This document defines plagiarism and provides examples of it. It also discusses ways to prevent plagiarism such as establishing clear policies and reinforcing rules against passing off others' work as your own. Teachers can spot plagiarism through changes in writing voice or topic within a work, or if the writing seems too professionally composed relative to the student. Proper citation is needed to avoid plagiarizing when paraphrasing others' ideas.
1. What is it, and how can you prevent it
By Cody Deibel
2. Merriam-Webster Definition
There are Four main ideas that encompass
Plagiarism
To present a pre-existing idea as your own,
new idea
To use someone else’s work as your own
To commit literary theft
To pass off ideas or words of another as
your own (includes paraphrasing).
3. Example #1
Alex has a paper he needs to finish for his
History class covering the main causes
of World War II. He asks his friend
James if he could help him, because
James took the same class. James lets
Alex use his paper he created and used
on the assignment three semesters ago.
Alex turns in James paper with his own
name on it.
4. Example #2
Jessica is looking for information for her
paper regarding outsourcing. She looks
online and finds an article outlining the
pro’s and con’s of outsourcing. In her
paper she lists the same pro’s and
con’s, but in a different order. Jessica
also does not use footnotes, citations, or
quotations of any kind to indicate the
original source.
5. How to Spot Plagiarism
Here are four ways a teacher can spot
plagiarism according to UCLA.edu
Change of Voice within work
Change of Topic
Professional-sounding writing
Student absence
6. Change of Voice within work
“Marked shifts in vocabulary, tone, or
sentence structure within a given piece
of writing can indicate purloined
passages. Usually students will insert
more sophisticated prose into their own
work.”
http://write.oid.ucla.edu/plagiarism/spot
7. Change of Topic
“Assigning pre-writing work has the benefit
of your becoming familiar with a
student’s approach to the assignment. A
red flag should go up when the student
turns in a radically different slant on the
assignment.”
http://write.oid.ucla.edu/plagiarism/spot
8. Professional-sounding writing
“A piece of writing that is “too good” or
professional-sounding may be
plagiarized. And it probably doesn’t
correspond to the student’s writing
you’ve read previously.”
http://write.oid.ucla.edu/plagiarism/spot
9. Student absence
“Be suspicious when a student has not
attended section meetings, lecture, or
office hours, yet turns in high-quality
work drawing on those discussions.”
http://write.oid.ucla.edu/plagiarism/spot
10. Prevention Methods
Writeshop.com gives excellent advice for
how to avoid plagiarism in your
classroom.
Establish a Policy against plagiarism
Reinforcing the Rules
http://www.writeshop.com/blog/2010/09/10
/plagiarism-committing-literary-theft/
11. Uses of Establishing a Policy
Establishing a Policy against plagiarism is
the first step to help prevent it in your
classroom.
Students know that plagiarism is not
taken lightly in your classroom.
Students know the consequences of
plagiarizing in your classroom.
12. Policy Example
This is an example of a policy taken from writeshop.com
“Plagiarism is the illegitimate use of another person’s
words and/or ideas without giving appropriate credit
to the original source. Such attempts to copy
someone else’s work and call it your own is a very
serious offense that will not be tolerated and will
have significant consequences. All work done for this
class must be your own original composition. When
writing, you are required to properly cite any source
you use—published or unpublished, from a book or
from the Internet. Failure to do so will result in a zero
grade for the assignment.”
http://www.writeshop.com/blog/2010/09/10/plagiarism-committing-
literary-theft/
13. Question #1
Which of the following could not considered
plagiarizing?
A. Using someone else’s words as your own
B. To express another person’s writing in
your own words
C. Turning in someone else’s original work as
your own.
D. To use a specific pre-existing idea as your
own
14. Question #2
True / False:
Paraphrasing without proper citation is
considered plagiarism.
15. Question #3
The following are ways to help spot
plagiarism in a student’s assignment:
A. Change of voice within work
B. Abrupt change in topic
C. Professional sounding writing
D. Ask the student if he/she plagiarized on
the assignment
