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ENGL 101 - English Composition I - Martin

Types of Plagiarism

Direct

A word-for-word copy of someone else's work, without attribution and quotation marks, is deliberate plagiarism. 

Self-Plagiarism

If you have already submitted something you've written for an assignment for any other class, using that same text without instructor permission and proper citations is plagiarism.

Patchwork

Taking bits and pieces from a variety of sources, putting them together, and presenting them as your original work is plagiarism. You need to cite your sources.

Accidental

Sometimes you forget. Sometimes you don't realize you paraphrased. Accidents happen, but it's still plagiarism. Keep careful track of your sources!

Strategies to Avoid Plagiarism

  • Digital content (e.g. PDFs of articles and eBooks) make it easy to accidentally plagiarize by using copy/paste and then forgetting to provide attribution.
  • Organizing your research will help you complete your assignments, and help you avoid plagiarism at the same time.
  • Keep copies of the sources you plan to cite in a folder (electronic or paper). Make a note of how each source fits into your research
  • When drafting your essay, create a list of full citations as you use each source, rather than waiting until the end to create the citations.
  • Start your assignment early, so that you don't make mistakes when you're pressed for time.

Some material adapted from "Avoiding Plagiarism," University of Notre Dame Libraries, https://libguides.library.nd.edu/plagiarism