Understand the concept of Intellectual Property Rights
Apply strategies to avoid plagiarism
Cite sources using the Kate L. Turabian/Chicago 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.”
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. 2009-2010. Undergraduate catalog. Oklahoma City:
Oklahoma City University.
Laird, Charlton and Micahael Agnes, eds. Plagiarism In Webster’s new world thesaurus. 3rd ed.
New York: Macmillan USA.
Plagiarize In Dorling Kindersley illustrated oxford dictionary. Revised ed.
2003. New York: 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, 54)
"Your first obligation as a researcher is to cite your sources accurately and fully so that your readers can find them" (Turabian 2007, 27). This allows readers to trust your evidence and therefore your research (Turabian 2007, 27).
Sources:
Modern Language Association of America. 2009. MLA handbook for writers of research papers. 7th ed.
New York: Modern Language Association of America.
Turabian, Kate L. 2007. A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for
students and researchers. 7th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
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 The Turabian Style Guide, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 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 Turabian style guide recommends taking careful notes to indicate whether something is a direct quote or a paraphrase and always indicate whether the information came from a source or was your own idea. Instead of depending on your notes for quotations, photocopy or download the direct quote and write all information needed for citing the source at the top of the page. Finally do not assume that free and publicly avaialbe information on the Internet does not have to be cited. "Nothing releases you from the duty to acknowledge your use of anything you did not personally create yourself" (Turabian 2007, 42).
Know 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:
Turabian, Kate L. 2007. A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for
students and researchers. 7th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Citing Sources
Part two of the Style Guide covers creating bibliographies and reference lists. Chapters 18 and 19 cover parenthetical citations/reference list style:
You may be asked to use different styles in different settings (for example, an art history course and a political science course). Within a specific paper, however, always follow a single style consistently. (Turabian 2007, 136)
...[C]itation and bibliographic management software varies widely in quality and might not reflect the small changes in citation styles that occur over time (for example, the addition of different electronic sources). If you use such software, you should always review the resulting citations for accuracy and completeness. (Turabian 2007, 140)
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 chapters 18 and 19 of the Style Guide. In order to create your reference list you will need to collect the following information:
Author or Editor
Title
Publication Date (For web pages use last updated date)
Page Numbers (For journals, page range for complete article)
Publishers (Books Only)
City of Publication (Books Only)
Edition (Books Only)
Journal Name (Journals Only)
Volume and Issue Number (Journals Only)
Web site Title (Web Pages Only)
URL (Web Pages and Online Articles Only)
Date of Access (Web Pages Only)
(Turabian 2007, 227-280)
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:
Turabian, Kate L. 2007. A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for
students and researchers. 7th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Maurel, Sylvie. 2009. The other stage: From Jane Eyre to Wide Sargasso Sea. Bronte Studies. 34, no.2: 155-161.
Note:Only the first word of titles and Sub-titles are capitalized. However proper nouns and adjectives are also capitalized within titles.
Articles Published Online or in a Database such as EBSCOhost:
Author's Name. Publication Date. Article title: Sub-Title. Journal Title. Volume,
no. Issue or (Month): Page Numbers. URL (accessed date accessed).
Maurel, Sylvie. 2009. The other stage: From Jane Eyre to wide sargasso sea. Bronte Studies. 34, no.2: 155-161. http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=41341157&site=ehost-live
(accessed November 15, 2012).
Book:
Author. Publication Date. Book title: Sub-Title. Edition. Publication City: Publisher.
Spain, Louise. 1998. Dance on camera: A guide to dance films and videos.
Lanham: Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Web Page:
Author. Web page title. Title or owner of site. URL (accessed date accessed).
Jokinenon, Anniina. Thomas Dekker: Essays and articles. Anniina Jokinenon.
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/dekker/dekkeressay.htm
(accessed April, 19, 2011).
Note: Even if you can determine few or no facts of publication, you must still include information beyond the URL in your reference list. If you cite only a URL and that URL changes or becomes obsolete, your citation becomes useless to readers. (Turabian 2007, 263)
Source:
Turabian, Kate L. 2007. A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for
students and researchers. 7th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.