Plagiarism is taking a passage or passages from another person's discourse,
either word for word or in general, and incorporating them as your own
into written work you offer for credit. Academic fraud of this kind
violates the trust underlying a productive and enjoyable academic
environment; therefore, I will punish such fraud severely.
That does not mean that you
are not allowed to use other people's ideas. In fact, good writing
often uses the ideas and words of other writers extensively.
To draw on other writers but avoid plagiarizing, use the following techniques.
- Direct Quotation: If you use the exact words or a writer
you consulted, you must put their words in quotation marks and tell
your reader where the quotation came from. For this class, use
MLA style as your citation format. If you have any questions about
MLA style, let me know as soon as they arise.
- Indirect Quotation: When you summarize or paraphrase
another writer, use phrases such as "According to ... " or
"As ... argues" to tell your reader what you are doing.
- General Acknowledgment of Indebtedness: When your thinking
has been influenced by a source in a broad way, but you do not have a
specific place to acknowledge that influence, you need to let your
reader know that with wording such as "Much of the following
discussion is based on material found in ...." (For example,
I used this technique to acknowledge a debt on an in-class undergrad
exam, when I had no access to specific wording or page numbers.)
In most cases, however, one of the first two techniques works
better than this one to let your reader know exactly what
influence the cited writer has had on your writing.
- List of Works Cited: This will allow you to list
the specific sources you have used. We will discuss the format
of the list later. Basically, plagiarism is the academic version
of forgetting to thank someone who has been nice to you. The
consequences, however, are more serious than those of most
lapses in politeness. Consult the Student Handbook for the
official College policy. If you have questions about the meaning
of this statement, see me immediately.
For more detailed information, refer to the
Quotation
and Citation section of Connections.
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