Paraphrasing and Plagiarism

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Paraphrasing and Plagiarism
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• PARAPHRASING IS
• A rewriting of text in your own words
• Used to clarify meaning
• Used to shorten a longer statement but keeps the
  main ideas
• Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the
  original passage.
• It takes an overview of the whole topic.

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• How To Paraphrase
• Read the passage carefully
• Decide the main ideas of the passage
• Highlight important words or phrases
• Put the main points in your own words

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Example of Paraphrasing

• Pretend Article from the AJC
• All the teachers at Lilburn Elementary will be
  attending a lecture on Thursday at the University
  of Georgia. The famous author, J. K. Rowling
  will be speaking to the elementary teachers and
  staff. The lecture will conclude with an
  autograph session and a reception in the
  auditorium. This conference will be sponsored by
  The Steven Spielberg Council for Under
  Appreciated School Librarians, and each librarian
  attending will receive the entire set of novels
  by J. K. Rowling, including a preview of her new
  book, Mystery in the Under Staffed Media Center.

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Paraphrase

• The author of Harry Potter will speak to the
  Lilburn Elementary teachers and staff on
  Thursday. They will also attend a reception
  immediately afterward.
• Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Plagiarism

• Plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses
  someone elses language, ideas, or other original
  (not common-knowledge) material without
  acknowledging its source.

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In other words, plagiarism is

• Using another person's words without giving them
  credit.
• Using another persons ideas without giving them
  credit.
• Using another persons research, results,
  diagrams, or images without giving them credit.

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Two Types of Plagiarism

• Intentional
• Copying a friends work
• Buying or borrowing papers
• Cutting and pasting blocks of text from
  electronic sources without documenting
• Media borrowing without documentation
• Web publishing without permissions of creators

• Unintentional
• Careless paraphrasing
• Poor documentation
• Quoting excessively
• Failure to use your own voice

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No Documentation Needed When

• You are discussing your own experiences,
  observations, or reactions
• Compiling the results of original research, from
  science experiments, etc.
• You are using common knowledge

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Common Knowledge Does Not Need To Be Cited

• Examples of common knowledge
• John Adams was our second president
• The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7,
  1941.

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Is This Plagiarism?

• Original Source
• If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling
  for linguists, it was also startling news for
  animal behaviorists (Davis 26).
• Students Paper
• The existence of a signing ape was unsettling
  for linguists, and was also startling news for
  animal behaviorists

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Yes!

• The student should have used quotation marks
  around the words that he copied directly from the
  original source.
• Also, there is no parenthetical reference with
  the page number of the source statement.

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Is This Plagiarism?

• Original Source
• If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling
  for linguists, it was also startling news for
  animal behaviorists (Davis 26).
• Students Paper
• The existence of a signing ape unsettled
  linguists and startled animal behaviorists
   (Davis, 26).

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Yes!

• Even though the writer has cited the source, the
  writers words are not his own. Look at how
  closely the phrase "unsettled linguists and
  startled animal behaviorists"  resembles the
  wording of the source.

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Is This Plagiarism?

• Original Source
• If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling
  for linguists, it was also startling news for
  animal behaviorists
• Students Paper
• According to Flora Davis, linguists and animal
  behaviorists were unprepared for  the news that a
  chimp could communicate with its trainers through
  sign language  (Davis, 26).

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No!

• The student has cited the source, and
  appropriately paraphrased the original source
  into his own words.

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Steps To Avoid Plagiarism

• Practice good research methods
• Know how to quote
• Know how to cite
• Know when something is common knowledge
• Know how to paraphrase