Information and Links for Students

Links last verified 2/9/04

Definitions and Taxonomies of Plagiarism

plagiarism.org (quotes & stats page; research resources; definition/types/FAQ; citations/extensive link list of citation styles; lesson on how to paraphrase) [turnitin.com]

Indiana University at Bloomington (definition and tips)

Internet Paper Mills, Margaret Fain and Peggy Bates, Costal Carolina University at Conway--with links to other helpful sites

California University of Pennsylvania, annotated link list on plagiarism

Links to quizzes on plagiarism

Advice on Plagiarism with links to articles on it (for teachers)

Brian Martin's articles on plagiarism and scientific fraud

Definition and laws relevent to plagiarism, Ronald B.Standler

Links to many plagiarism articles, by Rebecca Moore Howard

1996 article on Plagiarism from the Web, by Tom Rocklin

Lou Bloomfield's plagiarism links and a page of links to plagiarism cases

Bibliography with some links to articles on school cheating, by the Center for Academic Integrity

Plagiarism site at University of Alberta with links for teachers and students, terms, etc. and links page

plagiarism links by Hagerstown Community College

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Six types of plagiarism

1. "Handing in a paper that you've purchased from a private company."

2. "Handing in a paper that was written by another student."

3. "Handing in the same (or a very similar) paper as your friend."

4. "Copying a portion of your paper from another source without proper documentation."

5. "Using facts and/or ideas obtained from another source without proper documentation."

6. "Handing in a paper for more than one class."

Another six types of plagiarism

1. "The most obvious is plagiarism in which a writer simply copies from a text not his or her own. The work of another is presented, word-for-word or nearly so, under the name of one who has not written but only copied."

2."The other, more common type of plagiarism is often referred to as `mosaic plagiarism,' or paraphrasing. It can be committed by the astutely dishonest thief, in a deliberate attempt to deceive; or by the well-meaning, but uninformed or careless writer, who takes research notes poorly or misunderstands the forms required for accurate crediting. In mosaic plagiarism, words are not copied directly, but are changed or rearranged; original sentences or even whole paragraphs are often
interspersed with the plagiarized material."

3."The issue of plagiarism is certainly not limited to text, whether print or electronic. Equally subject are non-print media, such as television, radio and the visual and performing arts."

4. "The first [area of confusion], essentially formal, centers on the use of paraphrasing of, or direct quotation from a source. Both are common and accepted ways to cite research, but confusion often arises as to whether they require formal crediting. In the case of paraphrasing, it must be remembered that while the words
may indeed be one's own, the ideas they express are not; and those ideas must be formally credited to their source. When one uses direct quotations, it is not enough to set them apart, visually, with quotation marks; both quotations and paraphrased passages must be footnoted."

5. "A second area of confusion surrounds the use of `public' or `encyclopedic' information. This is information that is generally assumed to be shared by everyone, and it need not be credited. (If one refers, for instance, to the fact that on the standard decimal system two plus two equals four, there is no need to cite an arithmetic book as a source.) What information may be safely assumed to be
` public,' however, is often uncertain. A good rule of thumb here is to credit anything that was new when one encountered it in the course of research . . . it being better to appear naive than dishonest."

6."The third common area of uncertainty is more or less specific to the creative arts and may be referred to as `artistic quoting.' Often, creative material produced by others (a photograph or a piece of dialogue for instance) may be used in one's own work for the purpose of commenting on its original style, attitude, technique, etc. The key to questions of crediting here is, again, familiarity."

A further six types of plagiarism


1. "Explicit Plagiarism: 'Complete plagiarism exists when an entire essay is copied from an author, or composed by another person, and presented as original work Complete plagiarism is bold and blatant.' (University of British Columbia, http://www.arts.ubc.ca/doa/plagiarism.htm)" 

2. "Taking phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or statistical findings from a variety of sources and piecing them together into an essay (piecemeal plagiarism)"

3. "Taking another author's idea, without your own critical analysis, and failing to acknowledge that this idea is not yours"

4. "Paraphrasing (i.e. rewording or rearranging words so that your work resembles, but does not copy, the original) without acknowledging your source"

5. "Using footnotes or material quoted in other sources as if they were the results of your own research"

6. "Submitting a piece of work with inaccurate text references, sloppy footnotes, or incomplete source (bibliographic) information" 

Seven types of plagiarism

1. "Misrepresentation"
2. "Cut-and-paste"
3. "Omitting quotation marks"
4. "Patchwriting"
5. "Plagiarism of organization and information"
6. "Quoting out of context"
7. "Paraphrasing without acknowledgment"

Another seven types of plagiarism

[#1-5 are quoted from the Fall 1994 College Teaching]

1. "`Buying a paper from a research service or term paper mill.'"


2. "`Turning in another student's work without that student's knowledge.'"


3. "`Turning in a paper from a source text without proper acknowledgement.'"


4. "`Copying materials from a source text, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotation marks.'"


5."` Paraphrasing materials from a source text without appropriate documentation.'"

6. "Using the exact words, phrases, or sentences of another person without proper documentation."

7."Paraphrasing information used by another person (facts, opinions, ideas, or language) without proper documentation."

Eleven types of plagiarism

1. "`The Ghost Writer' By many academic standards, it is even possible to plagiarize from yourself, if you paraphrase or copy from work you published elsewhere without citation. The writer turns in another's work, word-for-word, as his or her own."

2. "`The Photocopy' The writer copies significant portions of text straight from a single source, without alteration."

3. "`The Potluck Paper' The writer tries to disguise plagiarism by copying from several different sources, tweaking the sentences to make them fit together while retaining most of the original phrasing."

4. "`The Poor Disguise' Although the writer has retained the essential content of the source, he or she has altered the paper's appearance slightly by changing key words and phrases."

5. "`The Labor of Laziness' The writer takes the time to paraphrase most of the paper from other sources and make it all fit together, instead of spending the same effort on original work."

6."`The Self-Stealer' The writer `borrows' generously from his or her previous work, violating policies concerning the expectation of originality adopted by most academic institutions."

7."`The Forgotten Footnote' The writer mentions an author's name for a source, but neglects to include specific information on the location of the material referenced. This often masks other forms of plagiarism by obscuring source locations."

8. "`The Misinformer' The writer provides inaccurate information regarding the sources, making it impossible to find them."

9. "`The Too-Perfect Paraphrase' The writer properly cites a source, but neglects to put in quotation marks text that has been copied word-for-word, or close to it. Although attributing the basic ideas to the source, the writer is falsely claiming original presentation and interpretation of the information."


10. "`The Resourceful Citer' The writer properly cites all sources, paraphrasing and using quotations appropriately. The catch? The paper contains almost no original work! It is sometimes difficult to spot this form of plagiarism because it looks like any other well-researched document."

11. "`The Perfect Crime' Well, we all know it doesn't exist. In this case, the writer properly quotes and cites sources in some places, but goes on to paraphrase other arguments from those sources without citation. This way, the writer tries to pass off the paraphrased material as his or her own analysis of the cited material."