Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the use, theft, purchase, or obtaining by any
means another's work or ideas, and the unacknowledged or insufficiently
documented submission and/or incorporation of that work as one's own. It
involves quoting or paraphrasing someone else's work without providing the
source or properly assigning credit. This is not merely an offense of academic
dishonesty which may result in failure of a course or dismissal from the
university; it is also an illegal act subject to criminal prosecution.
It is easy to avoid plagiarism. Writers simply need to
acknowledge the sources they use in writing their own work. Some instances
of plagiarism are inadvertent, arising from inexperience and a misunderstanding
of what a writer does and does not need to cite, but ignorance is not an excuse
that carries a lot of weight. Here is a rough guide to what writers do
and do not need to cite in their own work:
Materials that do not need to be acknowledged:
- Information that is common knowledge. For example, a
writer would not need to credit a source for the statement that Little Rock
is the capital of Arkansas. The writer would, though, need to cite a
source if he/she discussed information outside of common knowledge (e.g.,
Little Rock's population, circumstances regarding the city's founding,
etc.).
- Information that is widely available in a variety of
sources. A writer who mentions the fact that President Kennedy was
assassinated on November 22, 1963 would not need to cite a source for that
information, even if the writer had to check to insure that the date was
correct. If a borderline case arises, consult your
teacher.
- Information based on the writer's own field research. If you
use information gathered from your own surveys, observations, and
interviews, you only need to say so in your work.
Materials that do need to be acknowledged:
- Direct quotations.
- Summaries and paraphrases of someone else's words.
Note that whereas a summary is a recapitulation or a succinct covering of a
text's main points, a paraphrase is a rewording, perhaps a simplification,
of a text. Borrowing from either requires that the user credit the
source.
- Facts not widely known and statements that are
arguable. For example, the assertion that the U.S. is becoming
increasingly socialistic is arguable, while the statement that Augustus
attempted to reduce the size of the Senate, but gave it up in bafflement is
(presumably) a fact beyond common knowledge. Writers should be careful
in judging whether the borrowed information is fact or opinion and use the
information fittingly in their own work.
- Data such as statistics, tables, and other graphs not
derived from your own work.
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