note taking increases the risk that you will unintentionally plagiarize.
 Unless you have taken notes carefully, it may be hard to tell whether you copied certain passages
exactly, paraphrased them, or wrote them yourself.
 This is especially problematic when using electronic source materials, since they can so easily be
copied and pasted into your own documents.

14. Note-taking
 Identify words that you copy directly (put quotations around them!)
 Jot down the page number and author or title
 Keep a working bibliography
 Keep a research log

15. Bibliography?
 It’s another word for “Works Cited” or “Reference” list
 Go to Purdue Owl for guidance on what information is needed for each type of source
 This will be based on the style of documentation required (APA? MLA? Other?)
 And the type of source it is (website? Journal article? Book?)

16. Research Log?
 A notebook that contains only the notes that you take while doing research
 For each source you begin with the bibliographic information, then follow with the notes and
quotes that come from that source

17. Research Log Example
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of
Success. New York, Back Bay Books,
2008.
“The university is a delightful place; lots
of room in the classes and residences, no
crowding in the cafeteria, and the
professors are solicitous.” (135)
• Gladwell describes a reality that did
not exist for Blacks in the 1930s!
• He completely ignores the fact that
this wasn’t true for everyone
“The sense of possibility so necessary for
success comes not just from inside us or
from our parents. It comes from our
time…[and]our particular place in
history.” (137)
Here I have put the
information about
source at the top. It is
already formatted as
an MLA Works Cited
entry.
Here are my
opinions about
what this author
has said
Here are quotes taken
directly from the book.
Notice: quotation marks
indicate exact, word for
word from original. Ellipses
indicate a portion was left
out and brackets around
“and” indicate my addition.

18. Documenting
 Any time you incorporate into your writing ideas, words, key phrases, or pictures that were not
originally created by you, you must give credit to the original author by citing the source.

19. What do we mean by “cite”?
 To cite means to signal to the reader where the words, information or ideas
that come from another source begins AND where it ends.
 In other words, “to cite” is to introduce and end each use of a source with
appropriate documentation (i.e. signal phrase and end text citation or
footnote)

20. Plagiarism comes in all shapes and sizes!
Direct Plagiarism
Copying word-for-
word from an
outside source
without quotes or
citation

21. Mosaic Plagiarism
Interweaving one's own
words with that of an
outside source in an effort
to camouflage "stolen"
information and pass it off
as completely original
work.

22. Insufficient Acknowledgement
o Citing a source once
although it is used more
than once, or improperly
citing a source, perhaps
quoting with no end note
or vice versa.
Paraphrase Plagiarism
o Changing only a few words
here and there, but
maintaining virtually the
same words and ideas in the
original source without using
quotations (even if source is
cited), (2) putting the ideas of
another in your own words,
without citing source.

23. Do you know how to paraphrase?
Link to this video is available on “Write
Place” web page where you found this
presentation.

24. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE! IS THIS PLAGIARISM?
Link to this video is available on “Write
Place” web page where you found this
presentation.

25. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE! IS THIS PLAGIARISM?
Copying all or part of a paper from a book? YES_____ NO _____
Turning in a paper someone else wrote with
your name on it?
YES_____ NO _____
Buying a paper from a "research
assistance" type company?
YES_____ NO _____
Downloading material from the Internet? YES_____ NO _____

26. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE! IS THIS PLAGIARISM?
Using the same paper for one class that you wrote for
another one?
YES_____ NO _____
Incorporating ideas and/or wording that your roommate,
parent or writing center consultant gives?
YES_____ NO _____
Allowing a friend or writing center consultant to re-write
phrases, sentences or paragraphs for you?
YES_____ NO _____

27. Link to this video is available on “Write
Place” web page where you found this
presentation.