Plagiarism is using others' ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.

In education, we are constantly learning about other people's ideas: we read about them, we hear them in classes, we talk about them, we question them and put these ideas into our own writings. It is crucial that we acknowledge and give credit where it is due.

One HUGE misconception that students have is that rewriting something is not plagiarism, because they are"putting it in their own words." Remember, if the source is not officially acknowledged, it is plagiarism.

Practical Tips to Avoid Plagiarism... You must give credit whenever you use:

• another person's idea, opinion, or theory;
• any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings--any pieces of information--that are not common knowledge;
• quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words; or
• paraphrase of another person's spoken or written words.

The task is to create something orginal and unique from the information you locate.

There are a few times when do you not have to cite a reference...here are a few guidelines

• Information that is widely known and indisputable, including mathematical and scientific facts
• Information found in dictionaries
• Statistics and information that can easily be found in several sources and are not likely to vary from
  source to source
• Common knowledge

What is common knowledge?

The WHO, WHEN and WHERE of information that is generally found in all your souces. Statements like: Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. Such statements can be used in your presentation as facts and do not need to be cited.

Make sure you know how your information will fit into your project, look at Organizing your Thinking to help see how it fits.

 

Please send comments or questions to the 4J Web Team.
Eugene School District 4J
200 North Monroe Street, Eugene, Oregon 97402
Phone: 541.687.3123 [TTD 541.687.3447]

Last modified: October, 2003 by Steinke, Ague, Feuerhelm, Maxwell, and Warburg