Sample Scenarios

At the beginning of this chapter, you will read eight different scenarios. For each one, think about whether the behavior described would be plagiarism or not. At the end of this chapter, we will revisit these scenarios. Hopefully, you will have a better understanding of what constitutes plagiarism.

1. I conducted an “e-interview” of an expert for my economics paper. I sent her some questions via email, and she responded via email. I need to include a citation for the information, even though it came in email form.
2. I am running out of time on my project. My professor said to only use scholarly sources, but I can’t find enough material in those articles. It’s fine to cut and paste some minor facts from a Wikipedia page, and just leave that source out of my bibliography.
3. I am using the phrase, “A penny saved is a penny earned” in my paper. I will need to track down who originally said this and when, and cite that person in my paper.
4. I find a passage from a newspaper article that fits well with my essay. It’s fine to just change a few minor words around as long as I cite the source.
5. Instead of directly quoting my research, I paraphrase my sources, putting them into my own words. When I paraphrase, I not only have to list the sources in my bibliography, but have to use in-text citations too.
6. I did a semester-long internship at a middle school. I write about some of my personal experiences there in an essay for my sociology class. I don’t need to cite myself in my bibliography.
7. I interview my classmate about his views on global warming and he makes some great points. I do not need to cite these points if I use them in my paper on that topic.
8. When I took notes from my sources, I sometimes wrote down exact quotes, and sometimes paraphrased the sources in my notebook, but didn’t use quotation marks anywhere. Just to be safe, it’s best just to put quotation marks around everything that I use in my final research paper, even if some happen to not be actual quotes.

What is Academic Dishonesty?

Academic dishonesty or academic misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. It can include:

• Plagiarism: The adoption or reproduction of original creations of another author (person, collective, organization, community or other type of author, including anonymous authors) without due acknowledgment.
• Collusion: Unauthorized collaboration in preparing any work offered for credit.
• Fabrication: The falsification of data, information, or citations in any formal academic exercise.
• Deception: Providing false information to an instructor concerning a formal academic exercise—e.g., giving a false excuse for missing a deadline or falsely claiming to have submitted work.
• Cheating: Any attempt to obtain assistance in a formal academic exercise (like an examination) without due acknowledgment.
• Bribery or paid services: Giving assignment answers or test answers for money.
• Sabotage: Acting to prevent others from completing their work. This includes cutting pages out of library books or willfully disrupting the experiments of others.
• Professorial misconduct: Professorial acts that are academically fraudulent equate to academic fraud and/or grade fraud.
• Impersonation: Assuming a student’s identity with intent to provide an advantage for the student.

San Jac Student Code of Conduct Section 3.7 Academic Dishonesty

1. Making, possessing, or using any falsified College documents or records; altering any College document or record, including identification cards; providing false information on an admissions application or financial aid application; providing false information to College officials, faculty members or College offices, including disciplinary hearing bodies; intentionally withholding material information from College officials; making a false report to College police.
2. Knowingly passing insufficient fund checks or fraudulent money orders in payment of any financial obligation to the College.
3. Falsely claiming to represent the College or a registered student organization of the College.
4. Soliciting money from another student or students under the false claim of needing financial assistance for a family member or friend.
5. Stealing or misappropriating of registered student organization funds.
6. Misrepresenting facts for academic advantage, including, but  not  limited  to, providing false grades or resumes; providing false or misleading information in an effort to receive a postponement  or an extension on a test, quiz or other assignment for the purpose of obtaining an academic or financial benefit for oneself or another individual; and providing false or misleading information in an effort to injure another student academically or financially.
7. Using unauthorized, unapproved notes during a test, knowingly copying or obtaining information from another student during a test, or dishonesty of any kind during a test, including placement testing, that occurs in any of the College Testing Centers or at off-site testing labs for the purpose of completing a testing requirement for the College.

Cheating, plagiarism, collusion, or other forms of academic dishonesty fall within the jurisdiction of the Instructional Affairs Division. See the Student Handbook for detailed explanation of academic dishonesty and violations.

What is Plagiarism?

The Council of Writing Program Administrators defines plagiarism this way: “In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source.”

In college, plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty, and it can lead to a failing grade on an assignment or even the course. Plagiarism is not always intentional. Sometimes writers forget to copy down their sources in the notes. Nevertheless, even accidental plagiarism may result in serious trouble with your professors, your university, or your employer. So it is crucial that you understand the kinds of plagiarism and learn to avoid them.

