Plagiarism, Copyright, and Citation Module

Developed by Gina Haycock
April 2003

Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is considered a serious Academic crime by most institutions of higher education. At the very least, it is usually the basis for a grade of "F" on the assignment, but students may be expelled  from the school. There are many degrees of plagiarism from using words or ideas without crediting the source to turning in a paper copied word-for-word from the Web. This link, Plagiarism Cases Cited in The California Aggie gives examples of incidents of plagiarism and how they were settled at the University of California at Davis. 

Careful research methods can help the student avoid  plagiarism. The following web sites are excellent sources for identifying and avoiding plagiarism:

    Plagiarism: What It is and How to recognized and Avoid It:
    http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
    This site is sponsored by the Writing Tutorial Services at Indiana University at Bloomington. It gives examples
    of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrasing.
    Avoiding Plagiarism: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html This site is produced
    by the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue. Purdue's online writing lab,  one of the most well-
    known and complete. There is also a helpful link: Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words.
   

What Students Should Know About Copyright

According to the web site the Student Media Guide to Copyright  Law, plagiarism and copyright  are two separate issues. Plagiarism is an academic crime, but a student could  be held legally responsible for copyright infringement.
A copyright violation is the unauthorized use of material that is currently under copyright protection. 

The link: Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright at the U. S. Copyright Office, a Department of the Library Of Congress, gives basic information about copyright.

Citations

For most college assignments, students will be asked to use MLA style citations or APA style citations.
For English classes and other humanities courses the MLA (Modern Language Association ) style is usually required.
Use this: Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format link from the Online Writing Laboratory at Purdue  (OWL) site to view examples of this style. From the Modern Language Association, here is link especially for documenting web sites: http://www.mla.org/publications/style/style_faq/style_faq4 .

For papers in the social sciences and the natural sciences students may be required to use the APA (American Psychological Association) style. Use this link to see examples of the APA style. Another source for APA style is from the Online Writing Laboratory at Purdue (OWL).