INTERNATIONELLA ENGELSKA SKOLAN

Plagiarism and Referencing

A guide to help students
2011-2012

What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the act of stating or implying that another person's work is your own. You commit plagiarism if you: a. b. c. d. e. f. Submit a paper to be graded or reviewed that you have not written on your own. Copy answers or text from another classmate and submit it as your own. Quote or paraphrase from a source without crediting the original author. Propose another author's idea as if it were your own. Fabricating references or using incorrect references. Submitting someone else's presentation, program, spreadsheet, or other file with only minor alterations.

This is not a definitive list - any action which misleadingly imply someone else's work is your own can constitute plagiarism

Why Plagiarism is Wrong

Plagiarism is illegal. At a university level of education, being found guilty of plagiarism can result in you being expelled from your course and from your university. All IESE teachers agree that plagiarism is wrong, but here are some reasons why plagiarism is considered unethical. When you commit plagiarism, you hurt yourself and the community in the following ways: 1. You deny yourself the opportunity to learn and practice skills that may be needed in your future careers. You also deny yourself to opportunity to receive honest feedback on how to improve your skills and performance. 2. You invite future teachers and students to question your integrity and performance in general. 3. You commit fraud on teachers who are evaluating your work. 4. You deprive another author due credit for his or her work. 5. You show disrespect for your peers who have done their own work.

Common Excuses for Plagiarism

Here are some common reasons students give for plagiarism and some arguments on why plagiarism is still not a good idea.

I. "I'm too busy."

Maybe you think you have too much homework and other assessments to be able to complete your assignments. However, it is your responsibility to make sure you have scheduled adequate time to complete all your assignments. If you discover that you do not have enough time to complete an assignment, it is far better to either discuss your situation with your teacher, than to commit plagiarism.

II. "My work isn't good enough."

Maybe you feel that the quality of your work is so poor that you could never pass the class. But, teachers do not expect your work to be 100% perfect. The purpose of any assignment is for you to learn and practice new skills. If you feel your skills are especially weak, it is far better you discuss your concerns with your teacher. He or she may be able to point you to resources that can help you improve your grade.

III. "I didn't know it was plagiarism."

It is your responsibility as a student to know what constitutes plagiarism. That's what this document is all about. If you find that you are in a situation where you are not sure if your work could be seen as plagiarism, ask your teacher or look for examples of what not to do. Some are provided in this document.

IV. "They'll never find out."

Just because "they" are teachers doesn't mean they are not paying attention. Many teachers are aware of on-line "pay-per-essay" Web sites and have also seen enough other assignments to know if something looks "too familiar" or "doesn't seem right." In addition, teachers are developing and using technologies which can look for similar phrases across papers.

V. "I meant to include citations, but I forgot/ran out of time."

Get into the habit of inserting citations, even in your rough drafts. If you don't know which citation to use, put in some question marks, preferably bold e.g. (?), in the draft and track it down later.

Penalties for Plagiarism

Each school, university and even department here at IESE has different penalties for dealing with allegations of plagiarism however, if you are found to have plagiarized in an English assessment you may be given an NRG / E grade or asked to submit the assessment again.

Avoiding Cut and Paste Plagiarism with Citations

Plagiarism is the act of stating or implying that another person's work is your own. Plagiarism can range from submitting a paper you didn't write to leaving out key citations. Any action in which you misleadingly claim an idea as your own when it is not could constitute plagiarism. Here are some examples of what not to do.

Wholesale Copying
When plagiarism is discussed, most people picture someone handing in a paper they copied from a Web site, a friend, or some other source. This is clearly plagiarism because:
a. The person did not do any original research or writing. b. The work is created by another author, yet the submitter has put his or own name on it.

To give a specific example, suppose you have an assignment to explain how bilingual speakers learn how to fluently speak more than one language, and you find a nice explanation on the Linguistic Society of America's Bilingualism FAQ Web Page. If you were to copy this text, paste it into your document and hand it in as your assignment, you would be committing plagiarism.

Cut and Paste

Another type of plagiarism involves copying large chunks of text from one or more original sources and inserting it into the assignment. For instance, suppose you are doing the assignment on how bilingual children learn language, and you include a paragraph from the Bad Linguistics Page Web site. Unless you present the paragraph as a quote with full citation, you are committing plagiarism. Bad ([bold text] = "inserted text')

Contrary to what many people may expect, it is very easy for young children to learn more than one language at a time. [The minds of children are "wired" to acquire language automatically (undergoing exactly the same stages, no matter what the language is). From ages 1-5, kids can acquire any possible language (from English to Chinese to Hawaiian), and acquiring multiple languages is no problem, provided children have enough exposure. From 5-10, kids still have an easy time, but once adolescence hits, most people lose the ability to pick up languages easily.] Good (with quoted text indented and the author cite afterwards) Despite the anxieties of many immigrant parents in the United States, it is actually very easy for young children to become multilingual. The minds of children are "wired" to acquire language automatically (undergoing exactly the same stages, no matter what the language is). From ages 1-5, kids can acquire any possible language (from English to Chinese to Hawaiian), and acquiring multiple languages is no problem, provided children have enough exposure. From 5-10, kids still have an easy time, but once adolescence hits, most people lose the ability to pick up languages easily. Pyatt, 2000

Inappropriate Paraphrase
A more subtle type of plagiarism is the "inappropriate paraphrase" in which quoted text is altered only slightly from the original and no acknowledgment of the original author is given. Here is an example of an inappropriate paraphrase. Original Text The minds of children are "wired" to acquire language automatically (undergoing exactly the same stages, no matter what the language is). From ages 1-5, kids can acquire any possible language (from English to Chinese to Hawaiian), and acquiring multiple languages is no problem, provided children have enough exposure. From 5-10, kids still have an easy time, but once adolescence hits, most people lose the ability to pick up languages easily. Pyatt, 2000

