Plagiarism

1. Plagiarism

2. Why a Lecture? • Goals for this course include learning how to understand original sources and write about them in your own words. • Committing plagiarism defeats the purpose of writing assignments. Students who plagiarize are not learning from the assignment.

3. Intellectual Property Theft • Citing acknowledges the information source, not how the information is originally conveyed. • Copying how the information is originally conveyed is taking someone else’s hard work and passing it off as your own. • Plagiarizing is intellectual property theft.

4. Showing Critical Thinking • When writing you want to make it clear that you understood the source, and can think critically about the source. • If you plagiarize the reader will likely believe either that you did not understand, or could not think critically about, the source.

5. GSU Psychology Department Plagiarism Definition If a student uses or relies on others’ work in preparing any academic materials (e.g., written assignments, posters, presentations) the student must cite the source correctly according to the directions provided by the instructor. Failure to do so is plagiarism. Copying and pasting even part of a sentence or phrase is plagiarism, even when the source is cited correctly. Paraphrasing a source in a way that copies the phrase or sentence structure of a source is also plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism, students are expected to properly paraphrase others’ ideas. Quotes in scientific writing should only be used when the wording of the original source is critical to the student’s argument. Whether quoting is appropriate in a given instance is at the discretion of the instructor, not the student.

6. Types of Plagiarism

7. People Have Probably Plagiarized If • They have included others’ words and ideas in their work without citation. • They didn’t really understand a source but wrote about it anyway. • They couldn’t think of any other way to say what the original author said.

8. Summarizing vs. Paraphrasing • Summarizing – reducing a large amount of text to a smaller amount of text; telling the reader what is most relevant about the source. • Paraphrasing – communicating other author’s ideas without using their words or sentence structure. Paraphrasing usually does not reduce the amount of text from the source.

9. Paraphrasing If a student uses or relies on others’ work in preparing any academic materials (e.g., written assignments, posters, presentations) the student must cite the source correctly according to the directions provided by the instructor. Failure to do so is plagiarism. Copying and pasting even part of a sentence or phrase is plagiarism, even when the source is cited correctly. Paraphrasing a source in a way that copies the phrase or sentence structure of a source is also plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism, students are expected to properly paraphrase others’ ideas. • Proper paraphrasing summarizes the original source using different language, phrasing, and sentence structure than the original source. Improper paraphrasing ISplagiarism

10. Incorrect Paraphrase • Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words or ideas.” • Improper Paraphrase: In research writing, we cite sources for a couple reasons: to notify readers of our information sources and give credit to those whom we have borrowed from.

11. Correct Paraphrase • Source: “In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words or ideas.” • Correct Paraphrase: Researchers cite their sources to ensure their audiences know where the information came from and to recognize and credit the original work (Hacker, 1995).

12. Still Must Cite Paraphrasing Properly paraphrased material must be followed with in-text documentation and cited on the reference page, or it is plagiarism.

13. Be Careful With Paraphrasing • Students are still plagiarizing (not paraphrasing) if they use the author’s original sentence structure, but just change the words. • Avoid paraphrasing • Take notes on the source material – don’t ever copy and paste, even as a placeholder. • Wait a day. • Convey the information in your own words, using your own “voice” looking only at your notes.

14. Quoting • Quoting in scientific writing is rare, and is only done when the writer wants to convey how something is said, not what is said. • The writer must make it clear that the original wording is critical to the argument. • In some classes you are allowed to quote, and in some classes you are not.

15. Citing • Direct readers to sources that support your statements. • Cite anything that is not your own data or theory. • Example • Combat veterans can take MAOIs (Salisbury and Bruker, 2011) or aripiprazole (Lambert, 2005) to treat the sleep disturbances associated with PTSD.

16. Mechanics of APA Style Citing • At the end of your statement in parentheses • Four conditions must be met for intergroup contact to reduce bias (Allport, 1954). • The author’s name as the subject of the sentence • Allport (1954) was the first one to discuss that four conditions of contact that must be met for intergroup contact to reduce bias.

17. Summary • Summarize information in your own words. • Make sure you write in your own “voice.” • Cite all sources. • Remember to look at the plagiarism handout for more examples of how to paraphrase correctly.

18. References Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. Hacker, D. (1995). A writer’s reference. New York, NY: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press. Lambert, M. T. (2006). Aripiprazole in the management of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in returning Global War on Terrorism veterans. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 21, 185-187. doi: 10.1097/01.yic.0000185021.48279.00. Salisbury, A. G., & Burker, E. J. (2011). Assessment, treatment, and vocational implications of combat related PTSD in veterans. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 42(2), 42-49.