David Callahan, author of The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to do Well, explains, if you’re cheating, you’re taking opportunities away from other people who genuinely worked hard for it. It’s not fair for you to get an advantage because you cheat, he stated in a July 2012 interview with NPR’s Emily Kaiser. And aside from the morality issue, cheating can have some pretty severe consequences. So if you happen to be tempted to cheat, remember that getting a poor grade on one assignment or project is a lot better than the alternatives.

The most obvious form of plagiarism occurs when someone hands in work that is not his or her own. Everyone, including professors, knows about “cheater Web sites” that sell or give away college papers. Everyone also knows about “borrowing” someone else’s paper. And everyone knows it’s easy to cut and paste a sample paper from the Internet. But if you can find it, there’s a good chance your professors can, too.

And yet, some students foolishly try to get away with these kinds of plagiarism. Your professors aren’t naïve. If you hand in a paper that’s not your own, you’re being dishonest. When students get caught, they receive a failing grade for the class, which looks bad on their transcripts and is difficult to explain to future employers or graduate school admissions committees. They might even be expelled. This kind of plagiarism is clearly intentional, and few people have sympathy for someone who is blatantly cheating.

Ironically, people who buy, download, or copy papers often spend more time and energy finding the paper and worrying about the consequences of getting caught than they would if they just wrote the paper themselves.

Types of Plagiarism

1. Brainchild Snatching: copying and pasting source information without citing the source, possibly using direct quotes or changing words
2. Kidnapping Ring: Brainchild Snatching from multiple sources in one paper
3. One-Sided Collaboration (Self-Plagiarism): Using papers or paragraphs you have written before, possibly for a past course, and presenting it as brand-new work
4. Patchwriting: cutting and pasting one or more paragraphs from a source, then altering words and sentences to make them look like your own.
5. Pervasively Paraphrased: passage after passage of too closely paraphrased text from multiple cited sources
6. Revealing While Concealing: selective amnesia regarding one’s sources to cover up wholly quotable and pervasively paraphrased issues in a paper. Some passages are meticulously quoted and cited, while others are presented as the writer’s own ideas.
7. Synonym Switcheroo: substituting a synonym for nearly every word, leaving the syntax and order of ideas the same
8. Variations on a Smoke Screen: multiple passages are paraphrased, then pasted together
9. Wholly Quotable: a paper that is made up of exclusively of other people’s ideas (even if cited correctly) and little to no original thoughts
10. Wild Goose Chase: fabricating authors, titles, page numbers, or other information about sources to cover up plagiarism
11. Unauthorized Collaboration: sharing answer amongst a study group to complete what are supposed to be individual assignments

The most common type of plagiarism is patchwriting. When done intentionally, patchwriting it clearly a form of academic dishonesty because the writer is presenting someone else’s ideas as his or her own without attribution. Some students have even tried to patchwrite an entire paper. They cut and paste several paragraphs from one source or a variety of sources. Then they add some transitions and a few of their own sentences, while alerting the words and sentences from the original. As a result, little of the paper is based on their own ideas. This kind of dishonesty usually leads to a failing grade for the assignment and for the course.

Patchwriting can happen unintentionally, especially when a writer copies sentences or paragraphs from a source and then forgets the material was taken from somewhere else. The writer might even cite the source, not realizing that the text that was included is too close to the original. Unfortunately, your professor cannot tell whether you were intentionally being dishonest or just made an honest mistake.

To avoid patchwriting, carefully identify your sources in your notes. Clearly mark any quotes taken from your sources with quotation marks. Then, when you use these materials in your document, make sure you cite them properly.

San Jac Policy on Cheating, Plagiarism, and Collusion

Honesty Code: San Jacinto College students should exhibit honesty, integrity, and high standards in their academic work. Members of the College community benefit from an open and honest educational environment. Upholding academic integrity is the responsibility of everyone.

Cheating, Plagiarism And Collusion: The following institutional guidelines concerning cheating, plagiarism and collusion are provided  for the information of all students enrolled in any course offered by San Jacinto College. Gaining knowledge and practicing honesty go hand in hand. The importance of knowledge properly gained is reinforced by the grading system. The importance of honesty fully practiced is emphasized by rules against cheating, plagiarism and collusion. Any act of cheating, plagiarism or collusion in any degree subjects a student to the disciplinary procedures listed below.

