Understanding Plagiarism
In our last section, we learned the fundamentals of what a citation is and why giving credit is so important. Now, let's explore the serious consequence of not citing: plagiarism.
What is Plagiarism?
At its core, plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's ideas or work as your own original ideas or work. It's a form of cheating and academic fraud.
Think of it this way: when you use information or ideas from an outside source like a textbook, website, or research article, you are using material that belongs to the original author or creator. If you use that material without acknowledging where it came from, you are falsely portraying someone else's ideas as your own.
- To steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own.
- To use another's production without crediting the source.
- To commit literary theft – essentially, signing your name to the work of another person.
- To present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source without acknowledging that existing source.
In simplest terms, plagiarism is an act of fraud because it involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.
Can Words and Ideas Really Be Stolen?
Yes, they can!
According to U.S. law, the expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property. This intellectual property is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression are protected by copyright as long as they are recorded in some way, like in a book or a computer file.
Therefore, using someone else's original expression without permission or proper credit is indeed a form of theft.
How Plagiarism Happens (It's More Than Just Copying!)
Many actions count as plagiarism:
- Turning in someone else's work as your own.
- Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit.
- Failing to put a direct quotation in quotation marks. If you use an author's exact words, phrases, or sentences, you must put them in quotation marks (or block indent longer quotes) and cite the source. Not using quotation marks for copied words is plagiarism.
- Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation (this is also called false citation, another form of cheating).
- Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit.
- Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not. (This can relate to "fair use" rules, which are complex).
Let's look closer at two common ways plagiarism occurs:
1. Paraphrasing Without Proper Attribution
Paraphrasing means taking content or ideas from a source and rephrasing or summarizing the information concisely in your own words.
Crucially, paraphrasing does NOT mean merely changing a word or two or reordering the concepts from the original text. You must use your own words and your own phrasing to replace those of the source.
Even though you are using your own words, you MUST still cite the original source from which you obtained the content or idea, both in-text and in your references list. If you paraphrase a source but fail to cite it, you are committing plagiarism.