Plagiarism

What exactly is plagiarism?


According to Common Sense Media, plagiarism "means using someone else’s ideas or words without crediting the source and pretending they’re your own" (2012). In simple terms, it is stealing someone else's work.



It is still considered plagiarism even if you paraphrase ideas or change a few words and sentences of someone's essay or article.

10 Types of Plagiarism

according to The Plagiarism Spectrum by Turnitin (2016)

Clone

submitting another's work, word-for-word, as one's own

CTRL + C

contains significant portions of text from a signal source without alterations

Find - Replace

changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source

Remix

paraphrases from multiple sources made to fit together

Recycle

borrows generously from the writer's previous work without citation

Hybrid

combines perfectly cited sources with copied passages without citation

Mashup

mixes copied material from multiple sources

404 Error

includes citations to non-existent or inaccurate information about sources

Aggregator

includes citation to sources but the paper contains almost no original work

Re-Tweet

includes proper citation, but relies too closely on the text's original wording and/or structure


How do you avoid plagiarism?


YOU MUST CITE WHERE YOU GOT YOUR INFORMATION!

You can paraphrase and use quotations, but you must still cite the source you retrieved the information from.

Citation: "a formal note of credit to an author that includes their name, date published, and where you found the information" (Common Sense Media, 2010).

Use the interactive tutorial link below to learn more about plagiarism and citing!

What is Fair Use?

Some information and materials fall under "fair use." Watch the video below or read the infographics to learn about copyright, public domain, and fair use.

Click the pop-out button to make the infographic larger.

INFOGRAPHIC- Free Speech, Copyright, Fair Use (1).pdf

For more practice, play the plagiarism game below!


Videos further explaining plagiarism.

References

Common Sense Media. (2012). Family Tip Sheet: Common Sense on Plagiarism and Piracy.

Common Sense Media. (2010). Respecting Creative Work: Whose Is It, Anyway?

Copyright & Creativity: For Ethical Digital Citizens. (n.d.). Free Speech, Copyright, and Fair Use [Infographic]. Retrieved June 21, 2021, from

https://www.copyrightandcreativity.org/conference-handouts/

FutureAtlas.com. (2010). Citation Needed. Flickr. https://flickr.com/photos/87913776@N00/5129607997/.

Important Word and Symbol. (n.d.). Lingholic. https://www.lingholic.com/another-word-for-important/.

Mondspeer. (2014). Long Arrow Right. Open Clipart. https://openclipart.org/detail/202801/long-arrow-right.

The Plagiarism Spectrum. Turnitin. (2016). https://www.turnitin.com/static/plagiarism-spectrum/.