After reading about what intended and unintended plagiarism is in the Activity titled “Plagiarism,” come up with an example of each that is not given in this Activity. Please explain why each example fits into each category according to the text. Have you ever submitted something that was unintentionally plagiarized? If so, please explain. What are some steps you will take to prevent plagiarism in the future?
Introduction
Plagiarism is a common occurrence in both higher education and the professional world.
Unfortunately, many well-meaning people unintentionally commit plagiarism due to lack of
knowledge about when source citations are necessary or how to properly cite them. This section
will help you avoid committing plagiarism by discussing acceptable ways of incorporating
others’ research into your work, as well as the proper citation format for each.
Plagiarized writing is one of the most common forms of academic dishonesty.
Plagiarism is presenting the words or ideas of another person as your own. In cases
of plagiarism, the researcher has not properly documented sources included in
his/her work. Bobish & Jacobson elaborate on the importance of giving credit to
others for their work. “In the university (and in the world of publishing),
documenting your sources is the only way others can tell how thorough and careful
you have been in researching your topic. If you do not tell readers where your
information came from, they may think (and many do) that you either made up the
information or ‘stole’ it. Failing to cite your sources is plagiarism” (2014). Although
most people consider plagiarism a major concern in academia, it is also a critical
issue in the professional world.
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There are two main kinds of plagiarism: intended plagiarism (a student knowingly
uses sources and attempts to deceive the audience) and unintended or accidental
plagiarism (a student unknowingly commits a misuse or representation of sources).
In intended plagiarism, a student is highly aware that his or her representation or use
of a source potentially violates the intellectual property rights of another author in
an attempt to benefit the student. In unintended plagiarism, a student makes an
attempt to cite a source but does so in an inadequate manner. A student may not be
aware of a particular documentation style’s formatting and citing conventions. In
addition, a student may also commit unintended plagiarism if they do not discuss
and evaluate sources in a sufficient, objective, and informed manner. A specific
example would be omitting certain key information in a source in an effort to
misrepresent the author’s argument.
Two Main Forms of Plagiarism
Intended Plagiarism
Unintended Plagiarism
Student makes an attempt to cite
source but does so in an
inadequate manner.
Student was not aware of
formatting conventions.
Intended plagiarism usually involves cases in which
Student does not discuss and
the student hoped the audience would not detect
evaluate sources in a sufficient,
where another person’s ideas were used in the
informed manner.
project. Intended plagiarism is considered
negligent, unethical, and/or misleading use of
another’s sources.
Student does not paraphrase in an
acceptable manner.
Examples:
Student does not clearly indicate
where she/he discusses a source in
the body of her paper but includes
Examples:
a citation entry in the
bibliography.
Student includes original material but does not cite
the author and instead presents it as his/her own
Student includes a quotation with a
ideas.
parenthetical reference but does
not place quotation marks around
Student pays another person to write a paper and
submits it as his/her own work.
the original language of the cited
authors.
Plagiarism can be conducted in a number of ways and is often done by people who
either ignore the principles of intellectual property or do not understand how
careless use of another’s work or ideas constitutes plagiarism. The problem is that
readers cannot tell the difference between intended and unintended plagiarism and
may be skeptical that it was an accident. Make sure to keep track of all of your work
so that you know where everything originated—and cite those sources.
For an example of plagiarism read the story on Jane Goodall whose book was put on
hold after a plagiarism issue was raised:
Los Angeles Times: Jane Goodall Book Postponed After Plagiarism Issues Raise