What is Plagiarism and Why Shouldn't You Do It?

Plagiarism is stealing:  it’s taking the words, ideas, images or other work from someone and not giving him or her credit, but passing it off as your own. 

Plagiarism is cheating:  it’s academic dishonesty.  Courses have been failed and careers have been destroyed by plagiarism.

 Plagiarism is lying.  It’s saying something is yours when it isn’t.  Who really loses when you plagiarize?  How much will you learn?  Would you have your lab partner go to work with you and give all the intramuscular injections?   

 There are three ways to prevent plagiarism and its consequences:

•  Make everything up  (this generally isn’t an option!!)

•  Quote information

•  Paraphrase information

 When you quote someone, you use his or her exact words within quotation marks.  For example:

• Jessica Szymczyk, in her article on working in research, stated: “Love for animals is the rule not the exception.”

• According to the Animal Welfare Act, the basic definition of animal is  “any live or dead dog, cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or any other warm-blooded animal, which is being used, or is intended for use for research, teaching, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet.”

Every single word in these quotes is important.  The author has made a statement in a unique way that would be lost if the words were changed, and/or the statement is made by an authority and must, therefore, be copied exactly as written.  Quotes should be used sparingly and should never be strung together so that your paper is a series of one quote after another. When quoting, the author and source must be cited.

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Paraphrasing is used when what the writer says is important, but not the way that it’s said.  You paraphrase what the writer says, using your own words--in other words, you translate the author into your own language.  For example:

•  Szymczyk believes that 25% of owners shouldn’t have pets.

• USDA figures show that the use of dogs in research has decreased significantly since 1975.

Most numbers will need to be cited, because most authorities develop their own sets of values, such as pulse, or have individual experimental results, such as weight gain over a period of time.

For additional information on paraphrasing from OWL (the online learning lab) at Purdue University, consult:

• Paraphrase:  Write it in Your Own Words

• Practice Exercises in Paraphrasing

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You don’t need to cite or quote information that is “common knowledge,” even if you didn’t already know it--common knowledge is information that is widely known.  The scientific name of the laboratory mouse is Mus musculus.  No matter what reference you look at, the name is the same.  The gestation of the mouse is three weeks (21 days).  If you look at three different sources, you’ll probably find the same length of time that the mouse is pregnant in each source.  This is common knowledge—it’s free for use.   

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When you paraphrase, you must put the passage as fully as possible into your own words.  If you change only a couple of words in a passage and use it in your paper as a paraphrase, you are still committing a type of plagiarism--but there are some words you don't have to change.  For example, in the following passage, you would not--and probably could not--change the italicized words:

The typical Inuit igloo offers superior insulation against temperatures that fall as low as -50 degrees F.

There are no synonyms for most numbers or proper nouns (such as Inuit), so you can usually repeat these individual words within a paraphrase.  In general, you can keep the following types of individual words in your paraphrase:...special terms for which there are no synonyms (igloo, prepatent period, erythropoiesis, laboratory animal technician) and very simple words that would require strange substitutions (horse, lung, gestation, temperature).  

However, you must use quotation marks with an apt phrase or even a single word taken from a source when it is very distinctive and creative or represents the writer's judgment.  For example, you might like the idea in the following sentence from an article:

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached" (Townsend 1986).

You include the idea in your own sentence:

Adopting your  VET 120 rats places you within Townsend's "fragile circle," because the rats rarely live beyond the age of two  (1986).

You are using only two words from the original, but they made a unique, creative phrase, so you must use quotation marks and an acknowledgment in order to use them correctly.  

An entire sentence can be used without citations, if it cannot be paraphrased without making it awkward.  For example, you can use the following sentences without changing them:

Fleas are temporary parasites.
Rabbits are induced ovulators.

(this section was adapted from "Plagiarism in College Writing" by Mary Ertel)

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After you’ve decided what to quote and what to cite, you need to document the source of information.  The method used by the Vet Tech Department is called CBE, because it’s written by the Council of Biology Educators.  A complete discussion of the CBE method of documentation is available.

 This documentation must be recorded in two places:

•   Immediate after the quotation or citation  (internal citation):

An internal citation consists of the author’s last name and the date of publication put in parentheses just before the period at the end of the line.  For example:

            “Love for animals is the rule not the exception” (Szymczyk 1995). 

• In the Works Cited:

This section of a paper provides complete bibliographic information for the source.  Each type of resource has a specific documentation format, but the general format is:

o    Author last name Author first initial.  Year of publication.  Title of document, edition.  City of publisher:  Publisher. Number of pages.

o    Example:  Maley K.  2002.  VET 100 Lecture Notes.  Buffalo, Medaille College.  87 p.

Citing from the Internet is slightly different; you must include the web address and the date you accessed the site.  For example:

o    Macer V.  2002.  VET 120 Lecture Notes.  Buffalo:  Medaille College.  Available at http://www.medaille.edu/vmacer/lec3intro.htm. Accessed 9/5/02.

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P.S.  If you’re tempted to plagiarize—don’t.  It’s usually pretty obvious that you’re not using your own words.  If you’re uncertain about whether to quote, cite or do nothing, PLEASE ASK!!!  Consult the Academic Skills Center, your writing professor or another instructor for assistance.