ENGL 1106 Richoux: Plagiarism

Is it plagiarism?
It can be difficult to avoid plagiarism if you’re not exactly sure what plagiarism is!  We all know that it is a bad idea to take someone else’s work and pass it off as your own, but plagiarism is sometimes more complicated than that.  Basically, you always want to give credit where credit is due, but determining when that is can be a complicated process.  In order to help you think about the entire research process, and how using research resources fits into that, complete the following two tasks:

Read this brief (1 page) article on identifying plagiarism:  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/

By now you have heard that citations are a great way to avoid plagiarism in your research papers.  Research and scholarly articles are often referred to as a scholarly conversation and citations are extremely important to the scholarly conversation.  They are your ticket to these conversations. They give your credibility while acknowledging the work of others.  

Lycoming College has a great plagiarism game, complete with goblins.  Try your knowledge here.

Common knowledge
In both the  Purdue Owl article that you just read and the video that you just watched, the phrase “common knowledge” was used to describe information that you do not need to cite because it cannot be attributed to a specific person or group.  However, determining what counts as “common knowledge” can sometimes be very difficult.  Common knowledge can mean different things to different people, but there are a few rules of thumb that you can use to help you figure out what common knowledge means in your particular circumstances.

Paraphrasing
The videos and readings this week have also touched on “paraphrasing,” a way to integrate someone else’s ideas in your paper without quoting them directly.  When you paraphrase someone else’s words, you will still need to cite their ideas (more on this next!), but it can help you think through how you are integrating that information into your paper and prevent you from quoting too much!  Read the following 1-page article on paraphrasing to learn more about it, and gain some effective strategies for effective paraphrasing:

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?

Paraphrasing is usually about one idea from a source or quotation that you put in your words and cite.  Summarizing usually involves taking several ideas from a source and condensing those ideas into one or two sentences and also citing.