Plagiarism
…and how to avoid it
The bad news
• In U.S., plagiarism is a serious offense
• Possible consequences of plagiarism
• Failing grade on paper
• Failing grade for course
• Loss of student visa status in extreme cases
The good news
• Plagiarism is avoidable if you
• Understand what plagiarism is
• Understand what citation is
• Look at your writing like your reader does
Plagiarism – What is it?
• Submitting a paper you didn’t write
yourself
• Everyone knows this is cheating!
Plagiarism – What is it?
• Submitting a paper you didn’t write yourself Cheating!
• Copying from sources and pretending you
wrote it yourself
• We all know this is cheating, too!
Plagiarism – What is it?
• Submitting a paper you didn’t write yourself Cheating!
• Copying from sources and pretending you wrote it
yourself Cheating!
• Using a source and saying it is a different
source
• Also cheating (even if an accident)!
Plagiarism – What is it?
• Submitting a paper you didn’t write yourself Cheating!
• Copying from sources and pretending you wrote it yourself
Cheating!
• Using a source and saying it is a different source Cheating!
• You use author’s ideas and words without
giving author credit
• This is main source of plagiarism!
• Confusing – even for Americans!
• Let’s learn to avoid this!
“Talking” to your reader
• Make clear who said/thought what
• Sometimes you use the exact same words as
author
• Sometimes you paraphrase author
• But always, you make it clear which words/
thoughts are author’s, which are yours
• Readers understand because you follow
certain conventions
(agreed upon ways of doing things)
Writing conventions
• When borrowing author’s exact same words
• Cite your author
• Use quotation marks around borrowed words
• Even when paraphrasing author’s
information
• Cite your author
• Always, when reporting author’s information
• Cite your author
Cite your author!
• Cite? What does “cite” mean?
• According to President Obama, the economy…
He goes on to say…
• Lee (2007) argues that inflation will…
• The army’s actions were “incomprehensible and
reprehensible” (Adams & Morten, 232).
• All bold words above are examples of citation.
• Different disciplines/professors require different
citation styles – be sure to ask
What are you telling your reader?
What are you telling your reader?
• Example
The link between cell phone use and grade point average
needs further investigation.
What are you telling your reader?
• Example
Survey results found that cell phone use is “negatively
predictive of overall grade point average” (Svinicki 19).
What are you telling your reader?
• Example
Survey results found that increased cell phone use corresponds
to lower grade point average (Svinicki).
To be clear…
• Plagiarism can happen when your citation
(or lack of it)
• Tells your reader one thing, but you meant something else
• Example: you paraphrase an author’s words but
you do not cite the author
• You just told your reader that it is YOUR idea
• But in reality, it is the AUTHOR’s idea
• Maybe you forgot or misunderstood the convention, but
still…it is plagiarism
• Let’s take a quiz
Is this plagiarism?
• Excerpt from article by Svinicki
Survey results from 1500 college students about their cell
phone use found that increased use was negatively predictive
of overall grade point average.
• Student’s sentence
Svinicki’s research on cell phone use found that increased use
was negatively predictive of overall grade point average.
Yes! This is plagiarism!
• Excerpt from article by Svinicki
Survey results from 1500 college students about their cell phone use found that increased use
was negatively predictive of overall grade point average.
• Student’s sentence
Svinicki’s research on cell phone use found that increased use was negatively predictive of
overall grade point average.
• Red text should be inside quotation marks
because they are the author’s exact words!
Is this plagiarism?
• Excerpt from article by Svinicki
Survey results from 1500 college students about their cell
phone use found that increased use was negatively predictive
of overall grade point average.
• Student’s sentence
Survey results found that increased cell phone use corresponds
to lower grade point average (Svinicki).
No. This is NOT plagiarism.
• Excerpt from article by Svinicki
Survey results from 1500 college students about their cell phone use found that increased use
was negatively predictive of overall grade point average.
• Student’s sentence
Svinicki’s research cell phone use found that increased use was negatively predictive of
overall grade point average.
• The student paraphrased Svinicki’s information and cited
Svinicki.
Why does plagiarism matter?
• U.S. education system values independent
thinking
• You need to differentiate between author’s ideas
and your own reaction to them
• Professors value independent thinking even
more when it draws upon research into the ideas
of others – citation shows you did such research
• U. S. law stresses intellectual property rights
• By citing author’s ideas, you respect ownership
of work and ideas
How to protect yourself
• Know what plagiarism is
• Learn how to cite, paraphrase, and quote
• Ask your TA, your professor, Student
Writing Support for help
• You are in a different culture – don’t be
afraid to ask how things work
Resources
• Handbooks teach citation, paraphrase,
grammar
• available in U bookstore, online, U libraries
Resources
• Student Writing Support
• Free face-to-face help with your writing projects
• http://writing.umn.edu/sws/
• Online tutorials
• The best is Indiana University’s https://
www.indiana.edu/~istd/
• SWS Tutorials http://writing.umn.edu/sws/quickhelp/
sources.html
• U Library Tutorials
https://www.lib.umn.edu/instruction/tutorials
Resources
• Citation software
• Refworks, Zotero, Mendeley – free through
University Library
• Automatically creates reference entries in
citation method of your choice (MLA, APA,
AMA, etc.)
• Attend free library workshops for Refworks and
Zotero
You will do fine…
• Don’t be scared – just be aware
• Ask questions
• Ask for help if you need it – students and
staff love to tell you how things work
• Enjoy your exciting new experience
abroad
Credits
• A special thanks to Katie Levin in Student
Writing Support (SWS) for her “What Are
You Telling Your Readers?” approach to
plagiarism
