THE LEARNER DEVELOPMENT UNIT

Helping you make the most of your studies

MBA LDU Session, Week 6, November 2011

Avoiding Plagiarism
Our aim is to help all Middlesex University students fulfill your potential and achieve as much as possible

The LDU What do we do? 1 Learner Development Profile [LDP] Academic Writing and English Language Development Numeracy Development Support for Dyslexic Students Student Learning Assistants

Academic Writing & Language Development [AWL]

Who we are: Nick Endacott, Malcolm Clay, Luciano Celini What we do: Work with you in core lectures [sometimes!] Run seminars on writing in your programme/s Run open workshops in the Williams Building Give confidential one-to-one tutorials [30 mins] We can help you to: write UG / MA / PhD level assignments / genres read, analyse and make sense of complex journal articles in any subject help you complete your dissertation

AWL What do we do?

Workshops
Face-to-face Practical classes Max of 30 students in a class Friendly & supportive atmosphere Start in week 3 / week 6 Two-hours long 3-week courses One-off workshops

Tutorials
Ive written my first piece of coursework - is the language formal and academic enough? How do I write a case summary? Could you read my introduction and conclusion and tell me what my grammatical weaknesses are? Could you have a look at my essay plan for this assignment? Do you think Ive referenced this essay correctly? Could I practice my presentation with you?

Academic Writing and Language Development [AWL] We work confidentially with all students: Students with English as 1st language Students with English as a 2nd language Students with English as an additional Language Anyone! Our services are free!

Where do I find out more?

unihub LDU Learning Lounge - ground floor Williams Bldg 0208 411 4609 LDU@mdx.ac.uk

Our aim is to help all Middlesex University students fulfill your potential and achieve as much as possible

MKT 4100 Avoiding Plagiarism Workshop

Session aims: Develop understanding of what plagiarism is Raise awareness of why citation / referencing matters Explore what constitutes good paraphrasing & summarising [mechanical bigger picture] Introduce helpful language

What is Plagiarism?
Using language exactly as it is used by someone else in books, articles etc. Using other peoples ideas or theories or facts or knowledge without attribution Paraphrasing / summarising what you read without stating the source Witless paraphrasing To kidnap [plagiarius in Latin = a kidnapper]

What to Reference?
Distinctive ideas belonging to someone who originally proposed the idea as fact / knowledge Information/data from a particular source [e.g. statistical info, case studies, reports] Verbatim phrases / chunks [i.e. quotes / quotations]
Non-common knowledge [? issue what qualifies as common / non-common knowledge ?]

Complicating Issues ...

Authority of texts Fields (cf. e.g. Academia / Journalism / Literature) Genre (cf. e.g. Journal Article / Textbook / Encyclopaedia / Essay / Report) Contexts (e.g. in the eyes of the law / at university / at work) Purposes of writer

Grey areas Patchwriting, i.e. joining together sentences from various different sources to form a paragraph This will be understood as plagiarism unless detailed references are provided at every stage and for each sentence / extract

Sources inside Sources How will you deal with these? Honestly (i.e. indicate the genuine origin of your material (e.g. Smith 2003 in Johnson 2005)? Or strategically (i.e. just cite the secondary source (e.g. Smith 2003))? (Dishonest but it looks as if youve read the original secondary source = ethos)

Avoiding Plagiarism?
Write notes in your own words Be fanatical about keeping notes of where you get your information from when making notes In your own writing, use a clear & consistent system of referencing Always provide a full list of references in your bibliography When in doubt give a reference!!

Mechanics of Paraphrasing

Change the syntax [i.e. the word order] Change the word class [i.e. verb adjective; verb noun; noun verb etc] Use synonyms

Avoiding Plagiarism?

