Understanding plagiarism

It takes more than reading a simple definition to understand plagiarism. It takes practice and looking at detailed examples. After reading this article, you’ll be better equipped to help your child properly document their sources and therefore avoid plagiarizing.

 

First, it’s important to know the difference between plagiarism and cheating. These two terms are frequently used as synonyms, but they are separate concepts:

• Plagiarism is related to school assignments
• Cheating happens during a test or an exam

Plagiarism can take many forms. To make matters more complicated, the exact definition of plagiarism can change depending on the high school, college, or university, and even from one teacher to the next. To help you sort things out, we’ve provided a list of the different types of plagiarism below.

• Direct or complete plagiarism

This type of plagiarism means using part or all of someone else’s work without saying where it came from. Copying and pasting a portion of a text directly from a website, such as Wikipedia, without indicating the source is the best example of this form of plagiarism.

• Paraphrasing texts and ideas

Paraphrasing means taking someone else’s words or ideas and restating them in your own words. It becomes plagiarism when a student fails to cite the source of the idea when the idea is not their own. Paraphrasing without giving credit is by far the most common form of plagiarism. Knowing how to cite sources and paraphrase them correctly takes a lot of practice, but it’s a skill your child will use at every level of their education. 

• Collusion

Collusion occurs when several students get together to do a school assignment and each passes it off as their own, even though the teacher has indicated that it is an individual assignment. As a result, the students’ work is very similar. The line between collaboration and collusion can often be blurred. That’s why it’s a good idea for students to ask their teacher if it’s okay to do the research for a project as a group before writing the assignment individually. 

• Self-plagiarism

The form of plagiarism that students have the most trouble grasping is self-plagiarism. This involves handing in work to a teacher that the student has already submitted to another teacher for a different course. How is it plagiarism if it’s your own work? Simply put, once a piece of work has been submitted to a teacher for evaluation, it then becomes a reference source that must be cited if used again.

So, what exactly do I need to cite? That’s the million-dollar question most students ask at one time or another. The answer is both simple and not so simple. 

You have to cite specific knowledge, but not common knowledge.

What’s the difference? That’s the simple part. Generally speaking, common knowledge is something most people know. For example, if you asked 20 different people a question, would you get the same answer every time? If the answer is no, then you’re dealing with specific knowledge that needs to be referenced by citing the source. If the answer is yes, then you’re dealing with common knowledge, so there’s no need to indicate the source.

When in doubt, it’s better to cite a source than to risk being accused of plagiarism. If your child is caught plagiarizing on one of their school assignments, don’t panic. Instead, think of it as an opportunity to teach your child how to properly cite their sources!