Monday, April 28, 2014

Blog Assignment: Plagiarism Detection and Prevention



Plagiarism is using someone else’s words exactly as they said it or wrote it.  To avoid it, you must either use your own words – paraphrasing – or use quotes around those people’s words and then cite it at the end and after the quotes.
 
According to Purdue’s website, “There are some actions that can almost unquestionably be labeled plagiarism.  Some of these include buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper (including, of course, copying an entire paper or article from the Web); hiring someone to write your paper for you; and copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or proper citation.”  (The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. April 10, 2014).

So, if you want to use someone else’s exact words, you have to use quotes and cite it.  If you want to use a picture that is someone else’s, you have to cite it.  You can use free sources that are free to use, share, and modify.  You could use Google and just put on those advance search filters.
 
You can paraphrase stuff.  If you do paraphrase, just make sure all the words you use are not what it is in that person’s sentence.  Change the words, use your own.

You can take your own notes by looking at something that is written or as someone is talking.  Write down what you think they are saying in your own words.  If you’re interviewing someone, same thing, use your own words.  But, if you want to use that person’s exact word, use quotes, and get their permission and then cite it.  You could use direct quotes but just have to cite it and quote it in quotation marks.  You could use other people’s work but it just has to be quoted and cited so they get the credit.

A lot of universities use plagiarism software to check if students are or have plagiarized.  A “facilitator’s role is to educate learners about copyright, fair use, plagiarism, and cheating.”  (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d., "Plagiarism and Cheating") 



References:

The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. April 10, 2014, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/1/

"Plagiarism and Cheating".  Dr. Palloff and Dr. Pratt.  Laureate Education, Inc.  (n.d.)

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