Name: Myriam Karina Bustillo Rubio

The Perils of Plagiarism

To answer these questions, please read the information on this web page:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html
The questions will proceed chronologically through the website. In other words, you will find answers to
the first questions at the beginning of the website, and later questions near the end.
1. How does this web page define plagiarism?
The uncredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of somebody elses words or ideas.
2.

Look at Actions that might be seen as plagiarism. In your own words, please explain the difference
between Deliberate plagiarism and Possibly accidental plagiarism.
Deliberate plagiarism is applied when the culprit knowingly copied another persons work and took the
credit for him/herself; while possibly accidental plagiarism is when the crime is committed unknowingly
(the author writes something really similar to an original quote, or bases his works ideas on anothers
work).
3.

You are a high school teacher. You discover that a student plagiarized material as part of an important
report. When confronted with the situation, the student says, But it was an accident! I didnt mean to
plagiarize! What would you tell the student?
Quoting Gandalf (a fictional character from Tolkiens world Lord of the Rings) YOU SHALL NOT
PASS!
In all seriousness, I would speak with the student and tell him to redo his work using different sources
(properly specified author) on this new work. As an additional consequence, the work done will be graded
below 100%, this making 80 the highest grade the student can hope to achieve.
Look carefully at Choosing when to credit. Put a check mark next to all of the texts for which you
MUST document their source.
4. _____ words from a commonly known prayer
5. __X_words from a new song
6. __X__reprinted diagrams
7. _____common knowledge
8. _____your own observations based on anothers research
9. _X__a unique phrase you found on the internet that expresses your ideas
10. _____ your own opinions
11. _X__ text from a newspaper
12. _X__ Just a few words (less than 5) that someone else wrote
Look carefully at Making sure you are safe. Write down five things that you can do to avoid problems
with plagiarism.
13. Cite the author you based your work on
14. If you more or less remember a quote you want to base your essay on, google what you remember of
the quote, in hope of finding the author.
15. If after searching for the quote online you do not what you were looking for, use it on the essay, BUT,
specify that you do not remember who the authors quote is.
16. Paraphrase, and put your own ideas into the other persons work. It helps nobody, especially you, if you
only copy it. Read it, and create your own work and opinions (and preferably cite the original source).
17. Use the APA format on your work
18.25. Please complete Exercises for practice on the next page.

Exercises for Practice

Below are some situations in which writers need to decide whether or not they are running the risk of
plagiarizing. In the Y/N column, indicate if you would need to document (Yes), or if it is not necessary to
provide quotation marks or a citation (No). If you do need to give the source credit in some way, explain
how you would handle it. If not, explain why.
Y/N
If yes, what do you do? If no, why?

Situation

1. You are writing new insights about your own

experiences.

2. You are using an editorial from your school's

newspaper with which you disagree.

3. You use some information from a source

without ever quoting it directly.

4. You have no other way of expressing the exact Y

meaning of a text without using the original
source verbatim.
5. You mention that many people in your
N
discipline belong to a certain organization.
6. You want to begin your paper with a story that Y
one of your classmates told about her
experiences in Bosnia.
7. The quote you want to use is too long, so you Y
leave out a couple of phrases.
8. You really like the particular phrase somebody Y
else made up, so you use it.

No, because you are writing based on your

own experiences. This means that whatever
you write it is a product of your own
imagination and creativity, therefore, it is your
own creation.
Yes, because you are not the author of the
schools newspaper, therefore you need to use
a citation
Yes, even if it is done unconsciously it is still
considered as plagiarism the needed credit is
not given to the original source.
Yes, credit is needed when copying the exact
words of a phrase, quote, or work
No, it is not needed because it is information
available to the public domain within your
field.
Yes, because the story is not your own.
Therefore, the author (your classmate) must be
quoted.
Yes. Even though you do not use the complete
phrase, copying excerpts that are identical (no
matter how short they may be) is still
considered to be plagiarism.
Yes, as I said before, the phrase is not your
own, nor it is your creation, therefore it is
considered as plagiarism if you do not quote it
properly.