English Composition I - Quiz 1:Recognizing and Avoiding Plagiarism

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. In researching a paper on Mary Kingsley, a student discovers that Kingsley was born in Islington in 1862. She didn't know this fact previously. However, every article she reads on Kingsley reports the same fact. She does not acknowledge the source of this information with a citation.

yes

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. You find an interesting analysis of Kant's categorical imperative in a book on 18th century philosophers. You do not quote directly from the text, but you mention the author of the book as the source for this idea, and include a citation at the end of the paragraph.

yes

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Moers, Ellen. "Female Gothic: The Monster's Mother." Frankenstein, edited by J. Paul Hunter, Norton, 1996, p. 214. "In Gothic writings fantasy predominates over reality, the strange over the commonplace, and the supernatural over the natural, with one definite authorial intent: to scare. Not, that is, to reach down into the depths of the soul and purge it with pity and terror (as we say tragedy does), but to get to the body itself, its glands, epidermis, muscles, and circulatory system, quickly arousing and quickly allaying the physical reactions to fear." Student paper: While tragedy affects the soul, Gothic writings affect the body.

no

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, Norton, 1999, p. 159. "The ways in which domesticated animals have diverged from their wild ancestors include the following. Many species changed in size: cows, pigs, and sheep became smaller under domestication, while guinea pigs became larger." Student paper: Domesticated animals diverged from their wild ancestors in numerous ways. Animals such as cows became smaller, while animals such as guinea pigs became larger.

no

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. A student finds some interesting information on a website that is not under copyright. She downloads several paragraphs and incorporates them into her paper, but doesn't cite them, because they are in the public domain.

no

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, Norton, 1999, p. 159. "The ways in which domesticated animals have diverged from their wild ancestors include the following. Many species changed in size: cows, pigs, and sheep became smaller under domestication, while guinea pigs became larger." Student paper: There are many differences between domesticated and wild animals.

yes

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, Norton, 1999, p. 159. "The ways in which domesticated animals have diverged from their wild ancestors include the following. Many species changed in size: cows, pigs, and sheep became smaller under domestication, while guinea pigs became larger." Student paper: A careful examination of the ways in which domesticated animals have diverged from their wild ancestors shows that cows, pigs, and sheep became smaller under domestication, while guinea pigs became larger.

no

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Moers, Ellen. "Female Gothic: The Monster's Mother." Frankenstein, edited by J. Paul Hunter, Norton, 1996, p. 214. "In Gothic writings fantasy predominates over reality, the strange over the commonplace, and the supernatural over the natural, with one definite authorial intent: to scare. Not, that is, to reach down into the depths of the soul and purge it with pity and terror (as we say tragedy does), but to get to the body itself, its glands, epidermis, muscles, and circulatory system, quickly arousing and quickly allaying the physical reactions to fear." Student paper: Gothic novels such as Frankenstein were written with one definite intent: to scare (Moers 214).

no

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, edited by J. Paul Hunter, Norton, 1996, p. 70. "I greedily devoured the remnants of the shepherd's breakfast, which consisted of bread, cheese, milk, and wine; the latter, however, I did not like." Student paper: In his tale, Frankenstein's monster recounts how he greedily devoured the remnants of the shepherd's breakfast, thus showing his extreme hunger.

no

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. A student finds a chart on the web from someone's research that perfectly illustrates a point she wants to make in her paper. She downloads the chart, but does not use the website's analysis; in addition, she writes her own caption for the picture. Since the analysis and caption are her own, she does not include a citation for the picture.

no

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. A student uses a data set collected by his professor in his analysis of economic trends. Since he develops his own analysis, and since his professor has not published the data, he does not include a citation for the data set.

no

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. You are discussing your term paper with your professor. She gives you an interesting idea about how you might interpret some of the material you have been studying. Since the discussion was informal, and does not pertain to an area in which your professor intends you publish, you incorporate her suggestions without attribution.

no

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. You are taking a class that a friend has already taken. She lets you read her paper in order to get some ideas, and tells you to use any parts of the paper you find useful. You incorporate some of her paragraphs into your paper without citation.

no

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. You find a very interesting quote from Gregor Mendel's "Experimentation in Plant Hybridization" in a book about Mendel's life. In your paper, you include the quote, and cite Mendel's paper as the source.

no

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Moers, Ellen. "Female Gothic: The Monster's Mother." Frankenstein, edited by J. Paul Hunter, Norton, 1996, p. 214. "In Gothic writings fantasy predominates over reality, the strange over the commonplace, and the supernatural over the natural, with one definite authorial intent: to scare. Not, that is, to reach down into the depths of the soul and purge it with pity and terror (as we say tragedy does), but to get to the body itself, its glands, epidermis, muscles, and circulatory system, quickly arousing and quickly allaying the physical reactions to fear." Student paper: According to Ellen Moers, Gothic writings "get to the body itself, its glands, epidermis, muscles, and circulatory system, quickly arousing and quickly allaying the physical reactions to fear" (214).

yes

Consider the handling of these sources in these samples and indicate whether the student has used the sources correctly. Indicate Yes if acceptable, No if there is plagiarism. Source: Morisy, Michael. "Extinct Woodpecker Found." Cornell Daily Sun, 29 April 2004: 1, 4. "The search for the woodpecker began earnestly after a Feb. 11, 2004 sighting by a kayaker in Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. A report of the sighting eventually worked its way to Tim Gallagher, the editor-in-chief of Living Bird, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's quarterly magazine." Student paper: Occasionally, species once thought extinct resurface when researchers examine possible new habitats. The ivory-billed woodpecker, for example, has just been rediscovered in the wild by Cornell researchers, who launched a search after an amateur sighting in February of 2004 (Morisy 1). Works Cited Morisy, Michael. "'Extinct' Woodpecker Found." Cornell Daily Sun 29 April 2005: 1, 4.

yes

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. A friend offers to let you read his paper in order to get some ideas, and tells you to use any parts of the paper you find useful. You incorporate one of his paragraphs into your paper, and you are careful to include all of the citations from his paper in your footnotes, so that the reader will be able to find the original source of the information.

no

Consider this scenario to determine whether there is plagiarism. Indicate No if there is plagiarism; Yes if acceptable. A student uses an internet article in researching her paper. She finds several of the ideas in the article useful, and develops them in her own paper. Since she does not quote from the text, she does not cite it in her paper, but she does put the reference in the Works Cited page.

No - This is plagiarism. Although the student was correct to cite the article in her bibliography, this is not enough. If she uses the ideas in her paper, she needs to acknowledge the source of those ideas in the paper itself. One way to do this is to acknowledge the source of the idea directly (i.e., "As Jones has pointed out, . . . .") Even with this reference, the paper should also include a citation. Depending on your discipline, this could be an in-text citation or a footnote or endnote.