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pla·gia·rism 
(plural pla·gia·risms)
noun
1. stealing somebody's work or idea:
copying what somebody else has written or taking somebody's
else's idea and trying to pass it off as original
2. something plagiarized: something
copied from somebody else's work, or somebody else's
idea that somebody presents as his or her own
The definitions above were taken from Encarta
World Dictionary Online (July 8th, 2003). Notice
that the definition states that plagiarism is not only
taking others' work verbatim (word by word) but also
their idea. Therefore, what many of you think is o.k.
to do, i.e. read a sentence, paraphrase it, and write
it down, is actually plagiarism unless you make sure
the reader knows the idea is borrowed, not yours.
Plagiarism is very easy to detect currently. IUPUI
has a software program that helps instructors identify
plagiarized work. Even without such a program, identifying
whether someone plagiarized is as easy as cutting and
pasting a sentence into a search engine such a Google.
As instructors read your work, it is usually very easy
to identify a section that 'does not fit' with the rest,
i.e. that clearly seems to have been written by someone
else. If you plagiarize an idea, that too is usually
easy to identify.
You really don't want to bother plagiarizing,
because the result is choppy work and a poor understanding
of your subject matter. For this section, we will suppose
none of you want to plagiarize, but that you may need
a deeper understanding of what it is in order to avoid
doing it. We also will suggest some strategies to help
you come up with your own work even though it is the
result of reading the work of others.
Key points to identify what plagiarism is:
- Do not construct
your section (introduction, discussion, etc.) by writing
down or paraphrasing sentences as you are reading
an article. If you do, you are likely to paraphrase
one sentence at a time. Even if you give credit each
time by citing, you are pretty much reproducing the
work of the other person. You are also creating a
work that does not flow or show any insight into the
readings, or any thought process about the meaning
of the various findings combined.
- Do read a number
of articles relevant to the variables you are trying
to understand, marking up the articles in sections
where you find an interesting idea or finding. When
you do this, your brain typically consolidates what
you are reading; you are more likely to see connections
between the articles, and to draw conclusions about
the variables. When you then sit down and write, your
writing will reflect the ideas of the various authors
put together and processed by you. You then
go back and cite each article in the relevant portion
of your writing. This writing will stand out from
everyone else's because it is clear the writer has
command of the literature he/she has read and is using
to explain his/her own work.
- Do not reference
from an introduction…usually. Remember, introductions
are where writers takes the work of others and uses
it to explain why their own work is important and
necessary. That is what you are doing also, and in
introductions it is difficult to find what you need
(the work of the author you are reading). If you are
reading an introduction and find that the author,
for example, justifies her study of grades and depression
based on some work she is citing from someone else,
you probably will want to get that 'someone else's'
work and read it and cite it yourself, instead of
citing this person citing someone else. Also, by doing
this you are able to judge the study yourself and
not count on someone else's conclusions about what
they read.
- Do reference mostly
from discussion sections. That is where authors present
their original work and the conclusions they draw
from their work. If you are going to use the work
of others to justify your study, then it makes sense
to go to the discussion to reference/cite because
that is where the work is described and analyzed (that's
another justification for spending much time working
on your own discussion).
For more detailed help with plagiarism visit this
website from IU Bloomington
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