Plagiarism: What is Plagiarism?
WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?
Plagiarism is using someone else's work and passing it off as one's own. The term comes from the Latin word plagiarius, which means kidnapper.
Menager-Beeley, R., & Paulos, L. (2006). Understanding plagiarism: A student guide to writing your own work. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
What Isn't Plagiarism?
Here are some examples of text that doesn't need to be cited in your research papers.
- Your opinion
- Common knowledge
- Accepted factual information
- Things you personally observe and record
- Personal experiences
1. When borrowing an author's wording for your own paper use quotation marks and include a complete citation (author name, date of publication, page reference) that can easily lead the reader directly to the source.
2. Electronic sources must also be acknowledged.
3. When borrowing another author's views, ideas or opinions for your own paper be sure to give credit to the original thinker.
4. Paraphrasing another's ideas without clearly citing the source also counts as plagiarism. Give a complete citation that can easily lead the reader directly to the source.
5. Work used previously in another class cannot be re-used (self-plagiarism) without permission from the instructor.
Allison Leaming, University of Arizona, 2007.
GVSU Student Code: Plagiarism (Section 223.01)
Any ideas or material taken from another source for either written or oral presentation must be fully acknowledged. Offering the work of someone else as one's own is plagiarism. The language or ideas taken from another may range from isolated formulas, sentences, or paragraphs to entire articles copied from books, periodicals, speeches or the writings of other students. The offering of materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment also is considered plagiarism. Any student who fails to give credit in written or oral work for the ideas or materials that have been taken from another is guilty of plagiarism.
Plagiarism-Don't Do It
Anything that is viewable or hearable format must be credited to the source and in many cases permission must be secured to use these images, photos, artwork, recording, etc.
Test Your Knowledge
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