Plagiarism
WHAT IT IS - HOW TO AVOID IT
WHAT IT IS - HOW TO AVOID IT
From The Learning Center website
"According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to 'plagiarize' means:
to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward.”
Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism is a violation of the Saddleback and IVC Honor Codes. All students are expected to know the rules and follow them. Below are some helpful guides to get you quoting and citing the right way. (And be sure to contact your professor if your need help!)
AI such as ChatGPT and Grammarly is not allowed in this course and students are urged to avoid using it. It is expected that all submitted work will be the student’s own, original work created without the aid of any artificial intelligence or other supports. If an assignment is flagged for AI content once, you will receive a zero on that assignment. If a second assignment is flagged as AI-generated, you will be dropped from the course, and a formal report will be sent to the Vice President of Student Services.
The Turnitin software that is used to check your paper checks for plagiarism, including the use of AI, so be sure to quote and cite correctly.
Say you want to cite this passage:
It was after sunset when we ended the day’s trip with its excitement and joy.
Old-fashioned kerosene lamps lighted the mountain inns along the river.
(From Shidzue Ishimoto, Facing Two Ways: The Story of My Life, p. 89)
Which is (are) correct? (scroll down for answers)
A. Old-fashioned kerosene lamps lighted the mountain inns along the river.
B. Ishimoto wrote that kerosene lamps, which are no longer used in modern Japan, lighted the inns along the river, creating a uniquely traditional atmosphere (Ishimoto, p. 89).
C. Ishimoto writes, “Old-fashioned kerosene lamps lighted the mountain inns along the river.”1
1 Shidzue Ishimoto, Facing Two Ways: The Story of My Life, Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1984, p. 89.
B: B is an indirect quote. It rephrases the quote in your own words. You still have to cite the text because you are using Ishimoto’s ideas, but you don’t have to use quotation marks. Easy!
C: This is a direct quote. You must use a citation AND quotation marks. Your citation can be an in-text citation as in (B) or you can use a footnote as in (C)—choose the one you like best. When you use a direct quote, you should explain what the quote means in your own words before or after the quote. And last but not least… note that when you quote something, you must preface the quote with a short phrase. Here, I used the phrase “Ishimoto writes” to preface the quote.
Still need help? Try this fun quiz.
TO CITE A LECTURE: According to the lecture, “Mayan culture was strictly hierarchical” (Ghanbarpour, Lecture 10, Slide 17, accessed 8/30/25).
TO CITE A READING: Boundless notes that “Mayan culture was strictly hierarchical” (Boundless, p. 67).
TO CITE AN ONLINE SOURCE (please use educational websites such as library, museum and university sites!): AUTHOR + TITLE + WEBSITE + DATE ACCESSED, as below:
According to the Metropolitan Museum website, the San Valerius cult gave rise to a new type of textile (Metropolitan Museum, Textile Fragment from the Dalmatic of San Valerius, Metropolitan Museum website, accessed 8/30/25).
(NOTE: Notice the Metropolitan Museum link in the example? It's a hyperlink. Make sure to use a hyperlink instead of cutting and pasting the whole website! From the tool bar, click on Insert > Hyperlink… and then cut and paste the web address.)