Overview
This lecture explains the ethical, academic, and professional importance of avoiding plagiarism, describes its main forms, and outlines correct ways to reference others’ work.
Importance of Plagiarism
- Plagiarism is an ethical, academic, and professional violation with serious consequences, including failing grades or dismissal.
- Outside academia, plagiarism can harm reputations and careers.
What is Plagiarism?
- Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas as your own without proper referencing.
- Applies to all types of assignments: papers, case briefs, discussions, exams, and reading reviews.
Forms of Plagiarism
- Global plagiarism: copying an entire passage from a single source as your own.
- Patchwork plagiarism: combining ideas or language from multiple sources as your own.
- Incremental plagiarism: failing to credit specific parts of borrowed material.
Avoiding Plagiarism
- Avoid copying and pasting material; always record URLs for citation.
- Properly cite, paraphrase, and summarize other’s work.
- Integrate quotations with your own ideas and support arguments, don’t let them stand alone.
Using Sources Correctly
- Quotations: must be identical to the source, enclosed in quotation marks, and include an in-text citation with page or paragraph number.
- Paraphrasing: restate source material in your own words, shorter than the original, and cite the source.
- Summarizing: condense main ideas or themes in your own words, significantly shorter, and cite the source.
Best Practices and Feedback
- Use direct quotes for emphasis or accuracy, only from original sources.
- Develop skills in quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing as these will be used in most assignments.
- Read and follow feedback and course guidelines to improve these skills.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Plagiarism — presenting someone else's words or ideas as your own without proper citation.
- Global Plagiarism — copying all or most of a source and presenting it as original work.
- Patchwork Plagiarism — merging material from multiple sources and not citing them.
- Incremental Plagiarism — failing to credit specific borrowed content.
- Quotation — exact words from a source, used with quotation marks and citation.
- Paraphrasing — restating source content in your own words with citation.
- Summarizing — condensing the main ideas of a source in your own words with citation.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Avoid copying and pasting from sources.
- Practice quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing with correct citation.
- Review assignment feedback and course guidelines to further develop your skills.