Plagiarism – Don’t do it!

Posted on March 14th, 2008

Plagiarism is theft of another’s words and ideas. It is unconscionable and unacceptable.

Plagiarism includes:

1) The direct quoting of another’s work without proper documentation. If you quote someone’s work, put quotation marks around it and cite it.

2) The paraphrasing of another’s work without proper documentation, even if you use your own writing style and vocabulary. If it’s someone else’s idea, then cite it as such. At the end of the sentence or paragraph, put the citation.

3) The slight rewording of a quote (this is what got historian Stephen Ambrose in trouble) is still plagiarism. Better to use the quote directly, putting it in quotation marks and citing it or rewrite it considerably and cite it.

What should you cite?

• Quotes. Always
• Authors’ arguments and ideas. Always
• Statistics. Statistics, particularly those that vary across sources, must be cited. (For example, cite where you get the Gross National Product of the United States).

What don’t you need to cite?

• Dates. Unless there is a discrepancy among authors, you do not need to cite dates something occurred (e.g., that Carter became President on January 20, 1977)
• Generally accepted figures. If there are figures that every author accepts or that are widely accepted estimates (e.g., that fifty million people died in WWII), you don’t need to cite it.
• Information that is common knowledge. This is admittedly vague. However, it can be information on which all authors on a given topic agree or it can even be knowledge that a well-informed person would have (the latter is more stringent and means that you’d cite more).

Rule of thumb: If you’re unsure whether or not to cite it, cite it! Better to over-cite than to under-cite.

— Reference: susqu.edu

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