Plagiarism Exercises

PLAGIARISM EXERCISES

(Pearson/Longman)

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

(1) Provide clear attribution of outside sources; this can be done with parenthetical citations, lead-in or signal phrases, or a combination thereof. Attributions may contain the name of the author and that individual's professional affiliation or the name of the organization that provided the information for your paper. Introductory phrases such as "Sheila Costas observes" or "According to the President's Initiative on Race" clearly identify your source and incorporate the information smoothly into your paper. To learn more about attribution and to test your knowledge, go to Attribution

(2) Identify all words and phrases taken from sources by enclosing them within quotation marks, unless those words or phrases are commonly used expressions or clichés. To learn more about quotes and to test your knowledge, go to Quotation Marks

(3) Follow all quotations, paraphrases, and summaries of outside sources with appropriate and complete citations. You may omit a citation only when the information that you have included in your attribution is sufficient to identify the source in your bibliography and no page number is needed. Citations should immediately follow the material being quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. To learn more about citations and to test your knowledge, go to Citation

(4) Use your own words and sentence structure when you paraphrase. A paraphrase should capture a specific idea from a source but must not duplicate the writer's phrases and words. To learn more about paraphrasing and to test your knowledge, go to Paraphrase

(5) Be certain that all summaries and paraphrases of your sources are accurate and objective. You must clearly distinguish your own views and ideas from those of your sources. To learn more about accurate and objective representation of sources and to test your knowledge, go to Loyalty to Source

(6) Include all of the sources cited in your paper in the Works Cited list that follows the body of your paper. Be sure that all of the required information for each entry is accurate and complete. To learn more about a References list and to test your knowledge, go to Works Cited

(7) Provide documentation for all visual images, charts, and graphs from printed or electronic sources. Be certain to accurately record the URL for Internet sources so that your citation will be correct. Images, charts, and graphs require documentation whether they are "pasted" into your paper as illustrations or summarized within the text of your paper. To learn more about documenting visuals and to test your knowledge, go to Citation for Images

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ATTRIBUTION

Read the excerpt below and the example of plagiarism that follows it. When you are familiar with the issue, test your knowledge with the six practice exercises.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

What accounts for the government's ineptitude in safeguarding our privacy rights? Is privacy regarded by ordinary citizens and public policy makers as a trivial right unworthy of their attention? Or are we powerless victims of technology that has stripped away our privacy without our ability to recognize what was happening? (Spinello 9)

Works Cited

Spinello, Richard A. "The End of Privacy." America 4 Jan. 1997: 9-13.

Example of plagiarism:

The greatest threat to privacy may be our failure to recognize that it is being eroded by the very technology that many regard as beneficial, particularly the use of computers for commercial transactions. Electronic money transfers and credit card purchases over the Internet expose important private information about our finances to unscrupulous hackers. "[A]re we powerless victims of technology that has stripped away our privacy without our ability to recognize what was happening?" (9).

What's wrong?

There is no lead-in or signal phrase that provides attribution to the source (in italics), and no author is identified in the citation.

Correction:

The greatest threat to privacy may be our failure to recognize that it is being eroded by the very technology that many regard as beneficial, particularly the use of computers for commercial transactions. Electronic money transfers and credit card purchases over the Internet expose important private information about our finances to unscrupulous hackers. Journalist Richard A. Spinello raises this question when he asks, "[A]re we powerless victims of technology that has stripped away our privacy without our ability to recognize what was happening?" (9). Unfortunately, it may be ignorance, not apathy, that is creating the problem.

The greatest threat to privacy may be our failure to recognize that it is being eroded by the very technology that many regard as beneficial, particularly the use of computers for commercial transactions. Electronic money transfers and credit card purchases over the Internet expose important private information about our finances to unscrupulous hackers. Journalist Richard A. Spinello asks whether we have become "powerless victims of technology that has stripped away our privacy without our ability to recognize what was happening" (9). Unfortunately, it may be ignorance, not apathy, that is creating the problem.

What's right?

Both examples provide a lead-in or signal phrase that identifies the source.

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PRACTICE #1

You have written a research paper on how advertisers use magazines and other media to guide consumers' choices and have used the following paragraph from an article that addresses issues related to your subject. The article is by Eric Haley, a professor in the Department of Advertising at the University of Tennessee, and Anne Cunningham, a professor in the Manship School of Communication at Louisiana State University. Before handing in your paper to your instructor, you realize that you have neglected to include lead-in or signal phrases or page number citations to indicate the source of your material. First, read the paragraph from the original source. Then, correct the excerpts that following by adding the necessary lead-in or signal phrases and the appropriate page number citations.

ORIGINAL SOURCE
Another way an advertiser can influence magazine content is by requesting that specific material be included to showcase the marketer's product. Examples of this practice are product placements and editorial mentions of the product within editorial content (Haley and Cunningham 176).

Haley, Eric, and Anne Cunningham. "Readers' Perspectives on Advertising's Influence in Women's Magazines: Thoughts on Two Practices". Mass Communication & Society 6.2 (2003): 175- 190.

