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Home First Things First . . . ► What is plagiarism? Why is plagiarism difficult to avoid? What happens if you are accused? How to Avoid Plagiarism Use valid, credible sources for information Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing Giving Credit Is it plagiarism? (interactive game) Copyright |
What is plagiarism?Plagiarism, strictly speaking, is the stealing of words, ideas, images, or creative works. Plagiarism, whether or not it is intentional, is looked upon as an academic crime. Copyright violation is closely related to plagiarism, but it is a federal crime (U.S. Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 - 810). Copyright laws protect the rights of creators of any literary, graphic, musical, artistic, or electronic form. (Facts and ideas are not covered, only the expression of those facts or ideas fixed in a tangible form.) The laws, in effect, keep the right to copy those forms in the hands of the people who created them. College students often are asked to synthesize what they read. From this synthesis often springs a research paper or project, one that cites sources and offers insight to the information. Sounds easy enough, but what happens when students consult multiple sources, learning a little from each one, is that the information becomes muddled, and the students don't always cite facts properly - plagiarism. Some students think it's difficult to improve on what a professional writer says, so the writer's words end up in the paper, presentation, or project, either quoted extensively, or with a few words changed to avoid direct quotes - also plagiarism. Other students ask friends for help, which can lead to plagiarism. And some end up with bad information from poor sources, or, worse yet, copy and paste willy-nilly from Internet sites - plagiarism again. Writing for the Web can be even more problematic, leading to copyright law violations. When students capture images or text from other websites or scan hard copy to include in a website without attribution or permission, the result can be a violation of copyright law. The University of Maine at Farmington Code of Academic Integrity clearly defines plagiarism and other academic integrity violations.
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