Plagiarism: Don’t Kidnap Someone’s Ideas
Chris just found some good stuff on the Web for his social studies research paper on Abe Lincoln. He highlights a paragraph that explains why Lincoln was assassinated. Chris copies it and pastes it into his paper. He quickly changes the font so it matches the rest of the paper and continues his research. Uh-oh. Chris just made a big mistake. Do you know what he did? He committed plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you use someone else's words or ideas and pass them off as your own. It's not allowed in school, college, or beyond, so it's a good idea to learn the proper way to use resources, such as websites, books, and magazines.
Plagiarism is a form of cheating, but it's a little complicated so a student might do it without understanding that it's wrong. Chris should have given the author and the website credit for the information. Why? Because Chris didn't know this information before he came to the website. These aren't his thoughts or ideas. The word plagiarism comes from a Latin word for kidnapping. You know that kidnapping is stealing a person. Well, plagiarism is stealing a person's ideas or writing. You wouldn't take someone's lunch money or bike, right? Well, someone's words and thoughts are personal property, too.
All this shouldn't make you nervous to use websites, books, and other sources. It's great that you can get information from experts on topics you don't know much about. You just have to make sure to show where the information came from. If you do that, you're in the clear.
Did I mean to do that?
It's not always easy to tell what's plagiarism and what's not. Sometimes, it's accidental — you really intended to do your own work, but instead ended up with some sentences that sound just like something you've read. You might not be doing it intentionally, but if you don't identify the original source, you're risking a lot of trouble. So even if you put the information into your own words, you still should list the source. Ask yourself, "Would I know this if I hadn't read it on that website or in that book?" If the answer is no, list the source.
Though plagiarism can be accidental, it's sometimes done on purpose and that's just being lazy. By copying whole paragraphs from different places, a student doesn't have to spend the time thinking about the subject, gathering his or her own thoughts about it, and then putting it into original words. Cut, paste, and you're done.
But this is a shortcut that will probably catch up with a student, even if he or she doesn't get caught for plagiarism. It's important for students to be able to research a subject, think about it, and then come up with something interesting to say. This skill is important in middle school, high school, college, and beyond. A student who just lifts an entire research paper won't get the practice needed to become good at this. Ask yourself, "Am I using this to avoid doing my own work? Is it easier just to copy this?" If the answer is yes, beware. You just might be plagiarizing.
Plagiarism Check List
- Did I create Bibliography or Work Cited?
- Did I keep track of what information came from what sources using notecards?
- When I used direct quotes from the source did I use quotation marks?
- When I put ideas into my own words did I remember to give credit to the original author?
- Did I ask my teacher for help if I was unsure how to list a source?
Quick Guide
The following are examples of what should be cited in a research paper. Whether the information comes from books, encyclopedias, online databases, websites, even videos they ALL need to be properly cited. Citations give credibility to your paper and gives proper credit where due (it also means you didn’t plagiarize!).
Direct Quote: Using the author's exact words. Always cite it and use "quotation marks."
Summarizing: Condensing the author's words or ideas without altering the meaning or providing interpretation—you use your own words for this. Basically, presenting the original information in a nutshell. Always cite it.
Paraphrasing: Restating, in your own words, the author's words or ideas without altering the meaning or providing interpretation. Paraphrases are about the same length as the original. Always cite it.
True Plagiarism Horror Stories
Most schools are pretty strict about plagiarism. If you're caught, you can wind up suspended or worse. At the very least, you're probably going to fail the assignment. When you're older and in college, some schools will expel students who plagiarize. To be expelled means to be kicked out. And when you're kicked out of one college, it can be hard to get into another. Also, when you apply for a job someday you want to be able to say, "I graduated from Supersmart University in 2020." You don't want to have to explain how Supersmart University kicked you out! Here are some True Plagiarism Horror Stories to think about:
- A well-known historian was recently involved in a big plagiarism scandal. After receiving her PhD from Harvard University, she enjoyed a successful career teaching, publishing, making regular television appearances and more. She even won a Pulitzer Prize in 1995. So what happened? It was discovered that large passages of her book were taken from an earlier work by someone else—with no attributions to the original source. Faced with accusations of plagiarism, the publisher settled with the author of the original work out of court. Her excuse? Oops—she says she got her notes mixed up and confused direct quotes from outside sources for her own thoughts. Her reputation as an historian and award-winning author was tarnished forever.
- A teacher assigned his class to attend a concert and write an original review. When grading the students' work, he was struck by a review of a B.B. King performance and was impressed by the student's insightful comments. As the instructor read on, he was struck again when the student elaborated on B.B. King's "slim build" and "youthful appearance." The instructor googled a few phrases from the student's review and in 0.2 seconds, there it was—the full review of a 1962 B.B. King performance as written by...well, not the student since he hadn't even been born yet. This student failed the course and had to repeat the following semester.
- While grading papers, a college professor came across one that sounded strangely familiar. He paused for a moment and then it came to him, "Hey! This is my writing!" The student had plagiarized an essay that was written by the very person teaching the class! This student was expelled (kicked out) from the school for this mishap and lost all credits they had received (hint this was a very expensive mistake!!)
Work Cited (see even teachers do it!!)
"Oops, I Plagiarized." Oops, I Plagiarized. UCLA, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
"What Is Plagiarism?" KidsHealth. Ed. Steven Dowshen. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Sept. 2011. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.