Plagiarism
I’ve had a few questions lately from students who are unsure about plagiarism and want to know “the rules” to avoid it. The rules change slightly from college to college and the Center for Teaching’s FAQ has links to each college’s policies. The UIOWA libraries’ What you should know about electronic resources (pdf) provides some general guidelines and defines plagiarism as,
“…presenting the ideas or words of another without crediting the source.”
More useful, I think, is a philosophy to help you decide when and how to give credit for other people’s ideas. Regardless of the intricacies of APA or other citation styles, let your readers know which ideas are yours and which come from another source. The style guides merely give you a framework for that. There is no shame in using someone else’s ideas – the shame is in claiming those ideas are your own.
- As you write your paper and set down your ideas, keep in mind where your support comes from.
- Every time you use an idea from someone else, whether you are quoting directly or expressing that thought in your own words, mention who or where the thought came from.
- Every time you mention someone else’s though, follow the guidelines of whatever citation style you are using to direct your readers to that original thought.
Do you know what plagiarism is ? How have you handled gray areas in using other people’s thought?
Let us know in the comments.
Dan the Librarian
In order to understand plagiarism, it helps to understand the process of sharing and creating ideas in the university. All knowledge is built from previous knowledge. As we read, study, perform experiments, and gather perspectives, we are using other people’s ideas. Building on other people’s ideas, we create our own.
Comment by CSmhacky — September 3, 2008 @ 2:32 am
copy from one is plagirism, while from many is research, is that view all right?
Comment by jimmg — November 13, 2008 @ 2:03 am
jimmg, you make an interesting point. I don’t think the number of people you copy from makes much difference. What counts giving credit to those whose ideas you use, whether you quote or paraphrase, and making it clear what new and brilliant thoughts are yours. I think that might be what CSmhacky was trying to say.
Comment by Daniel — November 18, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
That’s what I like about blogging – easy to give credit via the link but still get across your main points.
Comment by Dennis — December 10, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
the bad thing is.. back in the day.. you had to manually copy it..
now.. its just cut and paste..
lol.. even the lazy people can do it..
Comment by Russell Forum — January 30, 2009 @ 2:54 pm
Using plagiarism should be punished seriously. In order to understand plagiarism, it helps to understand the process of sharing and creating ideas in the university. All knowledge is built from previous knowledge. As we read, study, perform experiments, and gather perspectives, we are using other people’s ideas. Building on other people’s ideas, we create our own.
Comment by David M — May 23, 2009 @ 4:35 am
This is something quite easy and straightforward. You will know in your own hear if you have done something wrong or not.
Comment by laptop motherboard repair — July 15, 2009 @ 10:20 am