Before Beginning the Exercises, You Will Need to Understand a Few More Terms

Plagiarism

Source - http://www.hputx.edu/Faculty/english/plagiarism.htm

Plagiarism is using another person’s written work without giving them credit. You can be guilty of plagiarism by using another person’s ideas without giving credit, by including their exact words in your paper without using quotation marks, and even by copying their sentence structure, changing only a few words here and there. Those last two points are worth emphasizing. Plagiarism rules don’t just protect ideas; they also protect the words with which they are expressed.

Copying a friend’s paper or downloading a paper off the Internet are forms of plagiarism. So is using material from the library without giving proper credit. Finally, if you have someone else reword or revise your paper, or if you collaborate with another when the assignment calls for individual work, you are guilty of plagiarism.

If you are caught plagiarizing, it can result in your failing the course and your name being reported to the Office of Student Life. If you are caught twice, you may be suspended or expelled.

The exercises that follow are meant to help you understand what plagiarism is. You’ll probably cover these issues again throughout the semester, but it’s important that you understand plagiarism from the first day. If you have any questions after completing these exercises, please meet with your teacher individually.

Before beginning the exercises, you will need to understand a few more terms.

Documentation is a system that tells the reader where you found your information. Different systems do this in different ways, but all use some symbol within the text (it may be a footnote number or a parentheses) to signal that the material immediately preceding the mark is borrowed from another source. MLA documentation, the system used in the examples that follow, uses the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses.

Attribution is the practice of referring to a source by name within your paper to make it clear that the sentence following is from that source. When you have several ideas in a row, all from the same source, it may be easier to say, "Dr. Smith’s report cites the following five reasons . . ." rather than putting parentheses or a footnote after each of the following five sentences. Attribution does not replace documentation; it makes it clearer. A paraphrase is information from another source that is put in your own words. You don’t have to put quotation marks around a paraphrase, but you must still document it. Also remember that, in order to avoid plagiarism, you must change the sentence structure, as well as the wording, of the source.

PLAGIARISM EXERCISES FOR ENGLISH

EXERCISE ONE

Original Version:

The filmmakers at Disney never really intended Pocahontas to be historically accurate, despite all the sentimental rhetoric; they were producing yet another animated feature after all. Native American advisors were hired to secure a more positive, even hagiographic, portrayal of Native American characters within an earnestly sympathetic narrative.

--from "Redesigning Pocahontas," an article by Gary Edgerton and Kathy Merlock Jackson, page 236.

In the Student’s paper:

According to Gary Edgerton and Kathy Jackson, the Disney filmmakers didn’t intend Pocahontas to be accurate; they were making just another animated movie after all. Native Americans were hired to give a more positive, saintly, picture of Native American characters in the story (236).

1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the student’s paper.

2. Where are documentation and attribution used in the student’s paper?

EXERCISE TWO

Original Version:

One of the most difficult tasks to accomplish in American society is to be a solid, caring, and loving black father. To be a good black father, first you have to negotiate all of the absurd attacks and assaults on your humanity and on your capacity and status as a human being. Second, you have to provide materially and economically, as well as nurture psychologically, personally, and existentially. All of this requires a deep level of maturity. --from "On Black Fathering," an article by Cornel West, page 437.

According to Cornel West, it takes real maturity to be a successful black father in America. His article, "On Black Fathering," states that black fathers face at least two challenges. The first is society’s attacks on their character, on their "capacity and status as . . . human being[s]" (437). The second is the simple challenge of providing both physically and emotionally for their children (437).

EXERCISE THREE

Original Version:

Middle-class couples are marrying later and many women are getting established in a career before having children. This pattern may promote more responsibility and happier marriages than those in the 1950’s, when many young people felt they had to get married to have sex and discovered their emotional incompatibility only after they had children.

-from "The New Nostalgia," an article by Rosalind C. Barnett and Caryl Rivers, page 423.

Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers feel that middle-class couples are marrying later and many women are getting established in a career before having children. This pattern may promote more responsibility and happier marriages than those in the 1950’s, when many young people felt they had to get married to have sex and discovered their emotional incompatibility only after they had children (423).

EXERCISE FOUR

Original Version: The truth is that the get-tough approach is being driven by a few highly publicized cases that do not reflect the reality of most juvenile crime. In Massachusetts, juvenile homicides are a tiny percentage of juvenile arrests(there were 14 homicide cases out of 22,000 juvenile arraignments this year).

--from "Cruel Punishment for Juveniles," an article by Abbe Smith and Lael E. H. Chester, page 485.

When people think about getting tough on juvenile crime, they usually think of the front-page, high-profile cases instead of the much more frequent misdemeanors and petty crimes. Most of the students I interviewed knew about the Menendez brothers. This idea is a misperception, however. Massachussetts had 22,000 juvenile cases this year and only 14 were for murders (Smith and Chester 485).

EXERCISE FIVE

Original Version:

The next time you see the ad that says that this dishwasher detergent "leaves dishes virtually spotless," just remember how advertisers twist the meaning of the weasel word "virtually." You can have lots of spots on your dishes after using this detergent and the ad claim will still be true, because what this claim really means is that this detergent does not in fact leave your dishes spotless.

--from "With These Words I Can Sell You Anything," an article by William Lutz, page 103.

William Lutz’s article, "With These Words I Can Sell You Anything," describes deceptive advertisements. When you see an ad that says a detergent "leaves dishes virtually spotless," Lutz warns, remember how the makers of the ad use the deceptive word "virtually." You can have spotty dishes after using the detergent and the ad will still be true, because the ad really claimed that the soap would not leave your dishes spotless (103). 1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the student’s paper.

—prepared by Millard Kimery ([email protected])