avoiding-plagiarism

AvoidingplagiarismAliciaCresswellWritingDevelopmentCentreHeadofWritingContentofthissessionWhatdostudentssayaboutplagiarism?Whatconstitutesplagiarism?Whyisplagiarismanimportantissue?Whydostudentsengageinplagiarism?Howdotutorsrecogniseplagiarism?HowcanIavoidit?UsefullinksWhatdostudentssayaboutplagiarism?Somestudentssay:“Universitiesclaimtotakeplagiarismveryseriously,buttheyseldomtakeactionagainststudentswhoplagiarise.”Isthistrue?Whatdostudentssayaboutplagiarism?Confusionaboutrulesandconventions:“It’sdifficulttoknowwhen,andwhennot,toreference.”“ToavoidplagiarismIusequotationmarksforeverythingIcopyfromthesourcesIread.”““IknowI’mnotsupposedtocopythetextwordbyword,soIchangeasmanywordsasIcan.”Whatdostudentssayaboutplagiarism?Goodacademicconduct:“Youwouldn’twantsomeoneelsetostealyourwork.”“It’sunethicaltoplagiarisebecausesomeoneelsehasdonetheworkandshouldreceivecreditforit.”“Referencingenablesmetoacknowledgetheideas,data,modelsandpracticesproducedordevelopedbyothers.”Whatdostudentssayaboutplagiarism?Thepointofreferencing:“Referencingisakeypartoftheprocessofsupportingmyownideasinanassignment.”“Referencingisanimportantdevicetobuildon,agreeorchallengetheideasofothers.”“Plagiarismpreventsyoufromestablishingyourownideasandviewsonatopic.”DefiningplagiarismPlagiarismisdefinedastheuseoftheworkofotherswithoutacknowledgement.Thiscoversnotjustusingwords,butalsoconcepts,ideas,data,designs,images,computerprogrammesandmusic.Itreferstoideas,notjusttowords.Evenifyouexpresssomeoneelse’sideasinyourownwords,thesourceoftheideamuststillbeacknowledged.Whyisplagiarismanimportantissue?Goodacademicworkdrawsonsources,butthesemustbeacknowledged.Itwouldnotbefairtotheauthornottoacknowledgetheircontribution(Plagiarismistheft!)Youneedtousesourcestosupporttheideasyouhavedeveloped.Thisgivesauthoritytoyourworkandhelpsyoutodevelopaconvincingargument.Yourtutorsneedevidencethatyouhavedoneenoughreadingandunderstoodthematerialyouread.Whydostudentsengageinplagiarism?Poornote-takingskills(sourcesarenotidentifiedinthenotesstudentstake)LackofknowledgeandunderstandingofacademicconventionsregardingtheuseofsourcesinstudenttextsLackofknowledgeandunderstandingofacademicconventionsregardingtheconstructionoflistsofreferencesFeelingsofinsecurityabouttheirownwriting(Theauthorputsitsomuchbetterthanme!)Fearoffailure/fearoftakingrisks(PlagiarismmaySEEMsafer,butitisn’t!)Poortimemanagement(startingworkontheassignmenttooclosetothedeadline)Theyhaveheardofcasesofplagiarismthatwentundetected/werehandledlenientlyHowdotutorsrecogniseplagiarism?Lackof/veryfewcitationsVaguereferencingWritingstyleisuneven(student’sownstyleisdifferentfromthatoftheunacknowledgedsources)StudenttextisthesameasorverysimilartothesourceTwostudentssubmitthesame(orverysimilar)essayEssayusesdated/unsuitablesources(boughtessays?!)Isthisplagiarism?Source:Contrarytoconventionalwisdom,accumulatedjobdissatisfactionisnottheimmediatecauseofmostvoluntaryturnover.Jobdissatisfactionisafactor,buttofocusonitasthedominantcauseofmostturnoverisincompleteandlimited.Studenttext:Holtometal.(2005:337)statethat“contrarytoconventionalwisdom,accumulatedjobdissatisfactionisnottheimmediatecauseofmostvoluntaryturnover.”Isthisplagiarism?Source:Contrarytoconventionalwisdom,accumulatedjobdissatisfactionisnottheimmediatecauseofmostvoluntaryturnover.Jobdissatisfactionisafactor,buttofocusonitasthedominantcauseofmostturnoverisincompleteandlimited.Studenttext:Mostpeoplebelievethatcumulativejobdissatisfactionistheimmediatecauseofmostvoluntaryturnover.However,whilejobdissatisfactionisafactor,focusingonitasthemaincauseofmostturnoverisincompleteandrestricted(Holtometal.,2005).Isthisplagiarism?Source:Instead,wearguethatturnoverisoftentriggeredbyaprecipitatingevent(e.g.:afightwiththebossoranunexpectedjoboffer)thatwecalla“shocktothesystem”.Studenttext:Thecauseofturnoverisoften“aprecipitatingevent(e.g.:afightwiththebossoranunexpectedjoboffer)”.Thiscanbereferredtoasa“shocktothesystem”.Isthisplagiarism?Source:Fromtheoutset,wemustemphasizethatshocksareaconceptualadditiontoconventionalideasaboutdissatisfaction-inducedturnover.Shocksadvance,ratherthanreplace,existingtheoryandempiricalknowledgeofemployeeturnover.Studenttext:Holtometal.(2005)donotrefutethefindingsofcurrentresearchintotheroleofjobsatisfactionasapredictorofstaffturnover.Instead,theyarguethat“shocks”areanadditionalelementtobeconsideredintheinvestigationofthefactorsinvolvedinturnover.WhatcanIdotoavoidplagiarism?Whentakingnotes,clearlyindicatewhetheryouhavecopiedapieceoftext(usequotationmarksorputa‘Q’inthemargin)Makesureyournotesincludefullbibliographicaldetailsofthesource(includingpagenumber)WhatcanIdotoavoidplagiarism?Inyourwriting,acknowledgeALLofthefollowing:otherpeople’sideas,opinions,modelsortheoriesstatistics,graphs,tables,diagramsandotherdrawingsButyoudonotneedtoacknowledgefactsthatarecommonknowledge:Examples:ShakespearewroteHamlet.Britainisaconstitutionalmonarchy.WhatcanIdotoavoidplagiarism?Usequotationmarksforanythingreproducedverbatimfrom