pla·gia·rism [pley-juh-riz-uhm, -jee-uh-riz-] noun
1. an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author:
Synonyms: appropriation, infringement, piracy, counterfeiting; theft, borrowing, cribbing, passing off.
2. a piece of writing or other work reflecting such unauthorized use or imitation: (Dictionary.com)
Writing and research papers are important parts of academics. It is the method by which scholars are able to learn new information, refine their ideas, and share that information with their peers and with the world. As a student, you will be asked to write research papers in many of your subject classes. In order to produce good academic writing, you will want to ensure that you do not PLAGIARIZE - or take the ideas or work of someone else and pass it off as your own.
The way to avoid committing plagiarism is to give credit where it is due. What this means is that if you find a fact or an idea in a book or on a website, when you use that fact or idea in your research paper, you must ATTRIBUTE or CITE the book or website (and the author/creator) in your paper. This means that you will be providing credit for the work of coming up with the original idea or recording the fact to the person or people whose work you have been using. I have avoided plagiarism in the above dictionary definition by providing a citation in MLA style on this page.
There are several different styles of citations. These styles tend to vary by subject area, but you may learn only one or two styles in school. The major citation styles are as follows:
1. an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author:
Synonyms: appropriation, infringement, piracy, counterfeiting; theft, borrowing, cribbing, passing off.
2. a piece of writing or other work reflecting such unauthorized use or imitation: (Dictionary.com)
Writing and research papers are important parts of academics. It is the method by which scholars are able to learn new information, refine their ideas, and share that information with their peers and with the world. As a student, you will be asked to write research papers in many of your subject classes. In order to produce good academic writing, you will want to ensure that you do not PLAGIARIZE - or take the ideas or work of someone else and pass it off as your own.
The way to avoid committing plagiarism is to give credit where it is due. What this means is that if you find a fact or an idea in a book or on a website, when you use that fact or idea in your research paper, you must ATTRIBUTE or CITE the book or website (and the author/creator) in your paper. This means that you will be providing credit for the work of coming up with the original idea or recording the fact to the person or people whose work you have been using. I have avoided plagiarism in the above dictionary definition by providing a citation in MLA style on this page.
There are several different styles of citations. These styles tend to vary by subject area, but you may learn only one or two styles in school. The major citation styles are as follows:
- American Chemical Society (ACS) - This style is primarily used for chemistry and other physical sciences.
- American Psychological Association (APA) - This style is primarily used in the social sciences, such as psychology and sociology.
- Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) - This style is primarily used for history, economics, and some humanities subjects.
- Modern Language Association (MLA) - This style is primarily used in English and literature studies, as well as some humanities subjects.
- Vancouver System/American Medical Association (AMA)- This is used for medical papers and some forms of scientific research papers.
As a student, you will most likely be learning and using either the APA or MLA styles, or perhaps both depending on your teachers' preferences. In-depth instruction on how to use APA or MLA style will be provided in class. However, feel free to do some preliminary research on your own.
To learn more about the various styles of citations, the following websites will be very helpful:
The Purdue University Online Writing Lab
The University of California, Berkeley Library
American University Library Citation Guide
Another element of citation and avoiding plagiarism is knowing the difference between PRIMARY and SECONDARY sources of information. The video below will illustrate those differences.
To learn more about the various styles of citations, the following websites will be very helpful:
The Purdue University Online Writing Lab
The University of California, Berkeley Library
American University Library Citation Guide
Another element of citation and avoiding plagiarism is knowing the difference between PRIMARY and SECONDARY sources of information. The video below will illustrate those differences.
Works Cited (MLA Style)
"plagiarism." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 15 Jul. 2014. <Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism>.
The top image on this page is from Phillip Martin and is used under a Creative Commons license for non-commercial purposes. Please do not reproduce or use this image for commercial purposes or without crediting Phillip Martin.