EFF: Lesson - Checking for Plagiarism

Checking for Plagiarism

A stick figure chases another stick figure holding a light bulb (idea)
There is a fine line between using another's ideas responsibly and outright plagiarism. Be careful not to cross that line!

Plagiarism

Plagiarism – it’s a term that you’ve most likely heard many times before you entered this class. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden, mainly due to the fact that it is a type of theft. Simply put, plagiarism is taking someone else’s ideas or words and masquerading them as your own. Plagiarism can result in severe consequences: receiving 0s on major assignments, dismissal from academic programs, and in some cases even legal ramifications. However, what many students fail to realize is that plagiarism at times can be unintentional; in fact, more times than not plagiarism can be completely innocent and accidental.

Intentional Plagiarism

This type of plagiarism is often malicious in nature. Intentional plagiarism can occur when:

  • Students buy or borrow a paper (or part of a paper) from a website/service.
  • Students use material (visual, audial, or textual) without permission from publishers.
  • Students purposefully copy and paste chunks of text into their own paper without citing the source.

This type of plagiarism is what most people think of when they hear the term. However, did you know the following can also constitute plagiarism?

Unintentional Plagiarism

This type of plagiarism is fairly common in the classroom; it is the result of poor writing practices that can occur when:

  • Students paraphrase poorly, often using too many of the same terms from the original text.
  • Students use citations improperly; for example, they many use a different author name than is present in the source.
  • Students quote excessively; at times most of their paragraph might consist of quoted material.
  • Students mimic the style of a source, letting it dominate their writing.

Avoiding Plagiarism

As an online student, many of your assignments will be automatically checked by Turnitin (or a program like it). Turnitin is a platform that checks papers for originality, AI-generated responses, and plagiarism. You may have seen a Turnitin report for one of your assignments or had an instructor cover it in a synchronous session at some point. However, to avoid issues with plagiarism, there are many things you can do ahead of time before submitting an assignment.

First, and most importantly, avoid intentional plagiarism. Simply do not copy or paste anything you encounter in your studies. Secondly, make sure you are citing your sources properly and consistently. The earlier Writer’s Workshop module covers MLA guidelines in detail, but you can always visit helpful sites such as Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) or consult a citation style manual to ensure you are citing sources correctly. Your online school likely also provides resources to help with finding sources and properly citing them. Of course, if you can’t decide whether or not something constitutes plagiarism, check with your instructor.

Practice Activity

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