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Santa Clara UniversityUniversity Library

Plagiarism: Don't let it happen to you!

Examples of Plagiarism

  • Turning in someone else's work as your own.
  • Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit.
  • Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.
  • Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation.
  • Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit.
  • Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

Standard Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs when someone deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging the source.

Plagiarism is cheating. Examples include;

  • Purchasing a paper online and submitting it as your own.
  • Copying your roommate’s paper (or parts of it) and submitting it as your own.
  • Paraphrasing ideas, data or writing from someone else’s work without properly acknowledging the original source.

There is nothing simple about plagiarism;

  • Ideas are often a mixture of one’s own ideas, those we read, and those we discuss with friends, making it hard, or even impossible, to sort out who owns what.
  • Writers who are learning a new field often try out ideas and phrases from other writers in order to master the field. This process allows them to learn, and is a far cry from stealing.
  • Expectations for citing sources vary among contexts, cultures, and readers, making it very difficult to understand all of the rules.

Plagiarism can occur in many forms besides writing: art, music, computer code, mathematics, speeches, and scientific work can also be plagiarized. 

References

Council of Writing Program Administrators. (2019, December 30). Defining and avoiding plagiarism: The WPA statement on best practices. https://wpacouncil.org/aws/CWPA/pt/sd/news_article/272555/_PARENT/layout_details/false

Mott-Smith, Jennifer A. (2020, August 7). In D. Loewe & C. Ball (Eds.), Bad ideas about writing (p. 5.12). LibreTexts. https://scu.wiki/3Zm1Z4v

Northwestern University. (n.d.). How to avoid plagiarism. https://www.northwestern.edu/provost/policies-procedures/academic-integrity/how-to-avoid-plagiarism.html

NYU Libraries. (2022, December 16). Plagiarism and how to avoid it. https://guides.nyu.edu/plagiarism

Turnitin, LLC. (2017, May 18). What is plagiarism? Plagiarism.org. https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism