A Scavenger Hunt for Information About Plagiarism

Use Your Words! A scavenger hunt for information about plagiarism

Set #1: What Is Plagiarism? 1. According to the Powerpoint presentation, what does the word plagiarus mean? 2. Use plagiarism.org to determine if the following statement is a definition of plagiarism: “to present as new and non-original an idea or product derived from a non-existent source”. 3. The Powerpoint talks about two types of plagiarism. Give two examples of each type. 4. Find the heading that says “All Of The Following Are Considered Plagiarism:”. Which of the items in that list do you think are the hardest for you NOT to do? Why? 5. Use the Powerpoint presentation to find information about paraphrasing. What is paraphrasing, and do you have to cite your source when you paraphrase? 6. Plagiarism.org talks more about paraphrasing. It seems almost like it’s more trouble to paraphrase something than to come up with your own idea. So, what do they say is the main reason that you would WANT to paraphrase?

Set #2: What Could Be The Consequences? 7. According to the Powerpoint, why did Joe Biden drop his 1987 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination? 8. At UVA (University of Virginia), ____ students were expelled and ____ graduate degrees were taken away after the university did a probe into a plagiarism problem. 9. Find the consequences to plagiarism in our school’s conduct code. HINT: it won’t be listed under plagiarism, but rather the type of act that plagiarism falls under. What are the consequences for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd offense?

Set #3 How Can You Avoid Plagiarizing? 10. On the plagiarism.org website, what do they say are the three ways that citing your sources will strengthen your paper? 11. What are the two types of information that do not have to be cited, as stated in the Powerpoint? 12. Also using the Powerpoint, how do you determine if something is “common knowledge”? 13. Under the heading “Analyze And Evaluate Your Sources” at plagiarism.org, how would you determine if your source is credible? 14. Using plagiarism.org, what do they say “quoting” is? When should you use it?