Your Research Paper Will Be a Combination of Your Own Writing and Information Learned From

PLAGIARISM

Your research paper will be a combination of your own writing and information learned from other authors. These authors must be given credit. You are plagiarizing someone else’s writing when you don’t cite them.

Oakton Community College’s 2002 course catalog defines plagiarism as “presenting the work of another as one’s own (i.e. without proper acknowledgement of the source or sources) or submitting material that is not entirely the student’s own work without attributing the unoriginal portions to their correct sources. The sole exception to the requirement of acknowledging sources occurs when ideas or information are common knowledge”. (62)

There are two basic ways in which you may make use of someone else’s work:

a.Direct Quotation. This involves lifting whole passages word for word from someone else’s work. A direct quotation requires you to correctly use quotation marks (“ “) and to correctly cite the source of the quotation. Direct quotes are appropriate when the phrasing is unique and you want to capture the author’s exact meaning.

b.Paraphrasing. This involves making use of someone else’s ideas but putting them into your own words. Paraphrasing does not involve merely altering a few words, or changing the word or sentence order in minute ways. To correctly paraphrase something you must both capture the meaning of the original piece and do so in (more or less) wholly new language. Paraphrasing does not necessarily require quotation marks but always requires an appropriate citation. Using statistics, graphs, charts or other quantifiable information also always requires the correct use of citation.

Given the above, there are six possible ways of committing plagiarism.

a.Improper Quotation. An improper quotation involves a failure to either use quotation marks correctly, or to cite the source correctly, or both.

1)If you lift a passage from another author word for word without quotation marks and without citation, you are effectively stealing that other person’s work and passing it off as your own. Even if this is unintentional, it is the practical result of your action.

2)The same is true if you use quotes but offer no citation, or

3) Use a citation but do not use quotes.

b.Incorrect/Inappropriate Paraphrasing. An inappropriate paraphrase involves:

1)Passing off a direct quote as a paraphrase. Even if you cite the source correctly, you are still suggesting that the work is your paraphrase when it is in fact a word for word quote.

2)If you merely change a few words, or alter the sentence structure or order, without actually putting the passage in your own words, whether or not you cite correctly, this is still plagiarism.

3)Even if you paraphrase correctly but fail to cite, it is plagiarism.

OCC responds with penalties if you are caught plagiarizing someone else’s work. Among these possible penalties are failing the assignment, failing the course, suspension, and “notation on the transcript indicating suspension for academic dishonesty” (63). These are all serious penalties.

Since we have discussed this in class, I will not accept any plea of ignorance as exculpatory if I detect that you have plagiarized. If you are caught, the minimum penalty you can expect is an F on the assignment, and I will consider initiating the other penalties as well.