Teaching Guide: Dealing with Plagiarism As access to documents on the World Wide Web has grown, the issue of plagiarism and the enforcement of the consequences for academic dishonesty have become important concerns for writing teachers and teachers who use writing in their courses. This guide can help you deal with the concept of plagiarism before it becomes an issue in your classroom as well as deal with enforcing its consequences if the situation should occur. Plagiarism You have something in common with the smartest people in the world. You see, everyone has ideas. We use our minds to create something original, whether it’s a poem, a drawing, a song, or a scientific paper. Some of the most important ideas are published and make it into books, journals, newspapers and trustworthy websites that become the building blocks for things we all learn. But ideas are also very personal, and we need dependable ways to keep track of the people behind the ideas we use because they deserve credit for their contribution, just as you do if someone uses your idea. Passing off another person’s ideas or words as your own, without credit, is called plagiarism. Meet Cassie, a university student. She’s not the kind of person who would plagiarize by turning in someone else’s work, but she is aware that plagiarism can happen accidentally, so she follows some basic rules: Second, she’s careful to use only her own words when she’s not quoting directly.
Simple thoughts about fair use Copyright is not an absolute. Potato chips are absolute. If this is my potato chip, then it's not yours. There is a yin to the yang of copyright protection, and it's called Fair Use. Without fair use, it would be impossible to write a negative book review, or compare Shakespeare to the Simpsons. Most web users should know a few simple guidelines, principles so simple that you can generally assume them to be rules. You don't need to ask someone's permission to include a link to their site.You don't need to ask permission to include a screen shot of a website in a directory, comment on that site or parody it.You can quote hundreds of words from a book (for an article or book or on your website) without worrying about it and you certainly don't need a signed release from the original author or publisher. There's a difference between being polite and observing the law. PS as soon as you make something and fix it in a tangible form, you own the copyright in it.
The Plagiarism Resource Site « Welcome About Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the misrepresentation of authorship. Typically, words and ideas conceived by one person are attributed to another person. Plagiarism is a form of intellectual theft or fraud and it undermines the intellectual economy that values ideas, words, and understanding. In the most common form of plagiarism, one author’s words are inserted verbatim in the work of a second author, without quotation, acknowledgement, or attribution. Plagiarism is not a black-and-white issue because many of our ideas and words derive from those of others, and what constitutes true intellectual theft or fraud often involves some degree of subjectivity. What this Site Provides: Software for Detecting Plagiarism WCopyfind is an open source windows-based program that explores a collection of documents, looking for matching language. Thoughts and Ideas about Plagiarism, Education, and Society Links to Other Web Sites Dealing with Plagiarism