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
