Working Definitions of Plagiarism

• Source of language plagiarism occurs when a student presents someone else’s language as their own. Students will most likely need some direct instruction so they understand what this is and what to do about it. They can either place the word’s of others in quotation marks, or they can paraphrase the words. Quoting should not be overused and be mostly limited to primary source material when they cannot effectively translate the energy or beauty of the prose. Laura gives great advice on how to teach paraphrasing.
• Source of information plagiarism occurs when a students appropriate ideas, thoughts, or evidence of others without proper citation. This type is probably harder to identify. (Doug: If students make efforts to record their own thoughts and ideas, and gather their own evidence before they start searching for secondary sources, they will have a better chance to avoid this type of plagiarism inadvertently or on purpose.)

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