Avoiding

Plagiarism
VJRElla | ENG 10 | January 31, 2018
Today’s Topics for
Discussion

Purposes of using others’ work

Common Knowledge
Plagiarism and how to avoid it
Purposes of using others’
work in your writing

¡ “To support your point”

¡ “To explain where your work sits in the field”
¡ “To define your contribution to the field”
¡ “To relate your work to others’ work”
¡ “To distinguish your work from others’ work”

Murray, 2011
Criminal

Insult
Not an option
Reference
List
Citing Definition
sources

Within the
Avoiding
text Plagiarism

Borrowing
Précis information
Types of
Plagiarism
Direct Quote Paraphrase
Credit: Showeet
Plagiarism defined
“An object (language, words, text, diagram,
graphs, ideas) which has been taken from
a source (books, journals, internet, not just
text) by an agent (person, student,
academic) without adequate
acknowledgement and with or without
intention to deceive.”

Murray, 2011
 What kind of
information must
be cited?
What is common
knowledge?

“Common knowledge refers

to information that the
average, educated reader
would accept as reliable
without having to look it up.”

Klein, 2012
Common Knowledge
¡ “Information that most people
know, such as that

water freezes at 32 degrees

Fahrenheit or that
Barack Obama is the first
American of mixed race to be
elected president.”
Klein, 2012
Common Knowledge
¡ “Information shared by a
cultural or national group, such
as the

names of famous heroes or

events in the nation’s history
that are remembered and
celebrated.”
Klein, 2012
Common Knowledge
¡ “Knowledge shared by
members of a certain field,
such as the

fact that the necessary condition

for diffraction of radiation of
wavelength from a crystalline
solid is given by Bragg’s law.”
Klein, 2012
Common Knowledge
¡ Information that most people
know
¡ Information shared by a cultural
or national group
¡ Knowledge shared by members
of a certain field

Klein, 2012
Ask yourself the following

¡  “Who is my audience?”

¡  “What can I assume they
already know?”
¡  “Will I be asked where I
obtained my information?”

Klein, 2012
More examples—
It’s all about your audience
Information Cite Don’t cite

A description of the General writing Graduate students in

symptoms of Asperger’s class psychology
Syndrome

A reference to the practice of Non-experts Economists

fair value accounting
A statement reporting that ? ?
24% of children under the
age of 18 live in households
headed by single mothers
Klein, 2012
Common Knowledge:
Yes or No?

1. “The Big Bang theory posits

that the universe began
billions of years ago with an
enormous explosion.”

Common Knowledge!

Klein, 2012
Common Knowledge:
Yes or No?

2. “The phrase ‘Big Bang’ was

coined by Sir Fred Hoyle, an
English astronomer. Hoyle
used the term to mock the
theory, which he disagreed
with.”
Needs citation
Klein, 2012
Common Knowledge:
Yes or No?
3.  “According to the Big Bang model,
the initial explosion was produced
when an infinitely hot, dense
center referred to as a singularity,
began to expand, giving rise to
the particles that eventually
formed into our universe.”

Citation depends on
the audience Klein, 2012
What is not Common
Knowledge?
¡ “Datasets generated by you or
others.”
¡ “Statistics from sources such as the
US Census Bureau and the Bureau
of Labor Statistics.”
¡ “References to studies done by
others.”
¡ “Reference to specific dates,
numbers, or facts the reader would
not know unless s/he had done the
research.” Klein, 2012
When in doubt,
cite your sources.
10 Types of
Plagiarism
WriteCheckVideos, 2012
Borrowing
information
•  Quoting
•  Paraphrasing
•  Précis-writing
 When to quote, paraphrase,
or summarize

¡ “Summarize when details are irrelevant”

¡ “Paraphrase when you can state what a source
says more clearly or concisely than the source
does, or when your argument depends on the
details in a source but not its specific words”

Turabian, 2013
 When to quote, paraphrase,
or summarize
Quote for these purposes:
¡ “You need the words exactly as they appeared in the
original”
¡ “The words are strikingly original, well-expressed,
odd, or otherwise too useful to lose in [a]
paraphrase”
¡ “The passage states a view that you disagree with,
and to be fair you want to state it exactly”
¡ “The passage is from an authority who backs up your
view”
Turabian, 2013
 Integrate quotations into
your text
1.  “Drop in the quotation as an independent sentence
or passage, introduced with a few explanatory
words. But avoid introducing all of your [quotations]
with just a [sic.] says, states, claims, and so on”:

¡  “Diamond says, ‘The histories of the Fertile Crescent and

China… hold a salutary lesson for the modern world:
circumstances change, and past primacy is no guarantee of
future primacy.’ ”
¡  “Diamond suggests that one lesson we can learn from the past
is not to expect history to repeat itself. ‘The histories of the
Fertile Crescent and China… hold a salutary lesson for the
modern world.’ ”
Turabian, 2013
 Integrate quotations into
your text
2.  “Weave the grammar of the quotation into the
grammar of your sentence”:

“Political leaders should learn from history, but

Diamond points out that the ‘lesson for the modern
world’ in the history of the Fertile Crescent and China is
that ‘circumstances change, and past primacy is no
guarantee of future primacy.’ ”

Turabian, 2013
 Punctuations, Omissions,
and Interpolation
¡  Punctuations

¡ “Enclose direct quotations run into the

text in double quotation marks.”

