2. What is plagiarism?
Using the work of another person and
passing it off as your own.
3. Plagiarism & AVC
• “Students are always responsible for any
plagiarism in their work.”
• AVC Student Code of Conduct, Sec. 6032.1a
• “An instructor who determines that a
student has cheated or plagiarized has the
right to give an ‘F’ grade for the
assignment.”
• AVC Student Code of Conduct, Sec. 6032.1b
4. Contradictions?
• Develop a topic based
on what has already
been said and written
• Rely on experts' and
authorities' opinions
• Give credit to previous
researchers
• BUT, Write something
new and original.
• BUT, Improve upon
and/or disagree with
those same opinions.
• BUT, Make your own
contribution.
From Purdue Univ Online Writing Lab OWL): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
7. Examples of Plagiarism
• Downloading a web page and turning it in.
• Rearranging words slightly, without a
citation.
• Rearranging words and using synonyms,
without a citation.
• Copying a whole paragraph, quoting one
section and passing the rest off as yours
while citing only the quote.
8. Examples of Plagiarism
• Taking several papers by the same author,
blending them together.
• Purchasing a paper.
• Having a friend or family member write it
for you.
9. What are signs that usually
indicate plagiarism?
• A sophisticated writing style above the grade level
of the student.
• A dramatic change in writing ability.
– This usually indicates a paper that is partially written
by the student and partially plagiarized from someone
with a much higher level of education.
• Outdated references.
– This is usually a paper that has been purchased from a
service called a “paper mill.” Many of these papers are
very old (some as much as twenty years) with citations
equally as old.
10. What are signs that usually
indicate plagiarism?
• References don’t relate to the paper.
– This is also common with purchased papers.
• No list of works cited.
11. How to avoid plagiarism.
• Take good notes and be sure to indicate
what information is yours and what has
been taken or quoted from another source.
– This does not include general knowledge.
• Always use quotation marks (“ “) for exact
quotes.
• Check paraphrases against the original text
and, if unsure, cite it.
12. turnitin.com
• It uses software that compares student
papers to all other student papers submitted
as well as the World Wide Web and a
database of journal articles and books.
• As at most colleges and universities, cases
of plagiarism have been increasing at AVC
over the last few years.
13. A Case of Plagiarism
• University of Virginia – Charlottesville
– In 2001 an examination of physics papers by software
found 158 cases of plagiarism.
– The investigation ended in November of 2002 with 45
students being dismissed from the school and three
graduates having their degrees revoked.
Source:
cnn.com (http://archives.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/26/uva.plagiarism.
14. Plagiarism Statistics
• UC Berkeley estimates that cheating on
their campus increased 744 percent between
1988 and 1997.
Source: Community College Week July, 2002
15. Plagiarism Statistics
• 80% of “high-achieving” high school
students admit cheating. (US News &
World Report, 1999).
• 15% of college students said they purchased
papers from a paper mill. (McCabe &
Trevino, 1996).
• 68% of students at Rutgers University admit
to cheating. (Rutgers University Survey,
2007).