1. Plagiarism
Recognizing and
Avoiding Errors

2. What is Plagiarism?
• Webster’s Dictionary defines plagiarism as:
– to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another)
as one's own : use (another's production) without
crediting the source
– to commit literary theft : present as new and original
an idea or product derived from an existing source

3. http://gamezblog.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/02/Plagiarism.gif

4. Examples
• Copying and pasting text from online encyclopedias
• Copying and pasting text from any web site
• Using photographs, video or audio without permission or
acknowledgement
• Using another student’s or your parents’ work and claiming it as
your own even with permission
• Using your own work without properly citing it!
• Using someone else’s ideas without citing them
From: Mirka, 2004, The Plagiarism Trap.
Powerpoint Presentation.

5. More Examples!!
• Quoting a source without using quotation marks-even if you do
cite it
• Citing sources you didn’t use
• Getting a research paper, story, poem, or article off the Internet
• Turning in the same paper for more than one class without the
permission of both teachers (this is called self-plagiarism)
• Can you think of more?
From: Mirka, 2004, The Plagiarism Trap.
Powerpoint Presentation.

6. How to Avoid Plagiarism
• Use your own words and ideas
• ALWAYS give credit to others for their work by
using citations
• When using someone else’s exact words, put
quotation marks around the text and use a
citation
• When paraphrasing or summarizing someone
else’s work, use a citation
• Cite, cite, cite

7. How to Cite a Source
• Use MLA citations for English classes
– MLA stands for Modern Language Association
• Use an in-text citation
• Create a Works Cited page

8. In-text Citations
• After a summary, paraphrase, or quote, include
an in-text citation
– (AuthorLastName page#)
• Example
– “She was going to live so as to go to the good place.”
(Twain 23)
• More help?
– Visit Purdue OWL

9. http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/tigertail
/nf/module3/plagiarism.htm

10. Works Cited Page
• After ensuring you have proper in-text citations,
you need to create a Works Cited Page
• Works Cited Page
– Last page of the paper
– Full citation required for each and every source cited
in text
– NOT a bibliography
• Only cite sources actually cited in the paper

11. Works Cited Page Example
Works Cited
"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund.
Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” New York Times.
New York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.
GlobalWarming.org. Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of
Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World
Ecology 14.1 (2007): 27-36. Print.
An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006.
DVD.
Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. New
York: Springer, 2005. Print.
Nordhaus, William D. "After Kyoto: Alternative Mechanisms to Control Global Warming."
American Economic Review 96.2 (2006): 31-34. Print.
---. "Global Warming Economics." Science 9 Nov. 2001: 1283-84. Science Online. Web. 24
May 2009.
Uzawa, Hirofumi. Economic Theory and Global Warming. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003.
Print.
Adapted from Purdue OWL
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resources/747/12/

12. Works Cited Page
• Things to notice
– “Works Cited” is centered at the top of the page
• No extra caps, underline, bold, italics
– Sources are in alphabetical order
– First line is to the margin, all others in same citation
are one tab in

13. Works Cited Page
• More Things to Remember
– Second source with the same author is indicated with
three dashes (---)
– Entire page should be double spaced
• No extra spaces between sources
• More in-depth information at the Purdue OWL

14. How does this all connect?
• By learning to properly cite sources, you can
avoid plagiarism
• It does not matter if plagiarism is purposeful or
accidental
• ANY plagiarism will result in consequences
– Zero on the assignment
– Possible school disciplinary action
– Possible legal action

15. Final Thoughts
http://unionresearch.schools.officelive.com
/plagiarism.aspx