How to Avoid Plagiarism

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How to Avoid Plagiarism

• According to the definition given in the 1997 New
  Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English
  Language, plagiarism is "the unauthorized use of
  the language and thoughts of another author and
  the representation of them as one's own" (508).
• Created by Ashlee Norris
• Western Washington University
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Can't I avoid problems just by listing every
source in the bibliography?

• No, you need to integrate your acknowledgements
  into what you're saying. Give the reference as
  soon as you've mentioned the idea you're using,
  not just at the end of the paragraph. It's often
  a good idea to name the authors ("X says" and "Y
  argues against X,") and then indicate your own
  stand ("A more inclusive perspective, however, .
  . . ").
• This system of small raised numbers signaling
  footnotes or endnotes, followed by a
  bibliography, used to be the standard method of
  documentation. You can choose either endnotes or
  footnotes, according to convenience (and let your
  word-processor help you deal with them).

• Example
• Renaissance audiences would have recognized
  hand-writing as a signal for inner distress,4
  specifically for a condition that the Elizabethan
  author Reynolds named "ague of the spirits."5
• Notes
• 4 Joan Brown, The Renaissance Stage (Toronto
  University of Toronto Press, 2000), 111.
• 5 Peter Reynolds, The Player's Chapbooke, 1587
  quoted in Aline Mahieu, Acting Shakespeare
  (Toronto Gibson, 2003), 69.
• Bibliography
• Brown, Joan. The Renaissance Stage. Toronto
  University of Toronto Press, 2000.
• Mahieu, Aline. Acting Shakespeare. Toronto
  Gibson, 2003.
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If I put the ideas into my own words, do I still
have to clog up my pages with all those names and
numbers?

• If you are directly quoting from a work, you will
  need to include the author, year of publication,
  and the page number for the reference.
• Example
• In a recent study of student performance (Jones,
  1998), ...
• If there is no author to cite, such as when you
  are citing a web page that lists no author, use
  an abbreviated version of the title of the page
  in quotation marks to substitute for the name of
  the author.
• Example
• A similar study was done of students learning to
  format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).
• If you are citing a work that has no author and
  no date, use the first few words from the title,
  then the abbreviation n.d. (for "no date").
• Example
• In another study of students and research
  decisions, it was discovered that students
  succeeded with tutoring ("Tutoring and APA,"
  n.d.).
• To cite a personal communication such as an
  interview or an e-mail, provide initials and last
  name of the communicator, the words personal
  communication, plus an exact date in the body of
  your paper.
• Example
• P. Smith also claimed that many of her students
  had difficulties with APA style (personal
  communication, November 3, 2002).
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• Sorryyes, you do. In academic papers, you need
  to keep mentioning authors and pages and dates to
  show how your ideas are related to those of the
  experts.
• It's sensible to use your own words because that
  saves space and lets you connect ideas smoothly.
  But whether you quote a passage directly in
  quotation marks, paraphrase it closely in your
  own words, or just summarize it rapidly, you need
  to identify the source then and there.
• That applies to Internet sources too you still
  need author and date as well as title and URL.
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But I didn't know anything about the subject
until I started this paper. Do I have to give an
acknowledgement for every point I make?

• You're safer to over-reference than to skimp. But
  you can cut down the clutter by recognizing that
  some ideas are "common knowledge" in the
  fieldthat is, taken for granted by people
  knowledgeable about the topic.
• You don't need to name a specific source for
  them, even if you learned them only when doing
  your research. In some disciplines, information
  covered in class lectures doesn't need
  acknowledgement. Some interpretive ideas may also
  be so well accepted that they don't need
  referencing that Picasso is a distinguished
  modernist painter, for instance, or that smoking
  is harmful to health.
• Check with your professor or TA if you're in
  doubt whether a specific point is considered
  common knowledge in your field.
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So what exactly do I have to document?

• With experience reading academic prose, you'll
  soon get used to the ways writers in your field
  refer to their sources. Here are the main times
  you should give acknowledgements
• Quotations, paraphrases, or summaries.
• Specific facts used as evidence for your argument
  or interpretation.
• Distinctive or authoritative ideas, whether you
  agree with them or not.
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Quotations

• Quotations come from somewhere, and your reader
  will want to know where. Don't just parachute
  quotations into your essay without providing at
  least some indication of who your source is.
  Letting your reader know exactly which
  authorities you rely on is an advantage it shows
  that you have done your research and that you are
  well acquainted with the literature on your
  topic.
• Example
• The ancient Greeks never saw a need to justify
  wars that were waged outside the walls of the
  city state. "Hence we must turn to Roman
  antiquity to find the first justification of war,
  together with the first notion that there are
  just and unjust wars" (Arendt 12).
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Paraphrase

• Whenever you paraphrase, remember these two
  points
• You must provide a reference.
• The paraphrase must be entirely in your own
  words. You must do more than merely substitute
  phrases here and there. You must also completely
  alter the sentence structure.
• To paraphrase means to express someone else's
  ideas in your own language. To summarize means to
  distill only the most essential points of someone
  else's work.
• Example
• The original passage is from Oliver Sacks' essay
  "An Anthropologist on Mars"
• The cause of autism has also been a matter of
  dispute. Its incidence is about one in a
  thousand, and it occurs throughout the world, its
  features remarkably consistent even in extremely
  different cultures. It is often not recognized in
  the first year of life, but tends to become
  obvious in the second or third year. Though
  Asperger regarded it as a biological defect of
  affective contactinnate, inborn, analogous to a
  physical or intellectual defectKanner tended to
  view it as a psychogenic disorder, a reflection
  of bad parenting, and most especially of a
  chillingly remote, often professional,
  "refrigerator mother." At this time, autism was
  often regarded as "defensive" in nature, or
  confused with childhood schizophrenia. A whole
  generation of parentsmothers, particularlywere
  made to feel guilty for the autism of their
  children.
• What follows is an example of illegitimate
  paraphrase
• The cause of the condition autism has been
  disputed. It occurs in approximately one in a
  thousand children, and it exists in all parts of
  the world, its characteristics strikingly similar
  in vastly differing cultures. The condition is
  often not noticeable in the child's first year,
  yet it becomes more apparent as the child reaches
  the ages of two or three. Although Asperger saw
  the condition as a biological defect of the
  emotions that was inborn and therefore similar to
  a physical defect, Kanner saw it as psychological
  in origin, as reflecting poor parenting and
  particularly a frigidly distant mother. During
  this period, autism was often seen as a defense
  mechanism, or it was misdiagnosed as childhood
  schizophrenia. An entire generation of mothers
  and fathers (but especially mothers) were made to
  feel responsible for their offspring's autism
  (Sacks 247-48).
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Summaries

• Summary moves much farther than paraphrase away
  from point-by-point translation. When you
  summarize a passage, you need first to absorb the
  meaning of the passage and then to capture in
  your own words the most important elements from
  the original passage. A summary is necessarily
  shorter than a paraphrase.
• Here is a summary of the passage from "An
  Anthropologist on Mars"
• In "An Anthropologist on Mars," Sacks notes that
  although there is little disagreement on the
  chief characteristics of autism, researchers have
  differed considerably on its causes. As he points
  out, Asperger saw the condition as an innate
  defect in the child's ability to connect with the
  external world, whereas Kanner regarded it as a
  consequence of harmful childrearing practices
  (247-48).
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Specific facts used as evidence for your argument
or interpretation.

• Examples
• In September 1914, more than 1300 skirmishes were
  recorded on the Western Front.
• Other recent researchers confirm the findings
  that drug treatment has little effect in the
  treatment of pancreatic pseudocysts.
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• First consider whether the facts you're
  mentioning are "common knowledge" if so, you may
  not need to give a reference.
• But when you're relying on facts that might be
  disputed within your disciplineperhaps newly
  published dataestablish that they're trustworthy
  by showing that you got them from an
  authoritative source.

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Distinctive or authoritative ideas, whether you
agree with them or not.

• The way you introduce a reference can indicate
  your attitude and lead into your own argument.
• Example
• (MLA example) Writing in 1966, Ramsay Cook
  asserted that Canada was in a period of critical
  instability (174). That period is not yet over,
  judging by the same criteria of electoral
  changeability, economic uncertainty, and
  confusion in policy decisions.
• (APA example) One writer (Von Daniken, 1970) even
  argues that the Great Pyramid was built for the
  practical purpose of guiding navigation.
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References

• 1 Procter, M. (2004). How to avoid plagiarism.
  January 18, 2005, from http//www.utoronto.ca/writ
  ing/plagsep.html
• 2 Neyhart, D., Karper E. (2001). Using American
  Psychological Association (APA) Format (Updated
  to 5th Edition). January 18, 2005, from
  http//owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_
  apa. htmlYour20Reference20List

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Resources For You To Check out

• Western Washington University Writing Center
  Located Wilson Library 667 360-650-3219
• http//www.library.wwu.edu/ref/plagiarism.html
• http//www.ac.wwu.edu/soc/plagiarism.PDF
• Washington State University
• http//www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/electric/trainingmods/p
  lagiarism_test/main.html
• Owl Writing Center at Purdue University
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_
  apa. htmlYour20Reference20List
• APA Citations
• http//www.lib.usm.edu/research/guides/apa.html
• MLA Citations
• http//www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml