Plagiarism

What is plagiarism?

Using the work of another person and passing it off as your own.

Plagiarism & AVC

• “Students are always responsible for any plagiarism in their work.”

• AVC Student Code of Conduct, Sec. 6032.1a

• “An instructor who determines that a student has cheated or plagiarized has the right to give an ‘F’ grade for the assignment.”

• AVC Student Code of Conduct, Sec. 6032.1b

Contradictions?

• Develop a topic based on what has already been said and written

• Rely on experts' and authorities' opinions

• Give credit to previous researchers

• BUT, Write somethingnew and original.

• BUT, Improve upon and/or disagree with those same opinions.

• BUT, Make your own     contribution.

From Purdue Univ Online Writing Lab OWL): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/

Examples of Plagiarism

• Downloading a web page and turning it in. • Rearranging words slightly, without a

citation.• Rearranging words and using synonyms,

without a citation.• Copying a whole paragraph, quoting one

section and passing the rest off as yours while citing only the quote.

Examples of Plagiarism

• Taking several papers by the same author, blending them together.

• Purchasing a paper.

• Having a friend or family member write it for you.

What are signs that usually indicate plagiarism?

• A sophisticated writing style above the grade level of the student.

• A dramatic change in writing ability.– This usually indicates a paper that is partially written

by the student and partially plagiarized from someone with a much higher level of education.

• Outdated references.– This is usually a paper that has been purchased from a

service called a “paper mill.” Many of these papers are very old (some as much as twenty years) with citations equally as old.

What are signs that usually indicate plagiarism?

• References don’t relate to the paper.– This is also common with purchased papers.

• No list of works cited.

How to avoid plagiarism.

• Take good notes and be sure to indicate what information is yours and what has been taken or quoted from another source.– This does not include general knowledge.

• Always use quotation marks (“ “) for exact quotes.

• Check paraphrases against the original text and, if unsure, cite it.

turnitin.com

• It uses software that compares student papers to all other student papers submitted as well as the World Wide Web and a database of journal articles and books.

• As at most colleges and universities, cases of plagiarism have been increasing at AVC over the last few years.

A Case of Plagiarism

• University of Virginia – Charlottesville– In 2001 an examination of physics papers by software

found 158 cases of plagiarism.– The investigation ended in November of 2002 with 45

students being dismissed from the school and three graduates having their degrees revoked.

Source: cnn.com (http://archives.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/26/uva.plagiarism.ap/)

Plagiarism Statistics

• UC Berkeley estimates that cheating on their campus increased 744 percent between 1988 and 1997.

Source: Community College Week July, 2002

Plagiarism Statistics

• 80% of “high-achieving” high school students admit cheating. (US News & World Report, 1999).

• 15% of college students said they purchased papers from a paper mill. (McCabe & Trevino, 1996).

• 68% of students at Rutgers University admit to cheating. (Rutgers University Survey, 2007).

• Plagiarism.org