Cheating: Students must be completely honest in all phases of their work. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• • dishonesty of any kind on examinations, assignments or program requirements;
  • unauthorized possession of examinations or unapproved notes or sources at any time, whether used or not;
  • copying or obtaining information from another student during an examination or performance of a lab skill or competency;
  • alteration or falsification of course or academic records; and unauthorized entry into or presence in any office.

Plagiarism: Documenting the use of others’ work is important because it recognizes the original author’s effort, establishes the student writer’s credibility and supports the audience’s future research. Plagiarism is offering the work of another as one’s own, intentionally or unintentionally, without proper acknowledgment. Students who fail to give appropriate credit for ideas or material they take from another, whether a fellow student or a resource writer, are guilty of plagiarism (i.e., stealing the words or ideas of another). The College may contract with companies or organizations that provide plagiarism-detection services. Such companies may receive students’ work for the purpose of comparing the students’ work with a reference database. Students enrolling at San Jacinto College agree as a condition of their enrollment that their work may be submitted to such companies for the purpose of plagiarism detection and that the company may retain a copy of the work for plagiarism-detection purposes. Such companies will not copy, use or distribute the students’ work.

Collusion: Learning is an active process for all students; completion and submission of original work is essential to the learning process. Collusion is unauthorized collaboration in preparing any work offered for credit. Collusion includes, but is not limited to, knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, sharing, transporting or soliciting, in whole or in part, any information or materials to be submitted as a student’s own work. Collusion also includes impersonating another student for the purpose of taking a course or exam. A student who provides access to the materials is also guilty of collusion and subject to the same penalties. Therefore, students should take reasonable precautions to protect their work from being compromised.

Penalties for Plagiarism

Legal Precedents

Plagiarism in the real world violates one or both of the following laws:

• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time. Intellectual Property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect.
  • Using other people’s original ideas or research without their knowledge or without giving them credit for their work violates their intellectual property rights (IPR), because you have virtually stolen their intellectual property (IP). You cannot use other people’s ideas without giving them credit for coming up with the idea in the first place. This is why you must include an in-text citation with paraphrased or summarized material.
• Copyright Infringement is the use of works protected by copyright law without permission, infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. Works that are labeled as open-source or in the public domain are usually exempt from some copyright laws.
  • When you use the words of a source that has been copyrighted (which are almost all books, Web sites, and films) without correctly quoting and citing it, you are committing copyright infringement by using copyrighted material without permission. When you use words directly from a source, you must use the exact words, put quotations marks around them, and give the source credit. Failure to do all of these three things could mean you are violating the source’s copyright.

These rules are prosecutable in a criminal or civil court of law, so plagiarizing in the real world can lead to a lawsuit, which may result in a criminal sentence, damages and fines, or other penalties.

San Jac Code of Conduct Section 4.5 Disciplinary Sanctions

Sanctions are designed to promote the College’s educational mission. Sanctions also promote safety and may deter students from behavior that harms, harasses or threatens people or property. Disciplinary sanctions will be based upon the seriousness of the offense, the student’s attitude, the impact of the misconduct on the College environment, the student’s overall record at the College (including prior discipline, if any) and statutory or other legal requirements, if any. Possible disciplinary sanctions include, but are not limited to:

• Written warning: A formal notice stating that the Code has been violated and that future violations will be dealt with more severely.
• Disciplinary probation: A sanction that indicates that the individual’s standing with the College is in jeopardy and that further violations may result in suspension or expulsion.
• Restitution: A sanction that requires the student to compensate an injured party for loss, damage or injury in the form of money, service or material replacement.
• Community service: Performance of a specified number of hours or tasks designed to benefit the College community and/or to help the student understand why his or her behavior was inappropriate.
• Class or workshop attendance: Enrollment and completion of a class or workshop designed to help the student understand why his or her behavior was inappropriate.
• Educational project: Completion of a project specifically designed to help the student understand why his or her behavior was inappropriate.
• Suspension of privileges: Loss of privileges, such as loss of library privileges, computer privileges, parking privileges or the privilege to attend athletic or other extracurricular events.
• Removal from courses or activities: Removal from specific courses or activities, including revocation of eligibility to represent the College in athletic or other extracurricular activities.
• Counseling: Mandatory counseling sessions or support group attendance.
• Failing grade: A failing grade may be given for a test, assignment or course.
• Restrictions on access: Restriction from entering specific College areas and/or all forms of contact with certain persons.
• Suspension: Separation from the College for a specified period of time or until certain conditions are met.
• Expulsion: Permanent separation from the College whereby the student is not eligible for readmission.
• Revocation of degree: Revocation of degree and withdrawal of diploma.

