Plagiarism

"I found your speech to be good and original.
However, the part that was original was not good.

And the part that was good was not original."

Plagiarize - 

1. to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own

2. to use a created production without crediting the source

3. to commit literary theft

4. to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

          from Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary Online

Plagiarism can take many forms and it probably isn't too much of a stretch to suppose that 90% of us have either wanted to or actually have plagiarized at some time or another. With the advent of the internet, plagiarizing has been made so easy it is almost impossible to ignore the temptation to cut and paste!

However, we may not realize is that this act of "borrowing" is as much plagiarism as copying or modifying (i.e. using a thesaurus to replace a few choice words here and there) from books, magazines, encyclopedias and newspapers. And the repercussions can be severe if plagiarism is detected by your teacher. In college, the penalties can be particularly serious, ranging from failing the class to monetary fines to expulsion.

In this webquest, you will participate in a number of activities that will help you avoid the traps of plagiarism. You will go on an internet scavenger hunt to familiarize yourself with the concept of plagiarism. You will read about several situations and determine if they could be construed as plagiarism. Finally, you will put your paraphrasing skills to the test by putting the information in an article into your own words.

Activity 1

Read each scenario and determine if the situation is plagiarism or not.

Consider the following situations and decide if an act of plagiarism has happened or not.

1. Ellen asks her supervisor at work if she could use the text of the training manual in an English assignment about proper sales etiquette. Ellen uses entire passages from the manual without citing her source.

2. A student makes an appointment with the family physician in order to get information about the common cold. The helpful doctor gives the student brochures about causation and treatment. However, the doctor symptoms the student that the material is copyrighted by the American Medical Association. The student uses quotations from the brochures and cites the source material.

3. Roger has written a paper on King George III for his English class. He then must write a paper for U.S. History. He reuses one page from his English-class paper.

4. Sara's mother has downloaded an article from the Internet on the market in Korea for computers. Sara uses the information from the article in a report for her economics class. She has lost the original article and does not remember the source. She does not cite the article in her notes.

5. Jared copies a painting of a tiger by a famous living artist from an art magazine. He then enters the art work in a school competition as his own and wins.

Activity 2

Put your skills to the test! Paraphrase the following:

1. It is well known that exercise helps to alleviate stress. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Association (NHLBA) endorse exercise as a way to reduce stress, and recommends cardiovascular exercise that elevates the heart rate for 15 to 30 minutes--three to four times a week. The American Psychology Association has conducted numerous studies indicating the beneficial effects of exercise in dealing with stress. Exercise releases endorphins into the blood stream. Endorphins are "feel good" hormones and are the body's natural pain-killers. They also generate the sensory perception of physical well-being, which in turn contributes to emotional and mental health. 

2. In The Sopranos, the mob is besieged as much by inner infidelity as it is by the federal government. Early in the series, the greatest threat to Tony's Family is his own biological family. One of his closest associates turns witness for the FBI, his mother colludes with his uncle to contract a hit on Tony, and his kids click through Web sites that track the federal crackdown in Tony's gangland. 

Today, you have accomplished some activities that will last you the rest of your life. Understanding plagiarism and being able to successfully paraphrase what you have read allows you a deeper understanding of what people are really saying. This will be an invaluable tool throughout your academic and professional career.

http://en.writecheck.com/blog/2011/09/27/famous-plagiarism-quotes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism