Don't be a Plunderer: From the Latin plagiarius, “kidnapper, seducer, plunderer,” plagiarism is the deliberate and deceptive use of another person’s words, ideas, or efforts as if they were your own, without giving credit to the source. Don’t kidnap, seduce, or plunder anyone else’s ideas.
Plagiarism and Technology: Plagiarism has become acutely problematic in the age of the computer, with its word processing programs and the ease of copying-and-pasting. This problem only increased with the advent of the internet and easy access to almost limitless written material on every conceivable topic. But technology givith and technology taketh away: there are now online utilities such as TurnItIn.com that check your written work against writing available online, and also against other papers turned in at both your school and other schools.
Plagiarism Before Technology: In any event, plagiarism is usually easy for a trained reader to spot, often because of a sharp break in style or quality of thought.
Ignorance is not a Valid Excuse: Some truly do not understand what plagiarism is, and therefore plagiarize unwittingly or unintentionally. But ignorance is not an excuse for unethical academic conduct.
Plagiarism and Misuse of Sources: With respect to writing, questions of academic integrity can be divided into the ethical issues associated with plagiarism and the technical issues associated with the misuse of sources.
The Ethical Issues of Plagiarism: The ethical issues of plagiarism - willful intent to deceive - usually aren’t difficult: everyone knows you shouldn’t cheat. But note that plagiarism is a matter of vigilance: it’s not at the start of the semester when everyone is fresh that we worry about plagiarism. It’s toward the end when everyone is exhausted, frustrated, and thus susceptible to moral compromises. Take special care to remain vigilant during moments of susceptibility.
Plagiarism Can Haunt You: A long list of examples - Jayson Blair, John Walsh, Jonah Lehrer, Melania Trump, Monica Crowley - shows that plagiarism can come back to haunt you. Plagiarism done when you’re 20 years old and don’t think it matters can return when you’re 40 to derail the career you made for yourself.
Plagiarism as Tragedy: In that sense, plagiarism can be tragic. The thing you do to make yourself great can be the very thing that brings that greatness crashing down.
The Technical Issues of Misuse of Sources: The technical issues of misuse of sources - plagiarism done through negligence or lack of knowledge or skill - are much more difficult. To avoid plagiarism, you just need to be honest and vigilant. To avoid misuse of sources, you need to know when and how to cite things. You need to have the technical skills to avoid things like “mosaic plagiarism,” where someone changes around some words (because they know they shouldn’t directly copy someone else’s words) but doesn’t significantly change the order of ideas - resulting in a case of plagiarism.
The Five Kinds of Plagiarism: There are five kinds of plagiarism:
1. Verbatim plagiarism
2. Mosaic plagiarism
3. Inadequate paraphrase
4. Uncited paraphrase
5. Uncited quotation
Let’s look at each, using this source and passage as an example:
Grady, Hugh. “Shakespeare Criticism, 1600-1900.” The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare. Edited by Margreta de Grazia and Stanley Wells. Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 265-78.
During his lifetime Shakespeare was virtually unknown outside his island nation. If he was recognized by some in England as a pre-eminent poet and dramatist, he was also occasionally eclipsed by his rivals, and his reputation was always undercut by the controversial status of London’s public theatres. The godlike esteem he has achieved today around the world would have been incomprehensible in his own time, both to him and to his peers. (265)
1. Verbatim plagiarism
Plagiarized Version
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is surprising because during his lifetime Shakespeare was virtually unknown outside his island nation.
Acceptable Versions
Direct quotation with citation:
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is surprising because "during his lifetime Shakespeare was virtually unknown outside his island nation" (Grady 265).
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is surprising because, as Hugh Grady has discussed, "during his lifetime Shakespeare was virtually unknown outside his island nation" (265).
Paraphrase with citation:
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is surprising because he was not well known outside England in his own day (Grady 265).
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is surprising because, as Hugh Grady has discussed, he was not well known outside England in his own day (265).
2. Mosaic plagiarism
Plagiarized Version
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is surprising because he was virtually unknown outside his island nation in his own day. In the seventeenth century, Ben Jonson was more highly regarded than Shakespeare, whose reputation was always undercut by the controversial status of London’s public theatres. Shakespeare has grown into a demi-god, but the esteem he has achieved today around the world would have been incomprehensible in his own time, both to him and to his peers.
3. Inadequate paraphrase
Plagiarized Version
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is especially surprising because, as Hugh Grady has illustrated, in his own age Shakespeare was not well known outside England. Some may have seen him as a powerful author, but at times he was overshadowed by his contemporaries, and his status was hampered by the low esteem of the public theatres in London. His popularity today would be surprising to both him and his contemporaries.
Acceptable Version
Adequate paraphrase with citation:
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is especially surprising in light of his relative of security in his own age: as Hugh Grady has illustrated, he was celebrated by some critics, denigrated by others, but his massive popularity today would have been unfathomable to anyone in the seventeenth century (265).
Direct quotation with citation:
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is especially surprising in light of his relative of security in his own age. In Hugh Grady's words, "The godlike esteem he has achieved today around the world would have been incomprehensible in his own time, both to him and to his peers" (265).
4. Uncited paraphrase
Plagiarized Version
Shakespeare was celebrated by some critics, denigrated by others, but his massive popularity today would have been unfathomable to anyone in the seventeenth century.
Acceptable Version
As Hugh Grady has illustrated, Shakespeare was celebrated by some critics, denigrated by others, but his massive popularity today would have been unfathomable to anyone in the seventeenth century (265).
5. Uncited quotation
Plagiarized Version
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is especially surprising in light of his relative of security in his own age. "The godlike esteem he has achieved today around the world would have been incomprehensible in his own time, both to him and to his peers."
Acceptable Versions
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is especially surprising in light of his relative of security in his own age: "The godlike esteem he has achieved today around the world would have been incomprehensible in his own time, both to him and to his peers" (Grady 265).
Shakespeare's status as a global superstar in the twenty-first century is especially surprising in light of his relative of security in his own age. As Hugh Grady put it, "The godlike esteem he has achieved today around the world would have been incomprehensible in his own time, both to him and to his peers" (265).
Cases of Suspected Plagiarism: If I suspect you of plagiarism, I will ask you to show me the documents used in the process of your paper. Sometimes, to insure compliance with academic integrity policies, written submissions will be submitted to TurnItIn.com. Submission of any writing assignment to an instructor constitutes consent by the student for the instructor to upload the paper to this anti-plagiarism database.