Inappropriate Paraphrase ([bold text] = altered text) The minds of [infants] are ["configured"] to acquire language automatically (undergoing exactly the same [processes], [regardless of language]). From ages 1-5, kids can acquire any possible language (from English to [Tibetan] to [Navaho]), and acquiring multiple languages is [not difficult], provided children [are exposed to them enough]. From 5-10, kids still [can learn languages easily], but once adolescence [begins], most people lose the ability to [acquire] languages easily. Even though the second paragraph is not a direct quote, it is still a form or plagiarism because the re-edited paragraph preserves the same ideas in exactly the same sequence. The second paragraph is merely inserting some synonyms without expressing a new idea. The key to avoiding an inappropriate paraphrase is to acknowledge the source of your material as in: Acceptable Paraphrase As pointed out by (Pyatt 2000), the minds of infants are "wired to acquire language automatically," undergoing the same processes in the same order, regardless of language. Children ages 1-5 can acquire any possible language, and acquiring multiple languages is not difficult, provided children have enough exposure. Children ages 5-10 can still learn languages easily, but once adolescence begins, "most people lose the ability to pick up languages easily." Two things make this paraphrase acceptable - (1) the paragraph specifically identifies the author with the "(Pyatt 2000)" citation and (2) passages that are copied from the original are put in quotation marks. On a final note - you cannot turn in a paper which merely paraphrases one or two sources even if you acknowledge them. You do have to provide some original input in order to receive a good grade.

Citation Guidelines and "Common Knowledge"

When do you need to cite your sources? The short answer is that you should cite a source anytime you incorporate an idea, quote (written or spoken), data, image or other content that is not yours unless it is common knowledge. The term common knowledge refers to any knowledge that you can reasonably expect other people to know. For instance, the fact that there are bilingual speakers in the United State is common knowledge. You would not have to cite any sources. The specific percentages or numbers of bilingual speakers would not be common knowledge. If you were using any graphs or numbers about how many bilingual speakers there are in the United States, you would need to cite where you obtained the information. If someone, such as a teacher, told you in person or via e-mail, you can cite it as a "personal communication."

REFERENCING
This is a quick guide to help you with referencing. When quoting directly or indirectly from a source, the source must be acknowledged in the text by the authors name and the page number. Author(s) are named in a signal phrase Samovar and Porter point out that "language involves attaching meaning to world symbols" (188). Author(s) are named in parentheses The origin of language is historically considered as symbols (Samovar & Porter 188). In the bibliography page, at the end of your assignment, you are required to provide the full bibliographic information for each source. References must be listed in alphabetical order. Each reference should include four elements: (1) Author/Editor, (2) Title, (3) Publication Information, and (4) Date

Examples of references by type The Bibliography

1. Advertisement Air New Zealand. Advertisement. Listener Sep. 7 2002: 65. 2. Book - one author Chunn, M. Seven Voices: Tales of Madness and Mirth. Auckland: N.Z.:PEP, 1997. 3. Book - two or more authors Ruhen, O., and M Shadbolt. Isles of the South Pacific. Washington: National Geographic Society, 1971. 4. Book - review Fawcett, Peter. A Life Written in Purple Ink. Rev. of Une vie secrete, by Jean-Paul Goujon. Times Literary Supplement 28 Jan. 2005: 32. 5. Book - translated Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Living to Tell the Tale. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Jonathon Cape, 2003. 6. CD-Rom Craig, E. ed. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. CD-ROM. ed. 1998. http://www.waikato.ac.nz/library JMc Feb 2010 7. Dictionary - definition Noon. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. 8. Encyclopdia entry in Eui-Gak, H. North Korea- economic system. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Eds. (Eui-Gak 35053) (Noon) (Craig) (Garcia Marquez 347) (Chunn 13) (Ruhen and Shadbolt 21) (Fawcett 32) (Air New Zealand 65)

The Text

9. Film - DVD Its a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and Thomas Mitchell. 1946. DVD. Republic, 2001. 10. Film - Video Its a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and Thomas Mitchell. 1946. Videocassette. Republic, 2001. 11. Film review Duncan-Jones, Katherine. Thou Art Free. Rev. of Iris, dir. Richard Eyre. Times Literary Supplement 25 Jan. 2002: 24. 12. Journal article (DuncanJones 24) (Luymour) n.d. = no date Luvmour, B. Being with children during times of crisis. Pathsoflearning.(n.d.) 29 May 2003 <http://www.pathsoflearning.net/library.cfm> 13. Magazine article popular/trade/general interest Pirisi, A. Jobs, lies and videotape. Psychology Today May/June 2003:12. 14. Newspaper article (Print version) Cumming, G. "Cough That Shook the World." New Zealand Herald 5 April 2003, sec. B: 4. 15. Newspaper article (World Wide Web) Cumming, G. Cough That Shook the World. New Zealand Herald. 5 Apr. 2003. 14 Jun. <2004 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=3585> 16. Newspaper article with no author Drivers reject fuel prices driven by war threat. The Timaru Herald 7 Mar.2003:1. (Drivers Reject Fuel Prices 1) (Smith 34) (Cumming) (Cumming B4) (Pirisi 12) (Not One Less) (Not One Less)

17. Report Smith, P. (2001). Waikato River Water Quality Monitoring Programme: Data Report. Hamilton, N.Z.: Environment Waikato.