Understand the concept of Intellectual Property Rights
Apply strategies to avoid plagiarism
Cite sources using the APA style guide
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarize:
(1997)
“1 take and use (the thoughts, writings, inventions, etc., of another person) as one’s own. 2 pass off the thoughts, etc., of (another person) as one's own.”
Oklahoma City University defines plagiarism in the Academic Honesty Policy as “…the appropriation of another’s work and/or the unacknowledged incorporation of that work in one’s own” (Oklahoma City University 2009-2010).
WARNING: Oklahoma City University uses Turnitin.com to detect plagiarism. Penalties for plagiarism may include receiving an F for the assignment, receiving an F for the class, expulsion from the program, or expulsion from the university.
Sources:
Oklahoma City University. (2009-2010) Undergraduate Catalog.
Oklahoma City, OK: Author.
Plagiarism. (1997). In Charlton Laird (ed.), Webster’s New World Thesaurus
(3rd ed., pp. 592). New York, NY: Macmillan USA.
Plagiarize. (2003). In Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Oxford Dictionary.
(Rev. ed., pp. 622). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Intellectual Property Rights
Plagiarism is wrong not just because Academia says it is wrong, but because authors own their thoughts as much as they would any commercial product they were responsible for creating. They deserve to be credited for these ideas and thoughts in both monetary and non-monetary forms. This is referred to as intellectual property rights:
“Buying a paper, however, is the same as buying a book or magazine. You own the physical copy of the book or magazine, which you may keep in your bookcase, give to a friend, or sell. And you may use whatever you learn from reading it in your own writing. But you are never free from the obligation to let your readers know the source of the ideas, facts, words, or sentences you borrow. Publications are a special kind of property. You can own them physically but the publisher or author retains rights to the content” (Modern Language Assn. of America 2009).
Source:
Modern Lanuguage Association of America. (2009). MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.). New York, NY: Author.
Types of Plagiarism
Using another's work without giving credit
Using another's work word for word without using quotation marks, even if you give credit
Turning in another's work as your own
Using previous work for more than one assignment/course
Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism
Always cite your sources. Many schools here at OCU support using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Style Guide), which can be found in the Dulaney-Browne Library. There are several other style manuals available at the library, but you should always check with your professor to see which one to use for assignments. Style manuals lay out rules for citing sources within your paper and show you how to prepare a reference list which is required for all research papers.
The MLA Handbook recommends that you always take notes while conducting research. “Presenting an author’s exact wording without marking it as a quotation is plagiarism, even if you cite the source. For this reason, recording only quotations is the most reliable method of note-taking in substantial research projects, especially for beginning students. It is the surest way, when you work with notes, to avoid unintentional plagiarism“ (Modern Language Assn. of America 2009).
When taking notes also make sure to keep a list of the sources you use (Modern Language Assn. of America 2009).
Knowing when to cite a source. In general you should always cite a source if you incorporate someone else's knowledge or ideas into your work. A style guide can be helpful in determining how to cite the source.
Source:
Modern Lanuguage Association of America. (2009). MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.). New York, NY: Author.
Citing Sources
Chapters six & seven of the APA Style Manual cover creating a reference list:
"Cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work. They may provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer ciritcal definitions and data. Citation of an article implies that you have personally read the cited work. In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to build your thesis, provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge” (American Psychological Association, 2010).
The three most common sources you will cite in your papers will be journal articles, print books, and web pages. While taking notes you will obviously need to remember to record page numbers from all of these sources except web pages. For webpages you will use paragraph numbers or section or paragraph titles. These numbers and titles will be used in the parenthetical citations within the text of your paper, which is covered in chapter seven of the Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Style Manual). In order to create your works cited list you will need to collect the following information:
Author or Editor
Title (Article or Chapter Title)
Publisher
Publication Date (For no date use n.d. in parenthesis and for unpublished items give the date the work was produced.)
Type of Publication e.g. print, web, microfiche, etc.
City of Publication (Books Only)
Edition (Books and Web Only)
Journal Name (Journal Only)
Volume and Issue Number (Journal Only)
Page Numbers of Complete Article (Journal Only)
Digital Object Identifier or DOI (Web Only, if it exists this is the only extra piece of information you need)
URL optional (Web Only)
The items highlighted in yellow are the main types of information you will need to collect and are common to all three types of items you will cite.
Source:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Crediting Sources. Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association(6th ed.).
Washington, D.C.: Author.
Citing Sources (Examples):
Journal Article:
Author, A. A. (year). Title of article. Journal Title, Volume(Issue). pp-pp.
Moore, R., Brooks, C., & Cotner, S. (2011). The Relation of high school biology courses & students'
religious beliefs to college students' knowledge of evolution. American Biology Teacher, 73(4).
222-226.
Same Article Accessed via one of the EBSCO Databases:
Author, A. A. (year). Title of article. Journal Title, Volume(Issue). pp-pp. doi: xx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Moore, R., Brooks, C., & Cotner, S. (2011). The Relation of high school biology courses & students'
religious beliefs to college students' knowledge of evolution. American Biology Teacher, 73(4).
222-226. doi: 10.1525/abt.2011.73.4.7
If there is no doi then cite the article as if it were found in print.
Book:
Author, A. A. (year). Book Title: Sub-Title (6th ed.). Location: Publisher.
Pippin, R. B. (2010). Nietzsche, Psychology, and First Philosphy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Electronic Version of Book:
Author, A. A. (year). Book Title: Sub-Title (6th ed.). Location: Publisher. Retrieved from URL
Evjen, B. (2008). Professional ASP.NET 3.5 in C and VB. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Pub.
Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dulaneybrowne/Doc?id=10296660
The latest version of the APA Style Manual does not give an example for citing a simple web page. One might take this to indicate that web pages should not be cited in academic works. If you need to use a web page as a reference consult your professor to see how he/she would like you to cite the source. They may want you to use the previous version of the style guide or use the example given for Internet message boards and electronic mailing lists that start at the bottom of page 214 of the style guide.
Online Forum/Mailing List:
Author/Screen name. (Date of posting). Re: Subject Line of Message [type of online source]. Retrieved
from URL
Fried, I. (2011, April 18). Apple Files Patent Suit Against Samsung Over Galaxy Line of Phones and
Tablets. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/20110418/
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