Types of Plagiarism

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Study Skill 9.2 Types of Plagiarism

Introduction

Narrator: So, now you know that academic integrity means speaking and writing in your own voice, turning in original work, and giving credit to others when you share their ideas. In your school, work, and living communities, you show respect for yourself and others by protecting your academic integrity. To do that, we need to avoid one of the biggest dangers to academic integrity -- plagiarism. Student 1: Right! I know what plagiarism is. You plagiarize if someone shares an assignment with you, and then you copy it and turn it in as your own. Or, you plagiarize if you find an assignment online that matches yours and submit it as your own work. Student 2: It’s also plagiarism if someone copies information from several different sources, puts them together into one assignment, and turns it in as their own. Student 3: Those kinds of plagiarism sound like they are planned and on purpose. What if I look at a paper, think the main points it makes are good, and then write my own content for each point? Or, what if I read some papers and put the ideas totally into my own words? Is that okay? Narrator: Actually, those are common mistakes that are easy to make. Any time you start with someone else’s idea, even if you use a lot of your own words, that’s plagiarism. Another common mistake we can make is that when we spend a lot of time researching, it’s easy to take in information, think about it, and then forget we didn’t think of it in the first place.  

There are lots of things to think about to be sure you don’t plagiarize someone else’s ideas, speech, or writing. In this module, we’ll talk about what is and isn’t plagiarism, and then we’ll look at some ways to make sure you protect your academic integrity.

Think about it

Plagiarism isn’t always simply copying the assignment from a friend or buying a paper from a website.  Sometimes it is much more complicated and other students are involved.  For this reason, your teacher at Mizzou Academy will investigate every and any suspected plagiarism offense.  You are responsible for everything submitted under your account.  What other things constitute plagiarism offenses? 

Directions: Take a look at the chart below and check the box next to the events you think are plagiarism. 

Learn about it

Imagine you worked hard to write a paper and turned it in for a grade. That’s great, so far! Next, imagine that your teacher noticed a few students who hadn’t done the assignment. What if she said, “That’s okay! Just choose a paper someone else turned in, and I’ll give you whatever grade they get.” We’re guessing you would think that’s unfair. It would be puzzling, at the very least, and would probably make you frustrated or angry. Yet, that’s exactly the choice someone makes if they avoid doing their own work, or giving credit to their sources, when they turn in assignments, projects, and exams. 

There are two aspects we consider when protecting against plagiarism: stay original and don’t be an over-helper.

Stay Original

First, you must do your own, original work. Mizzou K-12 takes a strong stance on academic integrity. Our teachers need to be able to see what our students are learning and how they are able to apply concepts from our courses to their assignments.  When a student copies work from a classmate, we don’t have the opportunity to see the learning or capabilities of that student. Further, the student who copies does not end up thinking through the content or applying concepts to their own assignments. 

Plagiarism

Merriam Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary defines plagiarism as "the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person." We live in an electronic age where anyone can be a publisher if they have a computer with access to the internet. However, if you cut and paste something created by someone else without giving credit to the author, you are plagiarizing. Even if you've summarized information found in a book or online, if you don't give credit to the person where the idea came from, you are committing intellectual property theft. Always give credit where it is due.

 Examples of Plagiarism

  • Turning in someone else’s work as your own.
  • Reusing a paper you submitted for a previous course by turning it in for another course without permission.
  • Collaborating with others on an assignment that you were instructed to do by yourself.
  • Not correctly citing information you find while doing research.
  • Changing small words but keeping the structure of someone else’s sentence and using it as your own.
  • Copying so many words from a person, book, or online site that most of your work is not your own.
  • Buying homework or writing from someone else and using it as your own.

The most important thing you can do as a student is express your own ideas and be trustworthy. An "A" grade means nothing if you sacrifice your integrity to achieve it. We encourage you to study and grow as learners, and to always give credit where credit is due.

Don’t Be an Over-Helper

Second, you must not share your work with others. You have worked hard on your assignments. We’re proud of you and want you to feel proud of your work too.  In plagiarism and copying conversations we often talk about honoring the original author. In this case, YOU are the original author.

Collaboration versus Copying

Collaboration IS a good thing. In fact, it is an essential skill in our global world. However, truly collaborative teams make sure all members contribute to the conversation or project. Copying is not collaborating.

In school, we sometimes have group projects, and these are wonderful times to practice collaboration. We also sometimes have assignments that require original work so that we can assess the individual skills and learning of our students. In these cases, we have to be careful with how we collaborate. Working and learning together is a great thing. Copying is not. No matter what assignment you are working on, we encourage you and your peers to dialogue, ask questions, and make connections.

It can be hard to say no when a classmate asks to see your work. I bet you are consistently a helpful person. However, giving your work to someone else does not help anyone in the long term. 

 What to do when a classmate asks for help

Say:

  • “I cannot loan you my work, but I am glad to listen if you want to tell me where you are stuck.”
  • “That was a hard assignment. Here’s something that helped me.”
  • “I cannot loan you my work, but if you need help, we can go talk to our teacher together.”

Do:

  • Point your friend to specific class resources.
  • Ask them about the assignment. (What have they started? Where are they stuck?) 
  • Go over the rubric together.
  • Connect your friend to a teacher.

 

Dig Deeper

Watch this video for an overview of the most common types of plagiarism and what you can do to avoid them. In our next module, we’ll look at some tools you can practice with and use to protect your academic integrity.. 

 Video: Plagiarism

Source: Smart Student

 

Practice it

Maybe you are already familiar with plagiarism and how it might show up in the work we do. Or, perhaps you were surprised by different types you just read about, such as self-plagiarism or copying and pasting information from many sources.

Look again at the examples of plagiarism, above, and think about these questions:

  • Why do you think plagiarism is often called “intellectual theft”?
  • Which type of plagiarism surprises you the most?
  • Which type of plagiarism is most tempting for you to do?
  • From what you know so far, how can you avoid plagiarizing others’ work?