Writer's Blog: Chapter 7

Chapter 7 in The Bedford Researcher is all about PLAGIARISM, and how not to commit the act of plagiarizing. First off, the book defines plagiarism as "either unintentionally using someone else's work without properly acknowledging where the ideas or information came from...or intentionally passing off someone else's work as your own." (121) If I had not used quotation marks around that definition nor cited what page number I found the information in the book, I would be plagiarizing because they are not my words. Unintentional plagiarizing is the most common and can result in lack of taking good notes. Although it is not done on purpose, it can still have consequences. Some things that are considered unintentional plagiarizing are:

• quoting a passage in your notes but then when using it in your paper you don't use quotation marks because you forgot to note that it was from someone else
• using a paraphrase that is almost exactly like the original quote
• not differentiating your idea from the sources idea
• forget to list the source

Intentional plagiarizing is more serious and can result in even being expelled from a school. This type of plagiarism can include:

• "patchwork writing" where you put a few passages from different sources together and you do not quote or cite it
• using fake citations
• direct copying or very closely paraphrasing a passage, etc. without quoting or citing
• buying a document, essay, or paper that has been written and using it as your own

When working in groups, questions about plagiarize are often asked such as, "can I use notes or changes that they made to my papers without citing them?", "Do i have to identify which group member contributed a certain idea?"There is not one answer for this but usually you do not need to cite someone if they just helped edit your paper and made suggestions. You can always acknowledge them if you feel that it helped you significantly. If working in a group, list every author. Also ask your instructor what they would specifically like. 

One thing that all good writer's and researcher's must practice is good research ethics, which are three rules to research. The first rule is to acknowledge you source's information and ideas so that you show them respect. The next rule is to keep the sources information and ideas true and fair because you don't want to convey to your reader's something that your source didn't mean. The third rule is to use citations for the sources that you have used. 

You may be thinking, "My whole paper is going to be quotes and information I have gathered from other people." In fact, you do not need to document every single piece of information that you find on your topic. If it is common knowledge, which the book defines as "information that is widely known, such as the fact that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776" (124) than you will not need to cite it. If you are not sure if something is common knowledge or not, you can check to see how many sources use the same information as well as double check with an instructor. Another thing that you may be wondering is if you have to ask permission from a sources author to use a quote or passage, The general rule is that you do not unless you will be publishing your document. 

Avoiding plagiarism is the biggest topic in this chapter and it is the most important to understand so that you do not find yourself in trouble. The book says in order to avoid unintentional plagiarism you must learn to "conduct a knowledge survey, take notes carefully, distinguish between your ideas and those drawn from your sources, cite sources in the text and in a works cited or reference list, recognize misconceptions about intentional plagiarism." To conduct a knowledge survey, which will make sure you understand your issue, ask yourself three questions about the issue you have decided to address. Ask, "What do you already know about the issue, what don't you know, and what do you want to know." The next thing you must do is take notes carefully, which can be done by using quotation marks around every quote, make sure that your paraphrase is different in word choice and structure, do not make a patchwork summary about a source, use publication info about the source and where you found a certain quote or phrase in the source, and double check your notes. In order to distinguish your ideas from a source's ideas, look at the writing style of your notes. If it doesn't look like something you would write, than double check it. Also use phrases such as '"according to Jessica Richards..."' (129), which attributes information to the source's author. Citing your sources is probably the most important thing in order to avoid unintentional plagiarism. You must include an in-text citation, which is the page number and author, and comes write after the quote or phrase that you have borrowed, as well as a complete citation in the works cited list. We will use MLA style and the book provides examples on how to do in-text citations on page 132 and how to make a correct citation in the works cited page in another chapter. The last thing to do to avoid plagiarism is to understand why writer's plagiarize. The most common excuses or reasons why people say they plagiarize are "It's easier to plagiarize", "I ran out of time", "I couldn't care less about this assignment", "I'm no good at writing", "I didn't think I would get caught", "Everybody cheats", and "This course is a waste of my time". DO NOT consider any of these when considering whether you should plagiarize or not. Plagiarizing is illegal. End of story. If you are accused of plagiarizing make sure to double check your work again, collect all the materials you used for research, and talk with your professor about what you can do to fix it or what punishments you will face.