Plagiarism Plethora? Identifying Plagiarism

1. Plagiarism Plethora?Identifying Plagiarism Conde Library 2006

2. Original Source: Plate 2, following Page 150 The Intelligence of Dogs: Canine Consciousness and Capabilities by Stanley Coren. MacMillan, 1994 • The text reads: The association between humans and dogs began as a hunting relationship before organized agriculture had been developed. This Paleolithic cave painting dates back to about ten thousand years ago and shows a Stone Age hunter who has successfully killed an eland with the assistance of his dogs.

3. Student 1 writes: Dogs have been "man's best friend" since long before recorded history. The association between humans and dogs began as a hunting relationship before organized agriculture had been developed. One Paleolithic cave painting dates back to about ten thousand years ago and shows a Stone Age hunter who has successfully killed an eland with the assistance of his dogs. What is wrong with this?

4. Plagiarism by Direct Copying • The student has typed in Coren's words exactly in the first copied sentence and altered only one word in the second: • Dogs have been "man's best friend" since long before recorded history. The association between humans and dogs began as a hunting relationship before organized agriculture had been developed. One Paleolithic cave painting dates back to about ten thousand years ago and shows a Stone Age hunter who has successfully killed an eland with the assistance of his dogs.

5. Student 2 writes: Dogs have been "man's best friend" since long before recorded history. The relationship between dogs and humans started as a hunting relationship before people developed organized agriculture. One cave painting that dates back about ten thousand years shows a Paleolithic hunter who has killed an eland with the help of his dogs. What is wrong with this?

6. Plagiarism by Paraphrasing • The student has re-arranged a few words and substituted a few of her own words, but the idea and the order of development are Coren's (see below) • Dogs have been "man's best friend" since long before recorded history. The relationship between dogs and humans started as a hunting relationship before people developed organized agriculture. One cave painting that dates back about ten thousand years shows a Paleolithic hunter who has killed an eland with the help of his dogs.

7. Student 3 writes: • Dogs have been "man's best friend" since long before recorded history. Dogs and humans first got together as hunters. Cave paintings provide some evidence for this early teamwork. One 10,000-year-old painting shows a Paleolithic hunter and his two dogs after they have killed an eland. • What is wrong with this?

8. Plagiarism by Theft of an Idea • Here's a paragraph in which the student plagiarises by stealing the idea from Coren's text. • The student has put the ideas in her own words, but those words imply that SHE/HE discovered the teamwork and the cave painting through her own research, since Coren's idea and research are not acknowledged

9. Student 4 writes: Some experts think that dogs have been companions for humans at least since our earliest records. University of British Columbia Professor of Psychology Stanley Coren suggests that humans and dogs first got together as hunters. In his book The Intelligence of Dogs: Canine Consciousness and Capabilities, Coren includes a cave painting from about ten thousand years ago that pictures a hunter with two dogs and an eland they have killed (Plate 2). What is wrong with this?

10. No Plagiarism--Correctly Paraphrased Here's a paragraph in which the student identifies Coren in a signal phrase, acknowledges Coren's work, and goes on with her own presentation of Coren's material In the in-text parenthetical citation, the student provides the plate number, since plate pages are not numbered in the book. Her reference page will include bibliographic information for Coren's book.

11. The main difference between this correctly paraphrased passage and the paraphrased theft-of-ideas above is that here the student has introduced the author and provided the location for the specific information. She is giving Coren credit for his work, not presenting his ideas as her own. • Notice that the student has also removed the trite phrase "man's best friend" and the quotation marks that suggest she is quoting them from Coren. • She provides a citation even though she does not use directly quoted material--the main idea as well as the contents and interpretation of the painting are part of Coren's work and research, not the student's, so she must acknowledge them.

12. Student 5 writes: • Some experts think that dogs have been companions for humans at least since our earliest records. According to University of British Columbia Professor of Psychology Stanley Coren, dogs and humans first teamed up as hunters. In his book The Intelligence of Dogs: Canine Consciousness and Capabilities, Coren includes one cave painting that dates back about ten thousand years and shows "a Stone Age hunter who has successfully killed an eland with the assistance of his dogs" (Plate 2). • What is wrong with this?

13. No Plagiarism--Correctly Quoted • Here's a paragraph in which the student identifies Coren in a signal phrase, acknowledges Coren's work, goes on with her own presentation of Coren's material, and includes a quote. • The quoted material provides Coren's own distinctive phrasing. Such quoting is especially valuable when an author is a significant figure in the student's research. • Source: www.english.vt.edu/~IDLE/plagiarism/plagiarism3.html

14. To sum up…