Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty - in short, cheating. In general, plagiarism occurs when a writer presents the words, ideas, or information of another writer as his or her own. This can take many forms:
- Turning in an assignment written by someone else, in whole or part, including papers downloaded from the Internet.
- Copying the writing of another student or source material, in large or small parts, without using quotation marks and proper documentation.
- Summarizing or paraphrasing the ideas or information of another writer without giving adequate documentation.
- Don't Do It!
- Stealing Your Education
- Understand Documentation
- Understand Summary and Paraphrase
- Understand What Is and Isn't "Common Knowledge"
- For more information
- For instructors
Don't Do It!
Richland considers plagiarism to be a serious matter. The official College policy, as stated in the College Catalog, reads:
"Each student is expected to be honest in his/her class work or in the submission of information to the College. Richland regards dishonesty in classroom and laboratories, on assignments and examinations, and the submission of false and misleading information to the College as a serious offense. A student who cheats, plagiarizes, or furnishes false, misleading information to the College is subject to disciplinary action up to and including failure of a class or suspension/expulsion from the College."
No credit will be given for plagiarized assignments. The program director or chairperson will be notified when plagiarism is discovered. As the policy states, a student who plagiarizes may be dropped from a course, failed in the course, suspended from the college, or expelled from the college, depending on the seriousness of the case as determined by the instructor and administration.
Stealing Your Education
The most serious offenses are having someone else write a paper for you, turning in someone else's paper as your own, or downloading a paper from the Internet. Right behind these is the common practice of cutting and pasting large sections of source material into your essays as if the writing were your own. These kinds of plagiarism are inexcusably dishonest and particularly insulting to instructors, not to mention a waste of the money and time you are investing in your education.
Although computers and the Internet make such practices relatively easy, don't be tempted! Know that your instructors become familiar with your writing style very quickly and can recognize the difference between student writing and professional writing at a glance. And the same Internet search capabilities that make plagiarism so easy make discovering it just as easy.
Understand Documentation
Much unintentional plagiarism results from inadequate documentation, because of a lack of understanding or laziness. Instruction for documentation is included in English 102 and other courses, but whether you have had such instruction or not, it is still your responsibility to understand how to document sources to avoid plagiarism. For every assignment, ask your instructor what documentation style he or she prefers (such as MLA or APA). Detailed explanations of documentation styles are included in most English textbooks, such as:
- The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing, 3rd edition, Chapter 23.
- The MLA Guide for the Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition.
Online, many resources are available, such as:
- MLA Citation Guide: Richland Community College Learning Resource Center
- MLA Citation Guide: Purdue University
- APA Format: University of Illinois
- Chicago/Turabian Documentation: University of Wisconsin
Understand Summary and Paraphrase
Most commonly, plagiarism is the result of sloppy paraphrasing or inadequate summarizing - too much of the original writer's phrasing is left intact in the student essay. Remember that even if such sentences are attributed to their sources, it is still a form of plagiarism, because anything that isn't in quotation marks is assumed to be your writing. For examples of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable summarizing and paraphrasing, see:
- "Avoiding Plagiarism" on page 629 of the Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing, 3rd edition.
- Chapter 2 "Plagiarism" in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition.
- "Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It" Indiana University Writing Center.
Understand What Is and Isn't "Common Knowledge"
Remember, too, that using a source's ideas or information without proper documentation, even if adequately summarized, is a form of plagiarism. The exception is for information or ideas considered to be common knowledge in the field. For the answer to these frequently asked questions:
- "Can't I avoid problems just by listing every source in the bibliography?"
- "If I put the ideas into my own words, do I still have to clog up my pages with all those names and numbers?"
- "But I didn't know anything about the subject until I started this paper. Do I have to give an acknowledgement for every point I make?"
- "So what exactly do I have to document?"
see "How Not to Plagiarize" from the University of Toronto.
For more information
For an excellent overview of plagiarism and documentation, with links to many other helpful resources, see "Preventing Plagiarism - A Guide for Students" from Millkin University's Staley Library.
For Instructors
For excellent advice and resources to help discourage student plagiarism in your classes and to identify plagiarized essays, see "Preventing and Detecting Plagiarism" from Millikin University's Staley Library.
