This document provides an overview of plagiarism, including definitions, examples of famous plagiarism cases, and guidelines for properly citing sources and avoiding plagiarism. It distinguishes between directly quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing sources and provides examples of each. The document stresses the importance of properly citing sources to avoid plagiarism and provides guidance on using MLA, APA and CMS citation styles. It also directs students to academic resources for additional help with research skills and plagiarism.

1. Plagiarism 101
Larissa K. Garcia
Library Faculty
Triton College
Fall 2012

2. Plagiarism Defined
• The action or practice of taking someone else's work,
idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft.
The action or practice of taking someone else's work,
idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft.
To plagiarize: to take and use as one's own (the thoughts,
writings, or inventions of another person); to copy
(literary work or ideas) improperly or without
acknowledgement; (occas.) to pass off as one's own the
thoughts or work of (another).
(Oxford English Dictionary)

3. Famous Copyright
(Plagiarism!) Cases
Vanilla Ice vs. Queen & David Bowie
http://youtu.be/1s0hEi8zhmg
Shepard Fairey vs AP - Obama Hope Poster
http://tinyurl.com/5rsmwgu
Kaavya Viswanathan, Harvard University sophomore,
and How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a
Life
http://tinyurl.com/8blj45l

4. Why is it important not to plagiarize?
Integrity/trust damaged
Academic honesty discredited
Not learning proper scholarship: research, organizing
ideas, writing skills
It’s stealing: taking and using someone else’s
property…even if you steal from yourself
It could be a copyright law violation—penalties
include fines $$$

5. What’s considered
plagiarism
and what isn’t?

6. Considered Plagiarism
Handing in someone else’s work & claiming that it is your
own.
Using information or ideas that are NOT common
knowledge and failing to acknowledge that source.
Handing in the same paper for two different classes.
Using the exact language or expressions of a source and not
indicating through quotation marks and citation that the
language is borrowed.
Rewriting a passage from a source with minor substitutions
or different words but retaining the same [style] and structure
as the original.
(From Bruce Ballenger’s book, The Curious Researcher. New York: Pearson, 2004.)

7. What we don’t need to cite
Your own personal experiences, thoughts, & emotions
Your own artwork (but make it clear they are your own
work)
The results of your own lab or field experiments
Common knowledge = myths, urban legends, historical
events
Generally-accepted facts
Example: Fruits and vegetables are good for your
health.

8. Incorporate Research
into your Writing
Quotations: Identical to the original. Must give
credit to the original author
Paraphrasing: A passage from an original
source in your own words. Must give credit to the
original author
Summarizing: The main ideas in your own
words. Must give credit to the original author
"Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing." Purdue OWL
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/1/

9. How to cite:
MLA STYLE: MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers, 7th edition., J. Gibaldi (Modern
Language Assn. 2003)
APA STYLE: Publication Manual of the
American
Psychological Association, 5th Ed., American
Psychological Association (2001)
CMS: The Chicago Manual of Style documentation
(for published works primarily)

10. Determine whether the following
passages are a
Quotation
Paraphrase
Summary
Plagiarism

11. Quote, Paraphrase, Summary,
Plagiarism?
“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in
taking notes, and as a result they overuse
quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably
only about 10% of your final manuscript should
appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you
should strive to limit the amount of exact
transcribing of source materials while taking
notes.” Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers.
2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.
From Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/02/

13. Quote, Paraphrase, Summary,
Plagiarism?
In research papers students often quote
excessively, failing to keep quoted material
down to a desirable level. Since the
problem usually originates during note
taking, it is essential to minimize the
material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
From Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/02/

15. Quote, Paraphrase, Summary,
Plagiarism?
Students should take just a few notes in direct
quotation from sources to help minimize
the amount of quoted material in a research
paper (Lester 46-47).
From Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/02/

17. Quote, Paraphrase, Summary,
Plagiarism?
Students often use too many direct quotations
when they take notes, resulting in too many
of them in the final research paper. In fact,
probably only about 10% of the final copy
should consist of directly quoted material.
So it is important to limit the amount of
source material copied while taking notes.
From Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/02/

19. Still not sure? Visit ASC!
Academic Success Center
The Academic Success Center (ASC) at Triton
College provides free individual, small group, and
in-class academic support services [which]
include: tutoring, mentoring, learning
communities, academic study skills and college
life skills workshops.
The Writing Zone, A-314
PHONE: (708) 456-0300 Ext. 3341

20. Works Cited:
 Ballenger, Bruce. The Curious Researcher. New York: Pearson, 2004.
 Council of Writing Program Administrators. (2003). Defining and Avoiding
Plagiarism. http://wpacouncil.org/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf
 Juraga, Dubravka. (2010) Plagiarism 101
 Trio Scholar’s Program, University of Nevada, Reno. Plagiarism
Workshop.www.unr.edu/Documents/student.../trio/TRiOPlagiarismWorkshop.ppt
 Purdue OWL. (2012) Quoting, Paraphrasing, & Summarizing.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
 Oxford English Dictionary
 www.google.com/publicdata1,344,130,000 - 2011 Source: World Bank
 Zhou, David. (2006) “Examples of Similar Passages Between Viswanathan’s Book and
McCafferty’s Two Novels. The Harvard Crimson.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/4/23/examples-of-similar-passages-
between-viswanathans/
 Memmott, Mark. (2011). “Shepard Fairey and AP Settle Copyright Dispute Over
‘Hope’ Poster. NPR.org. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-
way/2011/01/12/132860606/shepard-fairey-and-ap-settle-copyright-dispute-over-
hope-poster