Keeping it Honest: Avoiding Plagiarism

1
Keeping it Honest Avoiding Plagiarism

• EN 3414
• Mississippi State University Libraries

2
Session Overview

• Definitions of plagiarism.
• Strategies for honest research!
• Using MLA Citation Style

3
Defining plagiarism
4
Plagiarism defined

• the presentation of someone elses ideas or
  words as your own. Source The Little, Brown
  Handbook (2001686.)
• Using the ideas, organization, or words from a
  book, article, paper, computer file, or other
  source in any assignment without giving proper
  credit following accepted citation rules.
  Source Mississippi State Universitys Policies
  and Procedures for Handling Academic Misconduct.

5
At MSU

• Policies and Procedures for Handling Academic
  Misconduct
• http//www.msstate.edu/dept/audit/1207A.html

6
Types of Plagiarism

• Deliberate Plagiarism
• Knowingly using material from a source without
  proper citation or credit.
• Accidental Plagiarism
• Copying instead of paraphrasing forgetting to
  place quotation marks correctly incorrectly
  citing material.

7
Avoiding Plagiarism Strategies

• Gathering Research Materials
• Taking Notes
• Documenting Sources

8
Collecting Research Materials

• Expect the research process to take time!
• Learn the research tools needed for your project.
• Expect to make trips to the library!
• Allocate time for gathering materials.
• Leave enough time to carefully read and
  synthesize your research materials.

9
Taking Notes

• Document words that you copy directly from a
  source do this as you are taking your notes!
• Jot down the page number and the author/title of
  the source each time you make a note (even when
  you are paraphrasing!)
• Keep a working bibliography.

10
Document your sources.

• You must cite direct quotes.
• You must cite paraphrased passages.
• You must cite anything that is not common
  knowledge.
• Common knowledge refers to facts that are
  commonly known.
• Clinton served two terms as president.

11
Selecting Web Resources

• Not such a great example.

12
Examples of Plagiarism

• Academic Integrity/Princeton University

13
MLA Citation Helpers

• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
  (READY REF LB2369 .G53 2003)
• MLA Citation Style Guide (pdf)
• Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format
  (OWL at Purdue University)

14
From Academic Search Premier.

• Gaipa, Mark. An Agnostic's Daughter's Apology
  Materialism, Spiritualism,and Ancestry in
  Woolf's To the Lighthouse. Journal of Modern
• Literature 26 (2003) 1-41. Academic Search
• Premier. EBSCO. Mississippi State U, Mitchell
  Memorial Lib. 20 Sept. 2004
• .

15
Citing Websites

• Stasz, Clarice. Jack John Griffith London.
• The Jack London Collection. 2003.
• Berkeley Digital Library SunSite, U of
• California, Berkeley. 2 Feb. 2004.
• jackbio.html.

16
When in doubt

• Ask a reference librarian!
• 2nd floor
• 325-7667
• reference_at_library.msstate.edu

My name Deborah Lee