These sanctions do not diminish or replace the penalties available under generally applicable civil or criminal laws. Students are reminded that many violations of the code, including harassment and other discriminatory behavior, also may violate local, state and federal laws and may subject the student to additional penalties.

San Jac Policy on Cheating, Plagiarism, and Collusion

Responding to Violations: Faculty have the responsibility to initiate disciplinary action in response to violations of the rules regarding academic honesty. A faculty member is responsible for collecting any evidence of cheating at the time it occurs. A student may not withdraw from the course during the investigation of an incident of academic dishonesty or when a course grade of F has been imposed. A record will be kept of any imposed penalty or disciplinary action.

Penalties: If, in the judgment of the instructor, cheating, plagiarism, or collusion has occurred, he or she may assess a penalty with a recorded reprimand:

• recommendation for suspension from the College or expulsion from a program, which is submitted to the Provost; the Provost’s decision is final.
• failure of the course; the student may appeal the grade through the Final Grade Appeal process.
• failure of the assignment by the instructor; the instructor’s decision is final.
• reduced grade on the assignment by the instructor; the instructor’s decision is final.
• a reasonable penalty assessed by the instructor; the instructor’s decision is final.

The instructor will notify the student of his or her decision concerning the student’s grade and whether or not further disciplinary action is recommended before filing the report as indicated below. If a student will not meet with the instructor or if notification cannot take place because of a student’s unavailability or incorrect contact information, the process proceeds as specified. Faculty should also communicate with their department chairs/program directors and deans regarding any violation of the College honesty code. Should the instructor recommend suspension or expulsion of the student, the Provost has the responsibility and authority to determine whether the student will be suspended or expelled.

Reporting Cheating, Plagiarism and Collusion: The instructor will prepare an Academic Dishonesty Incident Report for the Provost, the Dean, department chair and/or program director. The report indicates the nature of the incident and the resulting penalty. The student has the privilege of making a written declaration on his or her own behalf to the instructor. Copies of this declaration, which are not construed as an appeal, but for information only, will be filed with the Provost.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Tip #1: Make Sure You Are Very Certain about What Is and is Not Plagiarism

Tip #2: Give Yourself Plenty of Time to Complete an Assignment

Running out of time on an assignment is a main cause of plagiarism. Rushing to meet a deadline can result in carelessness (leading to unintentional plagiarism – see the next tip) and the desire to find a quick, easy solution such as copying someone else’s work. Don’t give in to that temptation! Plagiarism is a serious academic offense, and the chance of being caught (which is likely) is not worth it.

Avoid this situation entirely by starting your assignment far ahead of time and planning out when you will complete each phase of the writing process. Even if your teacher does not require you to turn in materials for each stage of the writing process (i.e. brainstorming, creating a thesis statement, outlining, drafting, revising, etc.), set your own personal deadlines for each step along the way and make sure to give yourself more than enough time to finish everything.

Tip #3: Document Everything

Plagiarism isn’t always a conscious choice. Sometimes it can be unintentional, typically resulting from poor documentation of one’s sources during the research phase. For example, sometimes students will write down an idea from a source using words identical to or very close to those in the original, but then when they go to write their paper forget that the material was not already in their own words. Adopting good research habits can prevent this type of plagiarism.

Print, photocopy, or scan the relevant pages of every source you are using (including the title and copyright pages, since they have the information you need for a bibliographic citation). When taking notes by hand (or typed into a file), list the bibliographic information for each source you use. Make sure to put quotation marks around any wordings taken directly from the source (and note the page where you found it), and remember to put everything else into your own words right away, so there is no danger of forgetting something is a quote. Documenting where all of your ideas, information, quotations, and so on come from is an important step in avoiding plagiarism.

