Plagiarism Examples

Plagiarism samples/fixes

The following paragraph is from Wikipedia, and while not an academic source, it will serve for this example:

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or "Corps of Discovery Expedition" (1804–1806) was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition had several goals. Their objects were both scientific and commercial – to study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and to discover how the region could be exploited economically.[1]

Paper Sample:

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or “Corps of Discovery Expedition” (1804-1806) was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition had several goals. Their objects were both scientific and commercial—to study the area’s plants, animal life, and geography, and to discover how the region could be used for its resources.

Grading:

Unacceptable! Merely eliminating underlined links does not make it your paragraph. And only changing the last few words is still copying the bulk of the paragraph. In addition, the source is not cited.

Another Paper Sample:

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or “Corps of Discovery Expedition” was the first expedition by the United States that went across the continent. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition had several goals. Their objects were both scientific and commercial—to study the area and to discover how the region could be exploited. (Wikipedia)

Grading:

Still unacceptable!! While the paragraph is cited, the complex sentence structure, which uses a lot of commas and hyphens, is still basically intact. Since you do not speak or write (or text!) using complex sentence structures, don’t use them in your paper.

Yet another Paper sample:

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were 2 guys who were commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to go across the continent on an expedition called the “Corps of Discovery”. They studied the area’s plants and animals. There was also a negative side to the expedition because they wanted to use the area for resources. And of course there were Indians already there, but both men had spent time fighting Indians in wars. (Wikipedia)

Grading:

Acceptable. In fact, very nice and condensed. And the teacher can tell that some critical reading and thinking is going on (regarding Indians, for example).