Name: _____________________________

The Perils of Plagiarism

To answer these questions, please read the information on this web page:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html
The questions will proceed chronologically through the website. In other words, you will find answers to
the first questions at the beginning of the website, and later questions near the end.
1.

How does this web page define plagiarism?

The uncredited use of somebody elses words, even if its unintentional.

2.

Look at Actions that might be seen as plagiarism. In your own words, please explain the difference
between Deliberate plagiarism and Possibly accidental plagiarism.

Deliberate plagiarism is when a person steals somebody elses ideas, with the intention to do so. It is also
considered as plagiarism when people just change a few words, but leave the text almost identical.
Possibly accidental plagiarism can occur when someone paraphrases and uses very similar words like those
in the source. Also it is possible that the person forgot to use quotation marks.

3.

You are a high school teacher. You discover that a student plagiarized material as part of an important
report. When confronted with the situation, the student says, But it was an accident! I didnt mean to
plagiarize! What would you tell the student?

That he needs to be more careful, that he should have given credit to the author of the text, or the ideas
where he took them from.

Look carefully at Choosing when to credit. Put a check mark next to all of the texts for which you
MUST document their source.
4. _____ words from a commonly known prayer
5. __x___words from a new song
6. __x___reprinted diagrams
7. _____common knowledge
8. _____your own observations based on anothers research
9. __x___a unique phrase you found on the internet that expresses your ideas
10. _____ your own opinions
11. __x___ text from a newspaper
12. _____ Just a few words (less than 5) that someone else wrote
Look carefully at Making sure you are safe. Write down five things that you can do to avoid problems
with plagiarism.
13. When youre taking notes make sure to mark the ideas, or phrases that arent yours. Write down the
source.
14. When you paraphrase you must credit the source, or author (according to)
15. When it gets difficult for you to make a summary or to paraphrase, you could try to do them without
looking at the original, just use your memory.

16. If you see someone elses phrase or sentence, and you like it, and would like it to appear in your work,
you could put some quotation marks, in order to do that
17. if you use someone elses idea you must write down the name of the author, even if you paraphrase it.
18.25. Please complete Exercises for practice on the next page.

Exercises for Practice

Below are some situations in which writers need to decide whether or not they are running the risk of
plagiarizing. In the Y/N column, indicate if you would need to document (Yes), or if it is not necessary to
provide quotation marks or a citation (No). If you do need to give the source credit in some way, explain
how you would handle it. If not, explain why.
Y/N
If yes, what do you do? If no, why?

Situation

1. You are writing new insights about your own

experiences.

2. You are using an editorial from your school's

newspaper with which you disagree.

3. You use some information from a source

without ever quoting it directly.

Because if you write about your experiences,

those are your personal ideas.

Youre not the owner of that information, and

it isnt common knowledge.

4. You have no other way of expressing the exact y

meaning of a text without using the original
source verbatim.

5. You mention that many people in your

discipline belong to a certain organization.

You must credit the source even if youre

giving your opinion of the article.

I would quote the phrase.

N
It isnt necessary.

6. You want to begin your paper with a story that Y

one of your classmates told about her
experiences in Bosnia.

It isnt your story you must give credit credit

toher

7. The quote you want to use is too long, so you y

leave out a couple of phrases.

Even if its short you must quote it.

8. You really like the particular phrase somebody y

else made up, so you use it.

I would quote it and give credit to the author.