PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism, or copying other people's work and presenting it as your work, is considered very serious in the United States. In general, we think of it as a kind of cheating or stealing. You are taking someone else's work and ideas. Because of this, people have sometimes failed classes, been kicked out of school or lost their jobs because of plagiarism.
Below is a text taken from the internet, followed by examples of plagiarism.
Original text from:
A pet is an animal kept for companionship and enjoyment, as opposed to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive appearance, or for their song. Pets also generally seem to provide their owners with non-trivial health benefits; keeping pets has been shown to help relieve stress. There is now a medically-approved class of "therapy animals," mostly dogs, who are brought to visit confined humans. Walking a dog can provide both the owner and the dog with exercise, fresh air, and social interaction.
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The most clear example of plagiarism is where the person uses all the exact same words. In addition, there are other types of plagiarism.
Examples of other types of plagiarism:
(1) Some of the "new" writer's own words are added, and some of the original paragraph is left out. This is still plagiarism.
Many people like pets because a pet is kept for companionship and enjoyment not for economic reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive appearance, or for their song. Pets also generally seem to provide their owners with non-trivial health benefits; keeping pets has been shown to help relieve stress. Walking a dog can provide both the owner and the dog with exercise, fresh air, and social interaction.
(2) The "new" writer changes a lot of words, but keeps the same ideas and some of the same words.
Many people like pets because a pet is a good companion and you get enjoyment from a pet. You do not have a pet for economic reasons. The pets people like the most are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive appearance, or for their song. Pets also generally seem to provide their owners with positive health benefits; keeping pets has been shown to help relieve stress. Walking a dog can provide both the owner and the dog with exercise, fresh air, and social interaction.
(3) All the words are changed, but the "new" writer keeps most or all of the original writer's ideas.
Many people like pets because a pet is a good companion and you get enjoyment from a pet. You do not have a pet for economic reasons. The pets people like the most show a lot of loyalty, like to play, are pretty, or (with birds) sing well. Pets also are good for their owner's health. For example, pets help decrease stress. In another example, people who walk their dogs get to exercise, spend time outside, and many times talk with other people who are walking their dogs.
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How to include credit for another person's words:
Many people like pets because a pet is a good companion and you get enjoyment from a pet. You do not have a pet for economic reasons. The pets people like the most are, "noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive appearance, or for their song" ( Pets also generally seem to provide their owners with positive "health benefits; keeping pets has been shown to help relieve stress. Walking a dog can provide both the owner and the dog with exercise, fresh air, and social interaction" (
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In this class, we are working on learning to develop our own ideas and use our own words. Sometimes we practice structure by using the examples in the book to guide our writing. In other classes you will learn more about doing research and using it in your writing. For our assignments, unless your assignment specifically tell you to use other people's writing (such as examples from the book), please develop your own ideas and write using your own words.