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Plagiarism

Bob Gorman
Reference Librarian
Winthrop University
June, 2008

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is taking someone else's words or ideas and passing them off as your own without giving proper credit to the source of your information.  As such, it is intellectual theft and is considered one of the most serious forms of academic dishonesty.

In some cases, the act of plagiarism is intentional.  The student, for example, who buys or "borrows" another student's term paper is aware that he is cheating.  He engages in this behavior in the belief that he will not be caught.  In other cases, the plagiarism is unintentional:  a student who does not cite his sources or who fails to use quotation marks when using someone else's words may simply be ignorant of the proper way to document his information.

Deliberate acts of plagiarism have dramatically increased over the last few years largely as a result of the Internet.  It is a very simple process to cut and paste from a Web site, and very difficult to detect.  As if this were not enough, there are literally hundreds of paper mills on the Internet that are in the business of selling term papers.  For a fee, students can purchase "sample" term papers that they can then turn in as their own.

Winthrop University policy

The university-wide policy on plagiarism is found in the Student Conduct Code, as listed in the current Student Handbook <http://www.winthrop.edu/studentlife/> under Section V, "Student Academic Misconduct".  In the most severe cases, an act of plagiarism can lead to suspension or expulsion from the university.  The Dean of Students is responsible for assisting students, professors and hearing authorities in matters of process and procedure associated with Winthrop's academic misconduct.  Please contact the Dean if you have any questions or need assistance.

Combating plagiarism

It is best to deal with plagiarism before it occurs rather than after the fact.  Many experts recommend the following in preventing plagiarism:

  1. Educate yourself on the issue.  Read on the topic, learn to surf the Web, visit Web sites that offer detection services, become aware of the various term paper mills on the Internet.  Listed below are some resources to help you learn more.
  2. Be upfront with your students about plagiarism.  Help them understand what it is and what your expectations are.  Instruct them in the appropriate use of information found on the Internet.  Teach them the proper way to document sources and why it is important to do so.  Tell them you are aware of the paper mills and the ways the Internet is being used to plagiarize and that you will be checking.  Let them know the penalties for deliberate plagiarism.
  3. Make written assignments that are unique and draw on the specifics of the class.  General term paper topics ("Write a paper on abortion.") lend themselves to easy plagiarism.  Papers that draw on class activities or personal experiences are much more difficult to plagiarize.  Have in-class written assignments that will give you samples of student writing to compare with more formal term papers.

If you think someone has plagiarized, there are several steps you can take to check:

  1. Use a general Internet search engine like Hotbot, Webcrawler, Yahoo, Altavista, Google, or others to search keywords or phrases from the suspect paper.  (A list of the major search engines can be found on the Dacus Library Research Guide, "Internet Search Engines" <http://www.winthrop.edu/dacus/researchguides/websearchenginesrg.htm> .)  Oftentimes a student who plagiarizes makes little, if any, change to the content, so keyword or phrase searching might lead you to the source that was plagiarized.
  2. Require the student to turn in copies of his sources.
  3. Use a plagiarism detection service such as Turnitin.com listed below to check on a suspect paper.  

Books and articles

Articles and Books

  1. Auer, Nicole J. and Ellen M. Krupar. "Mouse Click Plagiarism:  the Role of Technology in Plagiarism and the Librarian's Role in Combating It." Library Trends 49.3(2001):415. General OneFile. Dacus Library, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC. <www.winthrop.edu/dacus>

  2. Burnett, Sara. "Dishonor and Distrust:  Student Plagiarism is Now as Easy as Pointing and Clicking."  Community College Week 8 July 2002: 6. General OneFile. Dacus Library, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC. <www.winthrop.edu/dacus>

  3. Decoo, Wilfred.  Crisis on Campus:  Confronting Academic Misconduct.  Cambridge MA:  MIT Press, 2002. (LB2344 .D43 2002)

  4. Harris, Robert A. The Plagiarism Handbook.  Los Angeles:Pyrczak Publishing, 2001. (PN167 .H37 2001)

  5. Lathrop, Ann and Kathleen Foss. Student Cheating and Plagiarism in the Internet Era: a Wake Up Call. Englewood CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2000. (LB 3609 .L28 2000)

  6. McLafferty, Charles L. and Karen M Foust.  "Electronic Plagiarism as a College Instructor's Nightmare - Prevention and Detection."  Journal of Education for Business 79.3 (2004):186.  General OneFile. Dacus Library, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC <www.winthrop.edu/dacus>

  7. Straw, Joseph. "Keep Your Eyes Off the Screen: Online Cheating and What Can We Do About It." Academic Exchange Quarterly 4.3 (2000):21. General OneFile. Dacus Library, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC. <www.winthrop.edu/dacus>

