Avoid Plagiarism: Copy Right!
Never, ever plagiarize--it's
academic suicide. Your record of academic accomplishments,
regardless of
its excellence
before and after the offense, will be tainted by an act of recorded
plagiarism forever. Formally known as a violation of
academic ethical principles, plagiarism is
simply another form of cheating.
Plagiarism occurs in several forms, which are
described in the
CSUB 1999 - 2001 Catalog. Under the heading
"Academic Honesty," the catalog states that
| PLAGIARISM is a specific form of academic dishonesty (cheating) which consists of the misuse of published or unpublished works of another by claiming them as one's own. It may consist of handing in someone else's work, copying or purchasing a composition, using ideas, paragraphs, sentences, or phrases written by another, or using data and/or statistics compiled by another without giving citation. (53) |
Students caught plagiarizing, whether intentionally or not, are disciplined
in accordance to CSUB
policy, as outlined in the
catalog:
| When a faculty member discovers [plagiarism,] a violation of the community's principles, the faculty member is required to give a failing grade to the student for the course. In addition to assigning the final grade, the faculty member also notifies in writing the Dean of Students and the relevant school dean that an act of academic dishonesty has occurred and a grade of F has been assigned. The student receives a copy of this letter. The letter becomes part of the student's permanent file. If a second act of dishonesty occurs, the student is administratively dismissed from CSUB. (53) |
Avoiding plagiarism is simple when you familiarize yourself with MLA
guidelines for incorrect and
correct citation of borrowed
material.
Original sentence
In the articulation of the eighteenth-century faith and science, thought
and feeling, the most conspicuous and continuous voice was that of the
first person.
--Stuart Sherman, The Longman Anthology of British Literature,
p.294
Plagiarized sentence: Failing to use quotation marks to credit direct quote
According to Stuart Sherman, [i]n the articulation of the eighteenth-century faith and science, thought and feeling, the most conspicuous and continuous voice was that of the first person (294).
Correctly cited sentence
According to Stuart Sherman, "[i]n the articulation of the eighteenth-century faith and science, thought and feeling, the most conspicuous and continuous voice was that of the first person" (294).
Plagiarized sentence: Failing to use quotation marks on partial direct quote
According to Stuart Sherman, [i]n the articulation of the eighteenth-century faith and science, thought and feeling, the first person speaker was the more constant and noticeable voice (294).
Correctly cited sentence
According to Stuart Sherman, "[i]n the articulation of the eighteenth-century faith and science, thought and feeling," the "first person" speaker was the more constant and noticeable "voice" (294).
Plagiarized sentence: Borrowing without credit/ acknowledging author
In the articulation of eighteenth-century faith and science, thought
and feeling, the most conspicuous and continuous voice was that of the
first person.
These examples pertain only to citations that require quotation marks.
For further explanation, including how to cite paraphrases and summations,
as well as in-text citation and works cited see A Writer's Reference
by
Diana Hacker.