Unit 2: Plagiarism

All examples listed are from the http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/04/ website.

1. Last summer, my family and I traveled to Chicago, which was quite different from the rural area I grew up in. We saw the dinosaur Sue at the Field Museum, and ate pizza at Gino's East.

• I see no plagiarism issues with this statement. 

2. Americans want to create a more perfect union; they also want to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for everybody.

• If this is the author’s own thoughts then there is no plagiarism, however the text reads more as though this may be a paraphrase of someone else’s work, in which case they need a proper citation.

3. I find it ridiculous that 57% of high school students think their teachers assign too much homework.

• This item contains plagiarism in that no citation is given for the statistic. Citation needs to be inserted.

4. Martin Luther King was certain that nobody would want to be contented with a surfacy type of social analysis that concerns itself only with effects and doesn't deal with root causes.

• This statement contains plagiarism in that the author is paraphrasing but has failed to list and credit their source.

5. Martin Luther King wrote that the city of Birmingham's "white power structure" left African-Americans there "no alternative" but to demonstrate ("Letter from the Birmingham Jail" para. 5).

• This statement includes plagiarisms in that only select text is contained by quotation marks while the author clearly borrowed additional phrases. The quotations need to encompass all of the borrowed text.

6. In "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," King writes to fellow clergy saying that although they "deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, your statement fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations."

• This statement has an incorrect use of quotation marks; the author cited King, but quotations around his paraphrasing and listed no page number. The author could either re-work without quotations, or restructure to include King’s exact words.

7. My friend Kara told me that she loves living so close to the ocean.

• No citation is needed.

8. Americans are guaranteed the right to freely gather for peaceful meetings.

• No citation necessary as this should be common knowledge, but they could cite the Constitution.

Summary

What I have learned about plagiarism through this exercise was primarily a refresher to what I have learned in ENG101 & ENG102. Although, as a student in particular, refreshers on this subject can only be helpful as they are of the utmost importance. It is imperative to take notes as you conduct research, in fact, start your bibliography before your note taking. It is very easy to lose track of a source location or the exact wording from a quote, or even to forget if the thoughts in your mind were your own or something you came across. There are many resources at our disposal to ensure we do not commit plagiarism as students. There are many free resources on the web, like the Purdue Owl website in addition to the style manuals, which are readily available and often required for course work. Of course, we also have our Clark website and our librarians, which we can use for assistance. There are many other resources like functions within Microsoft Word or citation software (I personally have used Zotero), which can assist you with inserting citations and creating bibliographies. Plagiarism is not only offensive to the original source, but it is illegal and can easily get you removed from a class or a school as a disciplinary action. Its instances are not limited to failed citations, but also include distortion or misrepresentation of facts and reusing your own work for school assignments. Plagiarism is bad, do not do it, and when in doubt, cite.