apa style and plagiarism
Department of adult and higher education
Plagiarism
Plagiarism and academic integrity are important issues in academia. It
is important to understand the basic principles of how to avoid plagarizing,
and part of this involves understanding the differences between acceptable
and unacceptable paraphrasing. It is also important to have an awareness
of other writing issues, such as knowing how to quote correctly, knowing how
to document sources properly, and the importance of careful proofreading. This
section will review these issues and provide strategies for avoiding plagiarism.
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the use of someone else's work or ideas without appropriate
attribution or citation. NC State University, in the Code
of Student Conduct [CSC], specifically defines plagiarism in the following
way:
- "Submitting written materials without proper acknowledgement of the
source." [CSC, 10.1]
- "Deliberate attribution to, or citation of, a source from which the
referenced material was not in fact obtained." [CSC, 10.2]
Academic Integrity Defined: 5
Reasons Why Knowing About Plagiarism Is Important
1. "The free exchange of ideas depends on the participants' trust that
they will be given credit for their work." [NCSU CSC, 7.1]
2. "Furthermore, as a reader you may want to follow other writers' paths
of research in order to make your own judgements about their evidence and arguments." [NCSU
CSC, 7.2]
3. "The free exchange of ideas also depends on the participants' trust
that others' work is their own and that it was done and is being reported honestly." [NCSU
CSC, 7.3]
4. "Plagiarism and cheating are attacks on the very foundation of academic
life, and cannot be tolerated within universities." [NCSU CSC, 7.4]
5.
As an educator, you will want to be able to model and teach the principles
of academic integrity for your students.
Unintentional Plagiarism
The basic concept behind plagiarism and academic integrity is easy to understand:
give credit where credit is due. However, the issues behind unintentional plagiarism
are perhaps a bit more subtle. They can include correctable
research and writing issues such as:
By developing information literacy skills, knowledge,
and understanding, a writer will be less likely to plagiarize unintentionally
and will be better prepared to incorprate resources and information into their
writing in an appropriate and cohensive manner.
Resources:
Paper Writing Toolkit - http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/toolkits/paperwriting/
Common Writing
Assignments - http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Assignments.html (Univ.
of Wisconsin-Madison)
Literature Review
Annotated Bibliography
How Can You Avoid Plagiarizing?
- Always provide accurate and appropriate attribution
when you make use of someone else's work or ideas. Incorrect documentation
of sources can still be considered falsification of information, and thus
a form of plagiariasm, even if it is unintentional.
- Provide attribution/citation when quoting, summarizing, paraphrasing, borrowing,
and/or referring to another person's spoken written or words. This includes
data, ideas, observations, interpretations, concepts, examples, methodology/logic/analysis,
and facts (especially those that are not general knowledge).
- When paraphrasing, rewrite statements completely in your own words (do
not just change and/or rearrange a few words/phrases).
- Know how to quote
correctly.
- When in doubt, cite!
Resources:
Avoiding Plagiarizing
- http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/ (OWL)
Avoiding Plagiarism
- http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/plagiar.html (Northwestern)
Plagiarism:
What it is and How to Recognize and Avoid it - http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml (Indiana)
Acceptable vs. Unacceptable Paraphrasing
Source: Plagiarism:
What it is and How to Recognize and Avoid it - http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml (Indiana)
Unacceptable paraphrasing occurs when:
- "the writer has only changed around a few words and phrases, or changed
the order of the original’s sentences."
- "the writer has failed to cite a source for any of the ideas or facts."
Acceptable paraphrasing:
- "accurately relays the information in the original."
- uses the writer's own wording, where both the structure and the words have
been modified from the original source.
- provides the reader with the source of the information.
Quoting appropriately:
- "records the information in the original passage accurately."
- "gives credit for the ideas" conveyed in the quotation.
- clearly indicates what information comes specifically from the source by
using quotation marks and proper citation of the page number and source.
Example: Successful
vs. Unsuccessful Paraphrases (U. Wisc.-Madison)
Example: How
to Recognize Unacceptable and Acceptable Paraphrases (Indiana)
Additional Information: Quoting
and Paraphrasing Sources - http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuotingSources.html (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison)
Resources and Additional Information
Plagiarism
Tutorial (Scholarly Communication Center) - http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/scc/tutorial/plagiarism/index.html
Research Administration (SPARCS) - http://www.ncsu.edu/sparcs/compliance/integrity/plagiarism.html
Research and Professional Ethics Program -- http://www.chass.ncsu.edu/ethics/page.php?name=inst_mod
Plagiarism Educational Module (Rutgers University) - http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/
NCSU Code of Student Conduct
Center for Academic Integrity
Librarian Contact Information
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