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Professor Carney's Notes on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person’s ideas and/or words. Types of plagiarism include the following:

  • submitting another person’s essay (or portions of one) as your own work;
  • directly quoting (using the exact words of) a book, magazine, film, or other source without using quotation marks and identifying the source;
  • insufficiently changing the original words and grammatical structure of a source;
  • claiming (or implying) that an idea was originally developed by you even though you are aware that it was developed by another person.

Plagiarism can be intentional or accidental. In either case, plagiarism is an extreme breach of academic standards. Any student who commits plagiarism, therefore, is subject to failing at least the assignment in question and possibly the course for which the assignment was submitted. Intentional plagiarism will result in disciplinary action by the college.

The easiest way to commit plagiarism is to copy and paste text that you found on the Internet into your paper. This is also the easiest kind of plagiarism to detect. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING THIS!

The following illustrates the two most common forms of accidental plagiarism:

Original Source 

As masses of women have moved into the economy, families have been hit by a “speed up” in work and family life. There is no more time in the day than there was when wives stayed home, but there is twice as much to get done. It is mainly women who absorb this “speed-up.” Twenty percent of the men in my study shared housework equally. Seventy percent of men did a substantial amount (less than half but more than a third), and 10 percent did less than a third. (Arlie Hochshild and Anne Machung, The Second Shift)

Plagiarism of Words 

As Hochshild and Machung point out, there is no more time in the day than there was when wives stayed home, but there is twice as much to get done, and it is mainly women who are doing it.

Notice that while the writer has clearly identified her source of information, she has borrowed the original language of her source with almost no modification. Because the borrowings are not in quotation marks, a reader must conclude that the writer came up with these words on her own. This writer also is taking credit for work she has not done, and this too is plagiarism.

In fact, plagiarism of words is the most common type of plagiarism among college students, and is a source of many failing grades. Careful writers avoid it at all costs.

Plagiarism of Ideas 

More and more women are going to work. Unfortunately, their husbands are no more inclined to help with housework than they were when women stayed home. Only twenty percent of men do the same amount of work around the house as their wives.

Notice that while the writer has modified the language of the original, he has not identified his source or even indicated that he has used a source. A reader is forced to conclude that the writer came up with these ideas and statistics on his own. Since this is not the case, the writer is taking credit for work he has not done, and this is plagiarism.