Tip #4: Don’t Include Too Much Material Taken from Other Sources

Writing assignments are about your ideas, your interpretations, and your ability to synthesize information. You should use relevant sources to support your ideas using evidence such as quotes, paraphrases, and summaries, as well as statistics and other data. But don’t lose sight of the fact that your argument is central! Including too much material from other sources can result in a paper that feels like it has been pasted together from a variety of authors, rather than a cohesive essay. Such papers also run a much higher risk of setting off plagiarism warnings in TurnItIn or other plagiarism-detecting software. Try to find a balance: use enough evidence from credible sources to prove your points, but don’t let the ideas of others take the place of your own thoughts.

Tip #5: When in Doubt, Give a Citation

There are certain types of information – typically referred to as common knowledge – that don’t require a citation when you include them in your writing. These are facts that are widely known and can be easily found in a number of sources. They are not ideas that originated with one particular source. Examples include scientific facts (for example, that solid, liquid, and gas are three states of matter), general historical information (for example, that George Washington was the first US president), or even information commonly known to certain groups of people but not others (for example, most musicians know that a C major triad includes the notes C, E, and G, even though many non-musicians would have no idea what a C major triad is).

For everything else, you need to include a citation, regardless of whether you are quoting directly from the source, paraphrasing it, or giving a summary. If you are at all unsure whether something qualifies as common knowledge or not, give a citation. You can also consult a more experienced figure in your field, such as your instructor, to find out if something counts as common knowledge or not.

Tip #6: Frame your Quotes

In academic writing, the “Quote Sandwich” approach is useful for incorporating other writers’ voices into your essays. It gives meaning and context to a quote and helps you avoid plagiarism. This four-step approach offers your readers a deeper understanding of what the quote is and how it relates to your essay’s goals.

Step 1: Provide context for the source. If you haven’t used it yet in the essay, tell us the source’s title and author (if known), and any other information that’s relevant, like the purpose of the organization that published it, for instance. Use the signal phrases.

Step 2: Provide the quote itself. Be sure to format correctly and use quotation marks around exact language. Follow the format discussed.

Step 3: Cite the source using a parenthetical reference.

Step 4: Provide a summary and/or analysis of what the quote says, and how it relates to the subject matter of your essay and your thesis.

For more information and examples, revisit Chapter 14: Integrating Source Material and Section IV: MLA Style (Chapters 22-25).

Ideas and Words Taken Without Attribution

In college and in the workplace, you will often need to use ideas, words, phrases, sentences, or data from a source. When you do this, you must correctly quote and cite that source. That is, you must place those words inside your quotation marks (or block quotes) and provide a citation that tells your reader precisely where you got those words. If you use ideas, words, phrases, sentences, or data without attribution, you could be charged with academic dishonesty.

You do not need to cite a source when stating common knowledge, which is information that is available in multiple sources and that your readers would consider accurate and indisputable. However, sometimes it’s difficult to determine whether the information you are providing is common knowledge. If you aren’t sure, cite the source. Citing a source will add support to your work, and it will help you avoid being accused of plagiarism.

Revisiting the Sample Scenarios: Answers

1. Yes. Any information from someone else, regardless of what medium it takes, should be cited in your essay.
2. No, this is not OK. You should not be using Wikipedia in your essays. Also, you definitely need to quote material that is taken word-for-word from a source and cite it accordingly.
3. No, this saying falls under “common knowledge.” You would not need to cite the original source (Poor Richard’s Almanac by Benjamin Franklin).
4. No, this would be the type of plagiarism known as patchwriting. Even if you cited the source correctly, your writing would be too close to the original.
5. Yes. Any information from a source that appears in your paper – regardless of whether it is quoted or paraphrased – requires bibliographical and in-text citations.
6. Yes. Any information that comes from your own mind – your memories, experiences, observations, conclusions, claims, ideas – does not need to be cited.
7. No, you would need to give your classmate credit for his ideas. You would cite this as an interview.
8. No, you do need to differentiate between quotations and paraphrases in your essay. Presenting someone else’s words as your own and attributing your own words to someone else are both wrong.

Anti-Plagiarism Resources

• Plagiarism.org
• Purdue Online Writing Lab
• The Plagiarism Spectrum
• Princeton University: Academic Integrity
• Cornell University: Recognizing and Avoiding Plagiarism
• TedEd: The Punishable Perils of Plagiarism (video)
• Student Lingo: Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism (video)
• Hoounit: Academic Integrity (video)