Here are a few practical reasons for learning proper citation. Learning to properly
cite will help assure that you get credit for your original contributions as well as
credit for understanding how important this value really is to the higher education
culture. Without proper citation, you may even be accused of plagiarism!
Faculty are Aware of Students’ Misconceptions
about Plagiarism
Many students have misconceptions about using material they find on the Internet and
other electronic sources such as subscription databases. Do not fall prey to these misconceptions.
| Misconceptions about Plagiarism and Internet Resources If
it's on the Internet, it was put there for free and to be used in any manner.
Unless the Web site specifically claims this to be the case, you should treat the material
as though it were a print resource such as a book or a journal article. Just as you would
not quote from a print source or claim the printed work of another as your own, the same
applies for Web resources. The reason for this is that the material is copyrighted by
another person.
If no author is named and no date of publication is given, then I can copy it
and claim it as my own. This does not mean that you are the author and can claim
it as your own! Actually, there are guidelines for citing material when no author or date
are given. See the
Citation Examples section of this guide for
samples. |
Faculty are Aware of Term Paper Mills
There is a growing body of literature on the subject of plagiarism, including how often
it happens, and how easy it is to commit. Plagiarize at your own risk! Faculty are aware
that some students copy and paste text from the Internet and sometimes even fall to the
temptation of buying a ready-made term paper from a Term Paper Mill. See Current
Issues and Resources on Plagiarism: Incidence and Prevalence for links and articles on
the subject.
Institutions are Using Software to Detect
Plagiarism
Institutions are taking plagiarism seriously. Some are now using services to help
detect plagiarism. See Current
Issues and Resources on Plagiarism: Detection Services for a list of detection
services that are currently being used.
Some services store large collections of term papers that are voluntarily submitted, retrieved from term paper mills or
simply posted on the World Wide Web, etc. Faculty may send a student’s term paper to
the service to be checked against its database. The service can detect matches in text and
generate reports for the faculty on the originality of the submitted term paper.
Institutions are Discussing Policies to Prevent,
Detect, and Address Plagiarism
Now that you know that many faculty are aware of the problem of plagiarism, you should
be also be aware that their institutions’ administrators are grappling with ways to
prevent, detect, and address plagiarism. See Current
Issues and Resources and Plagiarism, Academic Integrity and Developing
Assignments and Preventing Plagiarism for articles on the subject.
Conclusion: Writing originally and learning to cite properly will help you avoid being
suspected of plagiarism!
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