AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

Adapted from Gronbeck, Ehninger, Monroe, Principles of Communication, pp. 111-112.

One of the saddest things an instructor has to do on occasion is to cite a student for plagiarism. In the beginning speech class, for instance, students occasionally use extended information and ideas from articles in Reader's Digest, Newsweek or Time, or other easy-to-read sources, without paraphrasing or documenting the sources. This is a form of plagiarism in the speech setting. Plagiarism includes more, too, than simply undocumented verbatim quotation. Because "plagiarism is the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else's words, ideas, or data as one's own" (Academic Honesty & Dishonesty pamphlet, Louisiana State University, adapted from LSU's Code of Student Conduct, 1981), it includes (1) undocumented paraphrases of others' ideas and (2) undocumented use of others' main ideas. So, for example, if you paraphrase a movie review from Newsweek without acknowledging that David Ansen had those insights, you're guilty of plagiarism. Suppose you ran across the following quotation from Kenneth Clark's Civilisation: A Personal View (New York: Harper & Row, 1969), speaking of eighteenth-century England: "It was the age of great country houses. In 1722 the most splendid of all had just been completed for Marlborough, the general who had been victorious over Voltaire's country: not the sort of idea that would have worried Voltaire in the least, as he thought of all war as a ridiculous waste of human life and effort. When Voltaire saw Blenheim Palace he said, 'What a great heap of stone, without charm or taste,' and I can see what he means. To anyone brought up on Mansart and Perrault, Blenheim must have seemed painfully lacking in order and propriety....Perhaps this is because the architect, Sir John Vanbrugh, although a man of genius, was really an amateur. Moreover, he was a natural romantic, a castle-builder, who didn't care a fig for good taste and decorum" (p.172). The following examples illustrate plagiarism and suggest ways to avoid it:

1. Verbatim quotation of a passage: (read it aloud word for word). To avoid plagiarism: "Kenneth Clark, in his 1969 book, Civilisation: A Personal View, said the following about the architecture of great country estates in eighteenth-century England: [then quote the paragraph]."
2. Undocumented use of the main ideas: "In eighteenth-century England there was a great flurry of building. Country estates were built essentially by amateurs such as Sir John Vanbrugh, who built the splendid Blenheim Palace for General Marlborough. Voltaire didn't like war and he didn't like Blenheim, which he called a great heap of stone without charm or taste. He preferred the order and variety of houses designed by French architects Mansart and Perrault." To avoid plagiarism: "In his book Civilisation: A Personal View, Sir Kenneth Clark makes the point that eighteenth-century English country houses were built essentially by amateurs. He uses as an example Sir John Vanbrugh, who designed Blenheim Palace for the Duke of Marlborough, Clark notes that when Voltaire saw the house he said, 'What a great heap of stone, without charm or taste.' Clark can understand that reaction from a Frenchman who was raised on the neoclassical designs of Mansart and Perrault. Clark explains the English style as arising from what he calls 'natural' romanticism.'
3. Undocumented paraphrasing: "The eighteenth century was the age of wonderful country houses. In 1722 the most beautiful one in England was built for Marlborough, the general who had won over France. When Voltaire saw the Malborough house, called Blenheim Palace, he said it was a great heap of stone...."

To avoid plagiarism: use the same kind of language noted under example 2, giving Clark credit for his impressions.

So, do not plagiarize. Avoid the risk of being caught and the suspicion that you are untrustworthy.