Tutorial for plagiarism workshop, Rio Hondo College, Whittier CA

1. We’ll look at---
Definitions
Consequences
Research Tips

2. Definitions
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines plagiarism as:
 to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as
one's own
 to use (another's production) without crediting the
source
 to present as new and original an idea or product
derived from an existing source.

3. Definitions
 We will cover these applications of plagiarism
today.
 Most colleges and universities define what is
considered plagiarism for their own institutions.
You can often find this in the college catalog.
 Our own college catalog has a section on
plagiarism and the consequences
 **http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html

4. RHC Catalog
 Cheating/Plagiarism Cheating is defined as obtaining or
attempting to obtain credit for work by the use of any dishonest,
deceptive, fraudulent, or unauthorized means. Helping
someone commit an act of academic dishonesty is also
considered cheating. Examples include, but are not limited to:
 1. Unacceptable exam behavior – communicating with fellow
students, copying material from another student’s exam or
allowing or using unauthorized materials, or any behavior that
defeats the intent of an exam.
 2. Plagiarism – taking the work of anothere and offering it as
one’s own without giving credit to that source, whether that
material is paraphrased or copied in verbatim or near verbatim.
 **pg. 38, RHC Catalogue, 2011-12

5. RHC Catalog
 3. Unauthorized collaboration on a project,
homework, or other assignment where an instructor
expressly forbids such collaboration.
 4. Documentary falsification including forgery,
altering of campus documents or records, tampering
with grading procedures, fabricating lab assignments,
or altering medical excuses.

6. RHC Catalog
 Consequences of cheating/plagiarism may include:

 1. Receive an “F” in the course.
 2. Receive a 0 on that assignment.
 3. Be referred to the Dean of Student Life for further
 disciplinary action.

7. Intentional Plagiarism
 Copy a friend's work [such as papers, tests]
 Buying or borrowing papers
 Cutting and pasting blocks of text without citing the
source
 Publishing the work on the web without permission of
the creator

8. Intentional Plagiarism… [or not]
http://www.pyrczak.com
/antiplagiarism/cartoons.
htm

9. Unintentional
 Incomplete or careless quoting or paraphrasing
 None/incomplete documentation
 Quoting too much from source
 No use of your own ideas

10. Unintentional?
http://vetahrix009.files.wor
dpress.com
/2011/01/plagiarism_3.gif

11. Common Knowledge
 An idea is common knowledge if:
 The same idea can be found in the same form in several different
sources (and all these sources aren’t getting the idea from one
common, published source).
 It is information that your readers most likely already possess
(whether the information is accurate or a popular misconception).
 It is factual information that is in the public domain, for example,
widely known dates of historical events, facts that are cited in
standard reference works, etc.
 From “Teaching Guide for GSIs: preventing academic misconduct.
http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/misconduct/paraphrasing.html

12. Examples
 Common Knowledge:
 John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United
States in 1960. [public fact, contained in many sources]
 Not Common Knowledge:
 According the American Family Leave Coalition’s new
book, Family Issues and Congress, President Bush’s
relationship with Congress has hindered family leave
legislation (6). [information/opinion stated by an
author]

13. Video
 Video on Unintentional Plagiarism [Cal Poly Pomona]:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNVg_V_QsMQ

14. Paraphrasing
 A work must be cited if:
 The paraphrase retains all or most of the original author’s
ideas or uses an idea from the original author that is not
common knowledge.
 The paraphrase retains the sequence of the original author’s
ideas or arrangement of the material or it modifies the
sequence of the ideas but retains central ideas and key
phrases from the original.
 The purpose of discussing the author’s ideas is to use them as
an example of a particular point of view.
 From “Teaching Guide for GSIs: preventing academic misconduct.
http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/misconduct/paraphrasing.html

15. Exercise on Paraphrasing
 See below for short exercise on paraphrasing [UC
Berkeley]
 http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/misconduct/ex
ercise.html

16. Consequences of plagiarism
 Academic
 Penalties Imposed by Instructors
 Lower grade for assignment, or failing in course
 RHC Official Policies:
 1. Receive an “F” in the course.
 2. Receive a 0 on that assignment.
 3. Be referred to the Dean of Student Life for further
 disciplinary action.
 From RHC College Catalogue, 2010-2011, p. 38.

17. Consequences of plagiarism
 Professional
 Discrediting of work
 Loss of license/ability to practice
 Censure by profession/field
 You lose, by losing out on the chance to learn as
a student, and by loss of professional
status/abilities as a professional

18. Research Tips to Avoid Plagiarism
 Know the code of the institution you attend
 Be familiar with our RHC code [p. 38, RHC College Catalogue]

 Give credit where credit is due

 Exact words: use quotes for exact words of author
 Summaries: indicate sources of summarys of other’s ideas
 Paraphrases: indicate sources of paraphrase

 Common Knowledge must be distinguished from ideas of others:

 The Internet is common knowledge [not!]

 Avoid minor changes in wording from a source. Changing one or two words is not sufficient, you must rewrite in your
own words

 Try to aim for creative work in your own words

 Use the documentation style required for the assignment

 Use MLA, APA or other required styles [see our guides here]

 Begin assignments early enough to avoid sloppy citing or referencing of sources

19. Exercise
 Take the short quiz below:
 http://dsa.csupomona.edu/judicialaffairs/plagquiz.asp

20. Questions?
 Other Sources for Plagiarism
 Vail Tutorial on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
 http://www-apps.umuc.edu/vailtutor/index.html
 OWL Tutorial
 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/
 Cal Poly Pomona Tutorial on Plagiarism
 http://www.csupomona.edu/~library/spotlight/2011/oct
ober/student_plagiarism.html