Plagiarism is literary theft. When a person takes the thoughts or writings of another and presents them as her own, without acknowledging the original source, she commits the act of plagiarism.
Common ways students plagiarize:
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copying from another source, such as a magazine or web article, without acknowledging the author of the article; | |
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integrating sentences or paragraphs from another source into their own work; | |
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copying, with or without changes, an entire article, paper, chapter or even an essay written by another student. |
If plagiarism is confirmed, there are several possible courses of action:
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the piece of work will be failed, without an opportunity to "make it up;" | |
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a face-to-face meeting of instructor and student will be arranged to discuss the plagiarism; | |
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if necessary, an appointment with the Dean, the instructor and the student will be arranged; and | |
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in extreme cases, failure of the course. |
Avoiding the problem:
- If you borrow words, sentences, or paragraphs directly from another source, put the borrowed words in quotation marks and treat them as a quotation. Use MLA documentation to cite your source.
- When paraphrasing, introduce the paraphrase with the article's author and title.
- If you use other authors' ideas, give them credit by using an in-text citation.
- If you summarize a piece of writing in your
paper, be sure to acknowledge the author.
10/21/1995
by Dr. Jan Strever