¡ “Quotations should be placed outside a

comma or period and inside a colon or
semicolon.”
Campbell, Ballou, & Slade, 1990
 Punctuations, Omissions,
and Interpolation
¡ Punctuations
¡  “In case of an exclamation point or question mark, the
quotation marks are placed inside when the mark belongs
with the quoted material and outside when the mark belongs
with the text:

¡  “What does Hamlet mean when he tells the players ‘to hold as
‘twere the mirror up to nature’? Hamlet asks himself, ‘Am I a
coward?’ ”

¡  “In a run-in quotation, if a portion of the original was

enclosed in double quotation marks, enclose it in single
quotation marks.”
Campbell, Ballou, & Slade, 1990
 Punctuations, Omissions,
and Interpolation

¡  Omissions
1.  Internal Omission
2.  Omission at the beginning of a sentence
3.  Omission at the end of a sentence
4.  Omission of a whole sentence

Campbell, Ballou, & Slade, 1990

 Punctuations, Omissions,
and Interpolation

¡  Interpolation
1.  Clarifying original source
2.  Correcting errors
3.  Clarifying pronoun reference
“This [“The Three Languages”] is the story of an
adolescent whose needs are not understood by his
father.”
Campbell, Ballou, & Slade, 1990
 Summaries: 3 Principal
Requirements
¡ “It should offer a balanced coverage of the
original. (There is a tendency to devote more
coverage to the earlier parts of the source
text.)”
¡ “It should present the source material in a
neutral fashion.”
¡ “It should condense the source material and
be presented in the summary writer's own
words.”
Swales & Feak, 2004
 Steps in writing a summary
1. “Skim the text, noting in your mind the
subheadings. If there are no subheadings, try
to divide the text into sections. Consider why
you have been assigned the text. Try to
determine what type of text you are dealing
with. This can help you identify important
information.”

Swales & Feak, 2004

 Steps in writing a summary
2. “Read the text, highlighting important
information or taking notes.”
3. “In your own words, write down the main
points of each section. Try to write a one-
sentence summary of each section.”
4. “Write down the key support points for the
main topic, but do not include minor detail.”
5. “Go through the process again, making
changes as appropriate.”
Swales & Feak, 2004
 The first sentence
¡ In Anthony Tyson's article "Mapping Dark Matter
with Gravitational Lenses," _________ (main idea)
¡ According to Yvonne Boskin in her article "Blue
Whale Population May Be Increasing off
California," _______________ (main idea)
¡ Young and Song's 1991 paper on fluoridation
discusses _________________ (main topic)
¡ Author Peter Bernstein in his book Capital Ideas
states that ________________ (main idea) Examples from
Swales & Feak, 2004
 Succeeding sentences
¡  The author goes on to say that . . .
¡  The article further states that . . .
¡  (author's surname here) also states/maintains/
argues that ...
¡  (author's surname here) also believes that . . .
¡  (author's surname here) concludes that . . .
¡  In the second half of the paper, (author's
surname here) presents . . . Examples from
Swales & Feak, 2004
 A paraphrase is…
¡  “your own rendition of essential information
and ideas expressed by someone else,
presented in a new form.”
¡  “one legitimate way (when accompanied by
accurate documentation) to borrow from a
source.”
¡  “a more detailed restatement than a
summary, which focuses concisely on a
single main idea.”
Purdue OWL, 2011
 Paraphrasing is a valuable
skill because…

¡  “It is better than quoting information

from an undistinguished passage.”
¡  “It helps you control the temptation to
quote too much.”
¡  “The mental process required for
successful paraphrasing helps you to
grasp the full meaning of the original.”
Purdue OWL, 2011
 Original passage
“Students frequently overuse
direct quotation in taking notes,
and as a result they overuse
quotations in the final [research]
paper. Probably only about 10%
of your final manuscript should
appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you should
strive to limit the amount of
exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.”
Lester, James D. Writing
Research Papers. 2nd ed.
(1976): 46-47.
Plagiarized
“Students often use too many
direct quotations when they take
notes, resulting in too many of
them in the final research paper.
In fact, probably only about 10%
of the final copy should consist
of directly quoted material. So it
is important to limit the amount
of source material copied while
taking notes.”
Purdue OWL, 2011
 Original passage Acceptable summary

“Students frequently overuse “Students should take just a few

direct quotation in taking notes, notes in direct quotation from
and as a result they overuse sources to help minimize the
quotations in the final [research] amount of quoted material in a
paper. Probably only about 10% research paper (Lester 46-47).”
of your final manuscript should
appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you should
strive to limit the amount of
exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.”

Lester, James D. Writing

Research Papers. 2nd ed.
(1976): 46-47.

Purdue OWL, 2011

 Original passage
“Students frequently overuse
direct quotation in taking notes,
and as a result they overuse
quotations in the final [research]
paper. Probably only about 10%
of your final manuscript should
appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you should
strive to limit the amount of
exact transcribing of source
materials while taking notes.”
Lester, James D. Writing
Research Papers. 2nd ed.
(1976): 46-47.
Acceptable paraphrase
“In research papers students
often quote excessively, failing to
keep quoted material down to a
desirable level. Since the
problem usually originates
during note taking, it is essential
to minimize the material
recorded verbatim (Lester
46-47).”
Purdue OWL, 2011
 Guidelines for paraphrasing
¡ “Include all important ideas mentioned in the
original passage but not in the same order.”
¡ “Keep the length approximately the same as the
original.”
¡ “Do not stress any single point more than
another.”
¡ “Do not change the meaning by adding your own
thoughts or views.”
¡ “Do not use the original sentence structure.”
University of Houston – Victoria, n.d.
 Steps in paraphrasing
1. “Understand the meaning of the passage
thoroughly. You may have to read the passage
several times and consult a dictionary.”

2. “Outline the passage or subdivide the

information into smaller sections. Remember that
the paraphrase must include all the important
ideas mentioned in the original passage.”
University of Houston – Victoria, n.d.
 Steps in paraphrasing
3. “Restate the information. Change the order and
structure of ideas.”
4. “Make sure that you are faithful to the meaning
of the source and that you have accurately
represented the main ideas.”
5. “Cite appropriately and integrate the
paraphrase into the text effectively.”

University of Houston – Victoria, n.d.

 Example
¡ “Statements that seem complimentary in one context
may be inappropriate in another. For example, women
in business are usually uncomfortable if male
colleagues or superiors compliment them on their
appearance: the comments suggest that the women
are being treated as visual decoration rather than as
contributing workers. (p. 323)”
---Locker, K. O. (2003). Business and administrative
communication (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Irwin/McGraw-
Hill.
University of Houston – Victoria, n.d.
 Ideas in the original text

¡  “Appropriateness of statements is

situational.”
¡  “Example is that working women may view
compliments about appearance as
offensive.”
¡  “These compliments can be offensive
because they may imply women are
‘decoration.’ ”
University of Houston – Victoria, n.d.
 Sample paraphrase
¡  “Words or expressions which appear favorable in
one situation might be improper in a different
situation. For instance, employed females are
often uneasy when they are given positive
comments on their looks. These remarks imply
that the females are being viewed as adornment
instead of as productive employees (Locker,
2003).”

University of Houston – Victoria, n.d.

 Sample paraphrase
¡ “Women may feel uneasy upon receiving ordinarily
positive comments on their appearance from male
coworkers or supervisors. To these women, the
remarks carry an implied meaning: instead of being
thought of as productive employees, they are actually
being viewed as just a pretty part of the atmosphere.
Depending on the situation, words or expressions
which appear favorable may actually be unsuitable in
a conversation (Locker, 2003).”
[“This paraphrase is the most effective. In addition to
changing both the wording and sentence structure, it
includes all points and retains the meaning of the
original passage. It also changes the order of ideas.”]
University of Houston – Victoria, n.d.
 Tips on Paraphrasing
1.  Do not stare at the original text and try to
tweak it; you are not editing, but creating
your OWN rendition of the text.
2.  Do not paraphrase per sentence.
3.  Remember to enclose in quotation marks
those phrases that are not yours.
4.  Essentially, you must reword and restructure
the text, and then check your work against
the original text.
Next Meeting:
Citing your sources
References
Campbell, W.G., Ballou, S.V., & Slade C. (1990). Form
and style: Theses, reports, term papers (8th ed.).
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Klein, A.B. (Ed.). (2012). Academic integrity at MIT: A
handbook for students. Available from https://
integrity.mit.edu/sites/default/files/documents/
AcademicIntegrityHandbook2017-color-final.pdf
Murray, R. (2011). How to write a thesis (3rd ed.).
Philippines: McGraw-Hill.
Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2011). Retrieved August
31, 2011 from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
owl/resource/619/01/
 References

Swales, J. M. & Feak, C. B. (2004). Academic writing for graduate

students: Essential tasks and skills. (2nd ed.). Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press.
Turabian, K.L. A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and
dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers (8th
ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
University of Houston-Victoria. (n.d.). Learn to paraphrase.
Retrieved January 31, 2018 from https://www.uhv.edu/student-
success-center/resources/e-p/learn-to-paraphrase/
#maincontent
WriteCheckVideos. (2012, November 16). 10 types of plagiarism
[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=EF5eFeJMplA