Plagiarism & Paraphrasing

1. How to Paraphrase
and Avoid Plagiarism

2. the dreaded Plagiarism!
On Facebook we “share” pictures and articles. On
Tumblr we “repost” memes and comments. We “pin”
images on Pinterest…the list goes on. Thanks to the
internet, we’ve become accustomed to taking things we
did not make, and using them for our own purposes,
often, without linking to or crediting the source.
This is harmless when it is clear and
obvious that we are not trying to
take credit for making/writing
something. It becomes harmful
when the habit of copying things
follows us to school or work.

3. WHAT IS Plagiarism?
According to the Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary…
1. To steal and pass off the ideas or words
of another as one's own.
2. To use another's production without
crediting the source.
3. To commit literary theft.
4. To present as new and original an idea or
product derived from an existing source.

4. Why is Plagiarism Bad?
Because it is an act of fraud. It involves
first stealing someone else's work, and
second, lying about it by leading others to
believe it is your own work.

5. Why does Plagiarism Occur?
1. Lack of Knowledge and Skills: Students
don’t know procedures for citation and
paraphrasing.
2. Insecurity or Lack of Preparation:
Students take other’s work because they
did not put the effort into learning the
material, or they want to sound more
impressive.
3. Developmental Issues: Students do not
perceive what they are doing as unethical.

6. Types of Plagiarism
1. The Clone
Direct copy and
paste from the
internet.
Submitting
another’s work,
word-for-word, as
your own.

7. Types of Plagiarism
2. The Mashup
Some of the text is
original, but other
parts are copied
from one or more
sources without
citing.

8. Types of Plagiarism
3. Find & Replace
Parts of the text are
copied from the
internet, and certain
words and phrases
have been changed to
make the passages
sound different.

9. Types of Plagiarism
4. The Para-fail
Similar to “find and
replace,” an attempt
has been made to
paraphrase, but the
text is too close to
the author’s original
wording OR structure.

10. Types of Plagiarism
5. The Hybrid
When some
sources are cited
correctly, but other
sources are copied
and included
without citation.

11. Types of Plagiarism
6. The Recycler
Submitting work
you did for one
class to a different
one, or directly
reusing your old
work for a new
assignment.

12. Types of Plagiarism
7. The 404 Error
All copied text is
cited, but some
citations are
inaccurate or
leading to non-
existent sources.

13. Types of Plagiarism
8. The Braindead
Includes proper
citations, but the
paper includes
almost no original
work to go with the
chosen quotes or
paraphrases.

14. But…it was an accident!
In education, it does not matter if plagiarism was intentional
or not. The consequences are usually the same.

15. 1. Cite your sources accurately.
2. Learn to paraphrase properly.
How to Avoid Plagiarism:

16. Summary Paraphrase
The goal of a summary
is to condense the main
ideas of a text.
The goal of a
paraphrase is to put
someone else’s ideas in
your own words.
You use a summary to
take notes for class or to
help you remember
what happened in a
reading assignment.
You use a paraphrase
when writing an essay
or paper.
A summary should be
as short as possible.
A paraphrase does not
shorten a text, it just
puts the ideas in a text
into original words.

17. How to Paraphrase:
Step 1: Gain a thorough understanding of
the ideas in the source text. If you don’t
understand the author’s ideas, it will be
difficult to put them in your own words.

18. How to Paraphrase:
Step 2: Re-state the author’s ideas using
as few words as possible from the
source text. Try to write the author’s
ideas down without looking at the source
text - this will help you succeed.
Don’t look at the
source text!

19. How to Paraphrase:
Step 3: Cite your paraphrased
passages. Yes - you still have to cite a
paraphrase just like a quote!
I just read a book called
Writing Research Papers by
James D. Lester.
The passage I want to
paraphrase is on page 46.

20. Original Text Paraphrase
Students frequently overuse
direct quotation when
taking notes, and as a result
they overuse quotations in
the final research paper.
Probably only about 10% of
your final paper should
appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you
should strive to limit the
amount of exact copying of
source materials while
taking notes.
In research papers,
students often quote
excessively, failing to keep
quoted material down to a
desirable level. Since the
problem usually originates
during note taking, it is
essential to minimize the
number of direct quotes
you add to your notes
(Lester 46).

21. Original Text Plagiarism!
Students frequently overuse
direct quotation when
taking notes, and as a result
they overuse quotations in
the final research paper.
Probably only about 10% of
your final paper should
appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you
should strive to limit the
amount of exact copying of
source materials while
taking notes.
In research papers,
students often quote
excessively, failing to keep
quoted material down to a
desirable level. Since the
problem usually originates
during note taking, it is
essential to minimize the
number of direct quotes
you add to your notes.

22. Original Text Plagiarism!
Students frequently overuse
direct quotation when
taking notes, and as a result
they overuse quotations in
the final research paper.
Probably only about 10% of
your final paper should
appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you
should strive to limit the
amount of exact copying of
source materials while
taking notes.
Students often use too
many quotations when
taking notes, resulting in
too many of them in the
final research paper. In
fact, only about 10% of the
final copy should consist of
directly quoted material. So
it is important to limit the
amount of source material
copied while note-taking.
(Lester 46).

23. Review: