This Tutorial Will Allow You To:

• Define plagiarism
• Identify the types of plagiarism
• Understand the concept of Intellectual Property Rights
• Apply strategies to avoid plagiarism
• Cite sources using the MLA style guide

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarize:
“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.”

Plagiarism:
“1. [Forgery] – Syn. Appropriation, literary theft, falsification, counterfeiting, piracy, fraud. 2. [Something forged] – Syn. Copy, fraud, counterfeit.”

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” (41).

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. Undergraduate Catalog. Oklahoma City:
     Oklahoma City University, 2009-2010. Print.

“Plagiarism.” Webster’s New World Thesaurus. 3rd ed. 1997. Print.

“Plagiarize.” Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Oxford Dictionary. Revised ed.
     2003. Print.

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:



Source:
Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers

     of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of

     America, 2009. Print.

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 departments/schools at OCU support using the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 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 list of works cited 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 55). When taking notes also make sure to keep a list of the sources you use (Modern Language Assn. of America 61).
• 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 Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers

     of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of

     America, 2009. Print.

Citing Sources

Chapter five of the MLA Handbook covers creating a works cited list:


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. These page numbers will be used in the parenthetical citations within the text of your paper, which are covered in chapter six of the MLA Handbook. In order to create your works cited list you will need to collect the following information:

Author or Editor
Title
Publisher
Publication Date (For web pages use last updated date)
Type of Publication e.g. print, web, microfiche, etc.
• City of Publication (Books Only)
• Edition (Books and Web Pages Only)
• Journal Name (Journal Only)
• Volume and Issue Number (Journal Only)
• Page Numbers of Complete Article(Journal Only)
• Web site Title (Web Page Only)
• URL optional (Web Page Only)
• Date of Access (Web Page Only) (Modern Language Assn. of America 136, 148, 184-185)

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:
Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers

     of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of

     America, 2009. Print.

Citing Sources (Examples):

Journal Article:

Author's Name. "Article Title: Sub-Title." Journal Title Volume.Issue

     (Publication Date): Page Numbers. Publication Type.

Maurel, Sylvie. "The Other Stage: From Jane Eyre to Wide Sargasso Sea."

     Bronte Studies 34.2 (2009): 155-161. Print.

Same Article Accessed via one of the EBSCO Databases:

Author's Name. "Article Title: Sub-Title." Journal Title Volume. Issue

     (Publication Date): Page Numbers. Database Name. Publication Type.

     Date Accessed.

Maurel, Sylvie. "The Other Stage: From Jane Eyre to Wide Sargasso Sea."

     Bronte Studies 34.2 (2009): 155-161. Academic Search

     Complete. Web. 19 April 2011.

Book:

Author. Book Title: Sub-Title. Edition. Publication City: Publisher,

     Publication Date. Publication Type.

Spain, Louise. Dance on Camera: A Guide to Dance Films and Videos.

     Lanham: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1998. Print.

Web Page:

Author. Title. Web site Title. Publisher or Sponser, Publication Date.

     Web. Date Accessed. <URL>.

Jokinenon, Anniina. Thomas Dekker: Essays and Articles. 1999. Web.

     19 April 2011. <http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/dekker/

     dekkeressay.htm>.

Note: According to the MLA Handbook, URL's are long and can change often, and they do not recommend their use in citations unless it is unlikely the reader would be able to find the page without it. (Modern Language Assn. of America 182). Always check with your professor to see if they require URL's for the particular assignment.

Source:
Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers

     of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of

     America, 2009. Print.

Quiz

Before you answer the questions, be sure to fill in your name and class information so it will appear correctly on the submission page. The submission page will appear automatically when you click the submit button at the end of the quiz. Print the page and turn it in to your professor.

First Name: Last Name:

Professor's E-mail:

Class Semester Professor:

1. I can copy text directly from a web page to use in my paper without using quotation marks.
   True
   FalseCorrect. Never copy text directly from any source without using quotation marks and citing your source.This statement is false. If you copy anything word-for-word, you must always use quotation marks and cite the source.


2. Which piece of information is optional when citing a web page?
   Publication Date
   Date Accessed
   URL
   AuthorCorrect, because URLs can change and sometime be long and cumbersome they are often mistyped. For these reasons the MLA style guide lists them as optional in the citaiton. However, you should always check with your professor to see waht their preference is on citing online sources.The Author, Publication Date, and Date Accessed are all required pieces of inforamtion when citing an online source.
   
   
3. Ownership of one’s own thoughts and ideas is?
   Copyright
   Intellectual Property Rights
   Plagiarism
   EntitlementCorrectCopyright refers to the laws that protect intellectual property rights, while plagiarism is one type of copyright violation. Entitlement is just a feeling someone might have that allows them to think it is ok to commit plagarism or some other unethical act.
   
   
4. Which is NOT a type of plagiarism?
   Turning in another’s work as your own
   Using previous assignments for other classes
   Using another's work word for word, using quotation marks, and giving credit to the author
   Using another’s work without giving creditCorrect, as long as you use quotation marks and give credit you are not committing plagiarism.The first, second, and fourth options are all types of plagarism. You must always give credit to the ariginal author and if you are quoting them word-for-word you must use quotation marks.
   
   
5. Which Style Manual does your professor prefer?
   APA
   Chicago
   Turabian
   MLACorrect, but you should always check with your professor to make sure that is the style guide he/she wants you to use for the assignment.MLA is the style guide used by many departments at OCU. However, you should always check with your professor to see which style guide you should be using on your assignment.
   
   

Mark the following as either examples of plagiarism or properly cited information. Assume all papers have a works cited page with an entry for the source being used.

6. Original Text: “Gelsey Kirkland’s best-selling autobiography, Dancing on My Grave, which she wrote with her husband, Greg Lawrence, churns up conflicting emotions in readers who saw her at her finest.”
   
   Text in Paper: Dancing on My Grave is an emotional autobiography written by Gelsey Kirkland and her husband, Greg Lawrence. The story leaves readers, who once saw Ms. Kirkland perform at her best, with conflicting emotions.
   Properly Cited
   PlagiarismCorrect, this text has been plagiarized. While this is a good example of paraphrasing they failed to give credit by citing the source.This is a good example of paraphrasing, but no credit was given to the original author and therefore it is plagarized.
   
   
7. Original Text: “The theatres were defended by the humanists, the Queen, the Court, the Privy Council, and the playwrights themselves, and the attack died down; but it flared up again in the 17th century, culminating in the denunciations of Prynne and the closing of the theatres in 1642.”
   
   Text in Paper: "The theatres were defended by the humanists, the Queen, the Court, the Privy Council, and the playwrights themselves, and the attack died down; but it flared up again in the 17th century, culminating in the denunciations of Prynne and the closing of the theatres in 1642” (Halliday 518).
   Properly Cited
   PlagiarismCorrect, this piece has been properly cited.This is properly cited. The use of quotation marks indicates the use of a word-for-word quotation of the original author. Parenthetical citaitons were used to give credit to the original author as well.
   
   
8. Original Text: “For adults, the yearning for paradise is the yearning of yearnings. Not the yearning of fulfillment, but the yearning to be without yearning.”
   
   Text in Paper: For grown-ups, the desire for paradise is the longing of yearnings. Not the thirst of achievement, but the yen to be without craving (Bullock and Jennings 265).
   Properly Cited
   PlagiarismCorrect, this piece is plagairized. While it walks the line of paraphrasing only a couple of key words have been changed to synonymns and it is very close to having been word-for-word. If you are unable to completely rephrase a work you should stick with a word-for-word quotation and use quotation marks.This one is tricky. The original author is given credit, but onlya few words are changed. This is not a true paraphrase and without quotation marks, full credit was not given to the original author.
   
   

Please answer the following questions honestly, so that we can improve this module.

9. Is this your first time completing this module?
   Yes
   No
   
   
10. What was most/least helpful about this online session?
    
    
    
11. Do you have a better understanding of plagiarism than you did before this online session?
    No, not at all 1 2 3 4 5 Yes, much better
    
    
12. Overall, how useful was this online session?
    Not Useful 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely Useful