How to avoid plagiarism?

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How to avoid plagiarism?

• Prepared by Dr. Pauline Ghenghesh
• The British University in Egypt

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What is plagiarism?

• Many people think of plagiarism as copying
  another's work, or borrowing someone else's
  original ideas. But terms like "copying" and
  "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the
  offense.

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According to the Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary, to "plagiarise" means

• 1) to steal and pass off (the ideas or words
• of another) as one's own.
• 2)  to use (another's production) without
• crediting the source.
• 3)  to commit literary theft.
• 4)  to present as new and original an idea or
• product derived from an existing source.

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In other words

• Plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both
  stealing someone else's work and lying about it
  afterward.

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All of the following are considered plagiarism

• Turning in someone else's work as your own.
• Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.
• Giving incorrect information about the source of
  a quotation.
• Changing words but copying the sentence structure
  of a source without giving credit.
• Copying so many words or ideas from a source that
  it makes up the majority of your work, whether
  you give credit or not.

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Ways to avoid plagiarism

• You can avoid plagiarism by
• Quoting
• Paraphrasing
• Summarising

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What to do?

• Cite sources.
• Acknowledge that certain material has been
  borrowed.
• Provide your audience with the information
  necessary to find that source.

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What is citation?

• A "citation" is the way you tell your readers
  that certain
• material in your work came from another source.
  It
• also gives your readers the information necessary
  to
• find that source again, including
• Information about the author.
• The title of the work.
• The name and location of the company that
  published your copy of the source.
• The date your copy was published.
• The page numbers of the material you are
  borrowing.

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Why should I cite sources?

• Giving credit to the original author by citing
  sources is the only
• way to use other people's work without
  plagiarising. But there are
• a number of other reasons to cite sources
• Citations are extremely helpful to anyone who
  wants to find out more about your ideas and where
  they came from.
• Not all sources are good or right -- your own
  ideas may often be more accurate or interesting
  than those of your sources. Proper citation will
  keep you from taking the rap for someone else's
  bad ideas.
• Citing sources shows the amount of research
  you've done.
• Citing sources strengthens your work by lending
  outside support to your ideas.

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Doesn't citing sources make my work seem less
original?

• Not at all. On the contrary, citing sources
  actually helps your reader distinguish your ideas
  from those of your sources. This will actually
  emphasise the originality of your own work.

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When do I need to cite?

• Whenever you borrow words or ideas, you need to
• acknowledge their source. The following
  situations
• almost always require citation
• Whenever you use quotes.
• Whenever you paraphrase.
• Whenever you use an idea that someone else has
  already expressed.
• Whenever you make specific reference to the work
  of another.
• Whenever someone else's work has been critical in
  developing your own ideas.

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Quotations

• To quote means to copy a portion of a text, using
  the author's actual words.

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Short Quotations

• If your quotations are less than four lines long
  (which is usually the case), place them in your
  text and enclose them with quotation marks.

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Example of a short quotation

• When we learn a second language (L2), we learn to
  communicate
• with other people to understand them, talk to
  them, read what they
• have written and write to them. To be able to
  communicate
• effectively in English involves, to a large
  extent, being proficient in
• the various language skills in the communicative
  process. As
• Raimes (198368) points out If we want our
  language learning
• classes to come as close as possible to real-life
  communicative
• situations, then we have to organise activities
  that let students use
• all the language skills.

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Long quotations

• If a quotation is more than four lines long, set
  it off from your text by indenting.

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Example of a long quotation

• Students need to be taught how to construct
  sentences to
• make statements of different kinds, for example,
  to ask
• questions and ask for clarification. Widdowson
  (198049-50)
• says that
• it is a radical mistake to suppose that a
  
• knowledge of how sentences are put to use
  in
• communication follows automatically from
  a
• knowledge of how sentences are composed
  and
• what signification they have as
  linguistic units.
• Learners have to be taught what values
  they may
• have as predictions, qualifications,
  reports,
• descriptions and so on.

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Paraphrasing

• To paraphrase means to restate a portion of a
  text in your own words.

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How to Paraphrase?

• Learning to paraphrase well takes practice.
• As you read, try to write one or two concise
  sentences that summarise the information for each
  paragraph.
• Be careful not to copy or just borrow phrases,
  but construct your own phrasing and write in a
  language that is simple to understand.
• When you are finished reading, put the passage
  aside and use only your notes to write your
  paraphrased version.