Really though, its all about understanding The culture The expectations we have of you The reasons The material you read on your programme

Interactive Nature of Reading

you

texts

responses

How we learn at university_

Your own unique understanding of the topic

Why Reference?
To give yourself credibility [i.e. to establish your right to participate] To make yourself persuasive giving evidence in your arguments To give credit to the original author for the original ideas [i.e. respect; face] To give your readers clear and sufficient detail for them to locate idea/s for themselves

Why Reference?
To deflect criticism of the idea/s from you on to your source/s To avoid seeming to plagiarise

[avoiding] plagiarism is actually an issue of face, credibility, persuasion, understanding, interpretation &ownership
And its difficult so

Thinking
Thinking

Writing
Writing

Rerethinking

Rethinking

Rewriting

Some Practice

I really like you, and I think youre a great friend. But I think were going to have to let you go

Jamie Oliver Extract Paraphrase 1

Rewritten in new language Only most relevant material (cf. just repeating the original in revised language) Change in order of information Notice the word 'antipasti paraphrasable? Original author (Jamie Oliver) fully credited we know whose knowledge this is

Jamie Oliver Extract Paraphrase 2

Minimal changes: many original words remain structure of individual sentences structure of overall argument No reference [in-text or in a bibliography] No editing of information Has the writer understood the original?

This is likely to be considered plagiarism

Mechanics of Paraphrasing

Change the syntax [i.e. the word order] Change the word class [i.e. verb adjective; verb noun; noun verb etc] Use synonyms

The Realities of Paraphrasing/Summarising Whats your purpose? What are you trying to do? Why are you using the material? How does it fit into your writing? How can you use it? How will you use it in your writing? paraphrase / summarise accordingly

Implications the essential importance of

Knowing your purposes / aims Knowing why youre using the material Knowing the material itself Understanding how the material fits into the bigger picture [yours and the communitys] genuine paraphrasing / summarising

Thinking
Thinking

Writing
Writing

Rerethinking

Rethinking

Rewriting

Academic Writing as a Process

Thinking & Reflecting & Planning Editing & Checking Reading & Notetaking

Writing & Rewriting

Drafting & Redrafting

Interactive Nature of Reading

you

texts

responses

Some more practice...

Globalisation has been defined in a variety of ways. The World Bank (n.d) is credited with introducing the term into economic mainstream. Since then a lot of definitions have been advanced; each based on contexts such as economic, social, cultural, political and technological. Taking a chronological view, in the 1990s, the scope of the definitions of globalisation seemed to focus on the effects of distant events on local happenings (Giddens, 1990); the increased absence of geographical restrictions on socio-cultural arrangements (Waters, 1995); the accelerated distribution of information (Albrow, 1996) and the speed of integration across national borders (Friedman, 1999).

Some more practice...

Globalisation has been defined in a variety of ways. The World Bank (n.d) is credited with introducing the term into economic mainstream. Since then a lot of definitions have been advanced; each based on contexts such as economic, social, cultural, political and technological. Taking a chronological view, in the 1990s, the scope of the definitions of globalisation seemed to focus on the effects of distant events on local happenings (Giddens, 1990); the increased absence of geographical restrictions on socio-cultural arrangements (Waters, 1995); the accelerated distribution of information (Albrow, 1996) and the speed of integration across national borders (Friedman, 1999).

Language of Reporting
Argue Claim Suggest Show Demonstrate

Summarising Nouns Approach facet characteristic solution trend process aspect stage tendency difficulty manner issue dilemma reason result subject class factor consequence problem step technique category topic element method type feature purpose answer evaluation situation assessment circumstances

Language to Summarise Sources The essence of the argument is that ... In essence, Smiths (2003) argument is that ... Essentially, what Smith (2003) argues is that ... At its heart, what Smith (2003) argues is that ...

Language to Evaluate Sources Echoing , [main clause] Following , [main clause] Deriving from , [main clause] Based on , [main clause] In a , [main clause]

Language of Evaluation Attitude

Surprisingly, Inevitably, ... Surprisingly, ... Wisely, ... Sagely, ... Sensibly, ...

Most surprising of all, Quite rightly, ... ... Even worse, ... Conveniently, ... Disturbingly, ... As might be expected, ...

Language of Evaluation Style

Quite frankly, ... Putting it bluntly, ... More simply put / Put Strictly speaking, ... more simply, ... Technically speaking, Figuratively speaking, ... ... In a word, ... In short, ...

Conclusions ...
Knowing better what plagiarism actually is Knowing how to avoid it: Religious attention to detail when note-taking (precise source, pinpoint page number, whether your notes are verbatim or already paraphrased) Proper paraphrasing (i.e. moving beyond mechanical altering of lexis, syntax & structure) focusing on & understanding what someone is saying as opposed to what s/he says this requires + SHOWS genuine UNDERSTANDING] Religious attention to referencing (what & how)

When in doubt, GIVE A REFERENCE!!