(1) Correct the following excerpt:

Excerpt 1 Buying ads in magazines is an obvious way advertisers bring their products to the attention of consumers. "Another way an advertiser can influence magazine content is by requesting that specific material be included to showcase the marketer's product."

(2) Correct the following excerpt:

Excerpt 2 When you read a magazine, you may notice that the pictures accompanying articles contain recognizable products, including some with the brand names showing and other whose brand is likely to be familiar to readers. The pictures are providing "product placements" that act as ads even though they appear to be parts of the articles.
(3) Correct the following excerpt:

Excerpt 3 Advertisers may choose an even more indirect way to get their products noticed by readers. They can encourage "editorial mentions of the product within editorial content," so that readers think they are getting an editor's opinions and ideas when they are actually getting an advertiser's message.

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ANSWERS

(1) Does your response include the following three elements?

A lead-in or signal phrase to indicate the source.
Quotation marks before and after the quotation.
A citation immediately following the quoted material.

Your correction is likely to vary, but here is a possible response:

Buying ads in magazines is an obvious way advertisers bring their products to the attention of consumers. According to Eric Haley and Anne Cunningham, "Another way an advertiser can influence magazine content is by requesting that specific material be included to showcase the marketer's product" (176).

(2) Does your response include the following three elements?

A lead-in or signal phrase to indicate the source.
Quotation marks before and after the quotation.
A citation immediately following the quoted material.

Your correction is likely to vary, but here is a possible response:

When you read a magazine, you may notice that the pictures accompanying articles contain recognizable products, including some with the brand names showing and others whose brand is likely to be familiar to readers. The pictures are providing what Haley and Cunningham call "product placements" (176) that act as ads, even though they appear to be parts of the articles.

(3) Does your response include the following three elements?

A lead-in or signal phrase to indicate the source.
Quotation marks before and after the quotation.
A citation immediately following the quoted material.

Your correction is likely to vary, but here is a possible response:

Advertisers may choose an even more indirect way to get their products noticed by readers. As Eric Haley and Anne Cunningham point out, they can encourage "editorial mentions of the product within editorial content" (176), so that readers think they are getting an editor's opinions and ideas when they are actually getting an advertiser's message.

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PRACTICE #2

Works Cited

Haley, Eric, and Anne Cunningham. "Readers' Perspectives on Advertising's Influence in Women's Magazines: Thoughts on Two Practices". Mass Communication & Society 6.2 (2003): 175- 190.

(1) Correct the following excerpt:

Excerpt 1

Buying ads in magazines is an obvious way advertisers bring their products to the attention of consumers. "Another way an advertiser can influence magazine content is by requesting that specific material be included to showcase the marketer's product."

(2) Correct the following excerpt:

Excerpt 2

When you read a magazine, you may notice that the pictures accompanying articles contain recognizable products, including some with the brand names showing and other whose brand is likely to be familiar to readers. The pictures are providing "product placements" that act as ads even though they appear to be parts of the articles.

(3) Correct the following excerpt:

Excerpt 3

Advertisers may choose an even more indirect way to get their products noticed by readers. They can encourage "editorial mentions of the product within editorial content," so that readers think they are getting an editor's opinions and ideas when they are actually getting an advertiser's message.

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ANSWERS

(1) Does your response include the following three elements?

A lead-in or signal phrase to indicate the source.
Quotation marks before and after the quotation.
A citation immediately following the quoted material.

Your correction is likely to vary, but here is a possible response:

Buying ads in magazines is an obvious way advertisers bring their products to the attention of consumers. According to Eric Haley and Anne Cunningham, "Another way an advertiser can influence magazine content is by requesting that specific material be included to showcase the marketer's product" (176).

(2) Your correction is likely to vary, but here is a possible response:

(3) Your correction is likely to vary, but here is a possible response:

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PRACTICE #3

Suppose you are preparing a research paper on vocational education programs in secondary schools. You have encountered evidence that these programs are often more challenging intellectually than many people suppose. Read the following paragraphs from the book The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker by Mike Rose, a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

ORIGINAL SOURCE
Several times during the construction of the first wall cabinet-the one with the puzzling 67-inch top-Felipe would comment on the mathematics involved in cabinet assembly. And I asked him about it myself. His comments were a bit contradictory, and the contradiction resonated with something that was vexing me as well. At times he would note that the math is "simple," "just numbers," "only fractions." At other times, though, even within the same few sentences, his face registering perplexity, he would observe that "a lot of math is involved" and that "it's difficult." Felipe has taken algebra and is currently enrolled in college math; he knows what more advanced mathematics looks like. On the face of it, the math involved in cabinet assembly is pretty simple: reading a ruler; adding and subtracting (and less frequently, multiplying and dividing) whole numbers, mixed numbers, and fractions; working with the basic properties of squares and rectangles. Yet, he says, "there's so many pieces you need to take into consideration, otherwise, you'll mess up somewhere"(Rose 95)

Works Cited

Rose, Mike. The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker. New York: Viking, 2004.