Plagiarism -- Frequently Asked Questions

What is it?

The word plagiarism comes from the Greek root for "kidnap." If you submit work that presents somebody else's words as your own, you have kidnapped their work. This is plagiarism. Many students do this, not realizing that it is considered academically dishonest, and is subject to substantial penalties at any reputable university.

What's not OK? (Simple plain English version)

• copying text from a web site, publication, or paper and just putting it in your work as your own words or contribution

• copying text and just listing the source in your references

• copying text, changing a few words, and listing the source in your references

• getting ideas or information from some other source, presenting them in your own words, and then failing to identify the source of the ideas when you mention it, even if you list the source in your references

What's OK?

• Using sources of information to inform yourself, presenting material in your own words, then listing the sources in the references/bibliography at the end
• Using material directly from the source, but putting it in quotes to indicate that it is not your own. When you do this, you indicate right there in your text (or in a footnote) what the source is. Unless you are doing something like literary criticism, where you are discussing somebody else's words, this would typically be not more than 10% of your work.

Why isn't it OK to write this way?

One of the skills you most need in life is to take information from a variety of sources, then turn it over in your mind to figure out what's important, what's reliable, and what's true. You need to digest the information and analyze it,  based on the facts. Then you need to be able to explain this material to someone else, in your own words. Copying from another source doesn't teach you these skills.

When you get an assignment, it looks like you are being asked for information on a topic, but what you are really being asked for is finding, selecting, analyzing and presenting information. When you understand what you are really being asked for, you can see how copying is wrong, even if it does a better job of presenting the information than you could do on your own.

Also, it is fundamentally dishonest to present somebody else's work as your own.  It's like a farmer buying corn, putting it in his bins, and saying it was his, implying that he grew it. Copying somebody else's words or ideas is kidnapping, not growing your own, which is what you are here to learn to do. 

How could anybody tell if I plagiarized some text?

Student writing is quite different from commercial, official or scholarly writing. The vocabulary is different, the grammar is different, and the manner of expression is different. Although there are exceptions, plagiarism is almost always really, really obvious.

How is this different from submitting another student's paper as my own?

Not much -- you just kidnapped a different victim, or maybe you only kidnapped part of a victim.

Why is plagiarism such a bad thing to do?

What do you think of kidnapping? Theft? People have had to leave jobs and universities for doing this. 

Does this apply to other fields?

 Absolutely yes. You can't present Beethoven's Fifth in your music composition class as your own work, even if you change a few notes. You can't ethically kidnap some one else's graph, painting, formula, tune or gymnastics move and present it as your own. You can use these things (you should), you just can't pretend you came up with them on your own.

What is UNI's official policy on this?

http://fp.uni.edu/prahl/pbqstudent_rights_and_responsibilit.htm