Plagiarism Prevention

Plagiarism Prevention UCQ Learning Commons

What is plagiarism?

The incorrect use of source material The incomplete acknowledgement of words, ideas, information, images or anything else you use from a source New Definitions:

To display your professionalism and honesty To demonstrate your own abilities To get good grades and support your academic performance Why avoid plagiarism?

Intentional cheating Unintentional rule-breaking Self-plagiarism Group work Several forms of plagiarism

Trying to find shortcuts Presenting someone else’s ideas or words as your own Deceiving your instructor Intentional cheating

Copy-pasting from the internet Copying from any other source (print, electronic, audio, video, etc.) Pretending you wrote something when you did not Inventing sources or information Copying a paper, or sections of a paper, from someone else Intentional cheating examples

Just don’t do it Preventing intentional cheating

Do not know all the rules Forget something or make a mistake Do not keep track of your sources Cannot write well so you insert someone else’s “better” writing Unintentional plagiarism

Not using your own words for summaries and paraphrases Not putting quote marks around source material Not giving an in-text citation and reference at the end of your paper Copy-pasting small sections Copy sections of other writing, but change some of the words Unintentional plagiarism examples

Paraphrase, summarize and quote correctly Include citations after every time you use ideas or words from a source Proofread you work to make sure you have not missed anything, like “quote marks” Keep track of your sources Write as well as you can Do not use too much source material Preventing unintentional plagiarism

Every single source you use must be cited in your paper and referenced in the bibliography This includes: Information from books, reports, articles Class notes and lectures Any information from any website Photos, images, movies, songs Statistics, graphs, charts Citing source material

There are only two types of information that do not have to be cited: Your own ideas However, if you find similar ideas somewhere else, you must acknowledge them Common knowledge Not controversial Found in several sources without a citation Not the focus of your paper Citing exceptions

It makes it clear where the words and ideas in your paper came from It enables your readers to find and explore the information for themselves It allows your professor to evaluate your ideas and see which sources you use It protects your academic integrity by showing that you are honest about where the ideas you present come from Why is referencing important?

Examples: Handing in the same assignment to more than one instructor Copying sections of work you have done before into a new assignment Why it is wrong: It is dishonest because you have not done the work required for the class Self-plagiarism

When group work is assigned: All members are responsible for the work submitted If one person plagiarizes, the whole group can get in trouble Group work • 2. When working in unassigned groups: • The work you hand in may be similar to another student’s • Both students can get in trouble for it

Instructors are experts in their field and can often identify the source of certain ideas Instructors know the abilities of their students, especially in small classes The quality of your writing varies when you copy-paste sections They can check with Google or other tools On a small campus, all instructors talk to each other all the time How do instructors know?

Even if you do not know the rules you can still get in trouble and lose your good standing at UCQ There are several possible penalties: Rewrite the assignment Fail the assignment Fail the class If the problem is significant or persistent, you can be dismissed from the University All University of Calgary students should know the penalties on the U of C Calendar What can happen?

You can copy information without giving credit to a website if there is no clear author. You can hand in the same assignment to two different instructors because it is your own work. You can use any information from a source as long as you put the reference in the bibliography. Your instructor cannot fail you for plagiarizing. If you do not know the rules, you cannot get in trouble for plagiarizing. Plagiarism Quiz: True or False

False – even if there is no author, you still need to acknowledge the source. False – that is self-plagiarism. False – you also need to give the in-text citation. False – you can fail the paper or the class. False – you can get in trouble whether or not you know the rules. Plagiarism Quiz: True or False

UCQ Learning Commons Writing Support Come to the Writing Centre at any stage of the writing process for help and advice. In the Learning Commons, or contact Martin at mholock@ucalgary.ca

Plagiarism Prevention