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ParaphrasingOriginal Text

• From a definition of color blindness
• "visual defect resulting in the inability to
  distinguish colors. About
• 8 of men and 0.5 of women experience some
  difficulty in color
• perception. Color blindness is usually an
  inherited sex-linked
• characteristic, transmitted through, but
  recessive in, females.
• Acquired color blindness results from certain
  degenerative diseases
• of the eyes. Most of those with defective color
  vision are only
• partially color-blind to red and green, i.e.,
  they have a limited ability
• to distinguish reddish and greenish shades. Those
  who are
• completely color-blind to red and green see both
  colors as a shade
• of yellow. Completely color-blind individuals can
  recognize only
• black, white, and shades of gray.  (Columbia
  Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

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Paraphrased Text

• Color blindness, affecting approximately 8 of
  men and .5 of
• women, is a condition characterized by difficulty
  in telling one
• color from another, most often hereditary but in
  some cases caused
• by disease. The majority of color-blind people
  cannot distinguish
• some shades of red and green, but those who
  cannot perceive
• those colors at all see red and green objects as
  yellow. There are
• people who cannot see color at all and perceive
  all objects in a
• range of black through gray to white. (Columbia
  Encyclopedia, 6th
• ed.) 

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Summarising

• To summarise means to restate a portion of a text
  in a shortened form.
• It should bring out the main ideas of the
  passage, but it does not need to follow the same
  order as the original text.

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How to summarise?

• Read the article.
• As you read underline important ideas. Circle key
  terms. Find the main point of the article.
• Write the main point of the article. Use your own
  words.
• Compare your version to the original. 

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SummarisingOriginal Text

• "visual defect resulting in the inability to
  distinguish colors. About
• 8 of men and 0.5 of women experience some
  difficulty in color
• perception. Color blindness is usually an
  inherited sex-linked
• characteristic, transmitted through, but
  recessive in, females.
• Acquired color blindness results from certain
  degenerative diseases
• of the eyes. Most of those with defective color
  vision are only
• partially color-blind to red and green, i.e.,
  they have a limited ability
• to distinguish reddish and greenish shades. Those
  who are
• completely color-blind to red and green see both
  colors as a shade
• of yellow. Completely color-blind individuals can
  recognize only
• black, white, and shades of gray.  (Columbia
  Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

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Summary of Text

• Color blindness, usually a sex-linked hereditary
• condition found more often in men than women
• and sometimes the result of eye disease,
• involves limited ability to tell red from green,
• and sometimes complete inability to see red
• and green.  In a much rarer form of color
• blindness, the individual sees no colors at all.
• (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

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REMEMBER

• Like paraphrased information, summarised
  information must be accompanied by a citation, or
  in-text reference to the source from which you
  took the information, just as quoted material
  must be.
• Failure to provide citation will be interpreted
  by others as plagiarism, even if you list the
  source in your bibliography.

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What are References?

• References (or bibliography), also known as a
  works cited page, is an alphabetical list of
  resources (books, magazines, websites, etc...)
  that has been referred to throughout your
  research, paper, project or article.
• You must include this list at the end of your
  work to give credit to your sources when you
  borrow other people's ideas.
• If you fail to do so, it is considered stealing
  and you may be accused of plagiarising.

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Format for Books

• Books One author
• Davidson, J. (1994) Homelessness Whats the
  problem? London Longman.
• Books Two others
• Elliott, P. Campbell, F. (1996) Housing and
  social inequality. London Longman.

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Format for Journals

• Journal Article
• Zamel, V. (1985) Responding to student writing.
  TESOL Quarterly, 19, 79-101.

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Format for Internet Article

• Internet Article
• Harris, P. (1998, July 14) The young
  generation. Seattle Coastal University.
  Retrieved June 5, 2000, from http//coastalunivers
  ity.edu/younggen.

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SOURCES

• http//www.turnitin.com/research_site/e_what_is_pl
  agiarism.html
• http//www.nl.edu/centers/cad/resources/resources_
  010.cfm
• http//www.bridgewater.edu/WritingCenter/manual/pa
  raphrase.htmpara