  8. Vernon, Robert F., Shirley Bigna, and Marshall L. Smith. "Plagiarism and the Web." Journal of Social Work Education 37.1 (2001): 193. General OneFile.  Dacus Library, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC. <www.winthrop.edu/dacus>

  9. Warn, James. "Plagiarism Software:  No Magic Bullet."  Higher Education Research and Development. May 2006: 195-208.

  10. Weiler, Angela M. "Using Technology to Take Down Plagiarism." Community College Week 15 March 2004: 4.  General OneFile. Dacus Library, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC. <www.winthrop.edu/dacus>

Online Help Sites

Online Help Sites

  1. "Avoiding Plagiarism" and "The Correct Use of Borrowed Information."  The Winthrop University Writing Center. 10 July 2002. College of Arts and Sciences, Winthrop University. <http://www.winthrop.edu/wcenter/>
    • Both are found under the category "Helpful Handouts".  They provide tips for writers for avoiding plagiarism and instructions for the correct use of quotations, paraphrases and summaries.
  2. "Avoiding Plagiarism." Purdue University Online Writing Lab. 2008. Online Writing Lab, Purdue University. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html>
    • A guide to help students learn to avoid plagiarizing.  Includes a practice exercise.
  3. The Center for Academic Integrity. 2007 Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University. <http://www.academicintegrity.org>
    • "The Center for Academic Integrity provides a forum to identify, affirm, and promote the values of academic integrity among students." (Introduction)  Provides information, research, and Internet links.  Access to some information is limited to members only.
  4. Harris, Robert. "Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers." VirtualSalt. 17 November 2004. <http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm>
    • Provides strategies and tips for preventing and detecting plagiarism.
  5. Fain, Margaret and Peggy Bates. "Cheating 101: Paper Mills and You." Teaching Effectiveness Seminar. 27 January 2005. Kimbel Library. Coastal Carolina University. <http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/papermil.html>
    • Provides information on Internet-based paper mills and how to locate them and how to prevent plagiarism.  Includes a list of over 100 Internet term paper sites.
  6. Pearson, Gretchen. Electronic Plagiarism Seminar. 29 June 2005. Noreen Reale Falcone Library, LeMoyne College. <http://www.lemoyne.edu/library/plagiarism/index.htm>
    • Outlines ways to detect and prevent plagiarism and provides a list of resources to assist students and faculty in this area.
  7. "Plagiarism:  What It Is and How to Recognize and Avoid It." Writing Tutorial Services. Indiana University.21 April 2004. <http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets.shtml>
    • A guide to help students avoid inadvertent plagiarism.
  8. Plagiary. 2008. <http://plagiary.org>
    • A journal devoted to the study and discussion of plagiarism and fraud within professional and scholarly literature and discourse.
  9. Standler, Ronald B. Plagiarism in Colleges in USA. 3 February 2007. <http://www.rbs2.com/plag.htm>
    • In addition to providing an overview of the issue of plagiarism, this site gives extensive information on the laws governing plagiarism with references to specific cases.
  10. Stoerger, Sharon. Plagiarism*.  7 June 2006.   <http://www.web-miner.com/plagiarism>
    • Provides links to articles, case studies, detection tools, term paper sites, and other resources.

Plagiarism detection sites

There are a number of commercial sites on the Internet that offer various types of detection services. One that is available to Winthrop faculty at no charge is Turnitin.com.  This service provides an avenue for instructors to submit student papers for checking within its database of papers and throughout the Internet.  (Note:  it does not check full-text databases such as Academic Search Premier or Lexis-Nexis Academic.)  An "originality report is generated that highlights any passages that appear to be copied from an online source.

Winthrop faculty interested in setting up a free account with Turnitin.com should first contact the Reference Desk in Dacus Library (323-4501 off campus or ext. 6208 on campus) to get a user ID and password.  Once these are secured, go to Dacus Library Online (www.winthrop.edu/dacus) , click on the "Databases" button, select "T" from the alphabetical list of all databases, and click on Turnitin.com.  You will need your user ID and password to login and set up an account.

Online term paper mills

A few of the term paper mills on the Internet that sell papers to students are listed below.  For a more complete list, consult Fain and Bates above.  Notice:  Students who acquire term papers from any of these or other sites and turn them in as their own are guilty of plagiarism.

1.  Cheathouse.com <http://www.cheathouse.com/>

2.  The Paper Store Enterprises, Inc. <http://www.allpapers.com>

3.  School Sucks <http://www.schoolsucks.com>

4.  A1Termpaper <http://www.a1-termpaper.com/>

5.  Lazy Students.com <http://www.lazystudents.com/>

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