Plagiarism

Dear fellows,

Plagiarism is a serious violation of norms of academic conduct.

What is plagiarism?

Martin & Ohmann (1963) define it as the appropriation, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means another person’s work and the unacknowledged submission, use or incorporation of it in one’s own work. Martin and Ohmann note that plagiarism is doubly unethical since it deprives the true author of his/her rightful credit and then gives that credit to someone to whom it is not due. Other definitions of plagiarism include:

• Stanford University (2012) defines it as "use, without giving reasonable and appropriate credit to or acknowledging the author or source, of another person's original work, whether such work is made up of code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or other forms."

• Yale University (2012) defines it as the "use of another's work, words, or ideas without attribution" which includes "using a source's language without quoting, using information from a source without attribution, and paraphrasing a source in a form that stays too close to the original."

• It also refers to the appropriation of another person's ideas or words (spoken or written) without attributing those word or ideas to their true source". [Brown University Library, 2012]

In other words, you commit plagiarism if you:

• Fail to indicate language that is not your own and properly indicate the source;

• Fail to provide suitable references for ideas and information that are not your own.

What must you do?

When you quote an author verbatim, this is word for word, you are required to place the sentence or phrase in quotation marks and acknowledge the source and page number in parentheses, e.g. (MacKinnon 2008, p. 24). If you fail to do this, even if the quotation is incomplete, somewhat changed, because you have added words of your own, you may be accused of plagiarism.

The proper use of quotation marks is extremely important. According to the Purdue writing program:  

The primary function of quotation marks is to set off and represent exact language (either spoken or written) that has come from somebody else…Since you will most often use them when working with outside sources, successful use of quotation marks is a practical defense against accidental plagiarism and an excellent practice in academic honesty (Purdue on Line Writing Lab. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/ Accessed June 11, 2013).

If the quote is long, you can set it apart from the text by indenting it as a separate paragraph and in a smaller font, but without using quotation marks, as I have done in the paragraph above.  

Why plagiarism is dangerous

• Plagiarism is taken very seriously in the global academic world. It’s vital to acquire ethical writing habits early on, as accusations of plagiarism could cost you your job and professional reputation.

• It is against the basic principles of CARTA, of which you are a fellow. Compliance with the rules on plagiarism is a requisite of the CARTA program.

• Cutting and pasting from other people’s work won’t make you a better writer. The only way to learn to write is by finding your own words to say what you want to say. There are no short-cuts.

• With internet search engines and anti-plagiarism software, plagiarism is easy to detect. Don’t risk your reputation and career!

We don’t expect to see bad practices of this kind in future assignments. In most universities students are given only one warning about plagiarism and are advised how to correct it: any further plagiarism is considered an offence and is grounds for disciplinary action. Those of you who have erred in this assignment should consider this note to you as such a warning. Further transgressions will be referred to your institution. 

Action required

Please read through your work or assignment carefully and introduce quotation marks where you have quoted from other writers without acknowledgement. Please make sure the source is provided accurately (including with page numbers or URL’s, with date of access). Make doubly sure that all your other sources are spelt and listed correctly in the text and bibliography. Please upload the document in the Assignment 3 folder in the Files section, with the file name lastname_conceptsandtheoriescorrected¬.doc

If you don’t think you have made any errors in acknowledging quotes or sources, please check through your document and upload it anyway. It is good to get into the habit of always doing this before you “publish” anything. It’s not pleasant to have your work questioned later out of simple carelessness.

Professor Sharon Fonn

Co-director CARTA