The Problem of Plagiarism
The DeVry Institute's "Using CyberSources" web page (unfortunately, no longer accessible by the general public) defines plagiarism as "the use of another person's words or ideas as if they were your own" and gives such examples as "the incorporating of quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material without documenting the source, the use of any graphs or tables (even if you created the graph from information you have not credited), or the use of an argument that was presented by another." It is important to realize that this definition doesn't say anything about the intention behind the omission -- using material without acknowledgement is considered to be plagiarism, whether this was the result of an intentional attempt to take credit for others' work, a lack of time in which to document sources before a paper was due, or simply not knowing that sources must be acknowledged to avoid plagiarism.
It is vitally important to give credit where credit is due. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense, which denies others credit for their original ideas and work while attempting to take the credit for yourself. When plagiarism is attempted or committed, a number of problems arise:
- The original source of the work or idea does not get the credit that he or she deserves.
- The plagiarizer attempts to take credit that is not deserved, whether this means receiving a grade that is not deserved in a classroom setting or a research publication that should go to somebody else.
- The reader of the work is prevented from checking the original source of the ideas being discussed or from doing further research on the topic.
Mitch Sanders' Plagiarism and Academic Honesty page is correct in calling plagiarism "the intellectual equivalent of stealing." It is with good reason that most universities have explicit policies opposing plagiarism, and that the penalties for plagiarism can be quite severe. As can be seen below, FSU is no exception:
Excerpts from the Academic Honor Code section of FSU's Student Handbook
(a) The Academic Honor Code
"The Academic Honor System of Florida State University is based on the premise that each student has the responsibility (1) to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity in the student's own work, (2) to refuse to tolerate violations of academic integrity in the University community, and (3) to foster a high sense of integrity and social responsibility on the part of the University community."
(b) Violations of the Academic Honor Code
"2. Regarding academic assignments, violations of the Academic Honor Code shall include
representing another's work or any part thereof, be it published or unpublished, as one's
own. It shall also include presenting or submitting any academic work in a manner that
impairs the instructor's ability to assess the student's academic performance. For example,
plagiarism includes failure to use quotation marks or other conventional markings around
material quoted from any source."
"7. Violations of the Academic Honor Code shall include assisting, attempting to assist, or
conspiring to assist another student in committing the offenses as outlined above."
"8. Violations of the Academic Honor Code shall include attempting to commit any offense as
outlined above."
(c) Student Responsibilities
"1. Each student shall be responsible for abiding by the Academic Honor Code at all times."
(e) Academic Penalties
"Examples of academic penalties include, but are not limited to, one or a combination of the following: (1) a lower or failing grade in the course, (2) a lower or failing grade or score on the assignment or examination, or (3) additional work to provide evidence of the student's academic performance and/or evidence that the student knows and understands the course material."
Penalties In My Courses
Because of the serious nature of plagiarism -- whether intentional or not -- I reserve the right to deduct five letter grades from any academic paper in my courses that fails to cite its sources. A little bit of math will reveal that this means a maximum grade of 50 percent (an F) on the paper, after deducting five letter grades -- fifty percent -- from a perfect score of 100 percent. The actual deduction may be lower for papers that include a bibliography but no footnotes or in-text citations, or for papers that cite a few (but not all) of their sources, but this is a very serious problem and will be dealt with appropriately.
General Citation Guidelines
Bearing in mind the problems that can be posed by plagiarism and the potentially serious consequences, here are a few general guidelines to help students cite their sources correctly:
- "Every assignment should be the original work of the student who turns it in, and
appropriate credit should be given to all sources used"
--Mitch Sanders, "Plagiarism and Academic Honesty" - "Always, Always, Always Give Credit Where Credit Is Due!"
--Janice Walker, "Intellectual Property in the Information Age"" - It doesn't have to be intentional to be plagiarism. Omitting citations for other peoples' ideas or work is always considered plagiarism, whether this results from an intentional attempt to steal somebody else's credit or from not knowing that you were supposed to cite your sources. I suspect (or at least hope) that most students are not intentionally trying to fool their professors into giving them credit for somebody else's ideas. Nonetheless, you need to be careful to cite all of your sources, because not knowing or not spending the time to cite still has the same effect and is still considered plagiarism.
- Any fact, idea, or opinion that is not originally yours (and that is not common knowledge) must be cited. (note that this is true even where you don't use a direct quotation from the author -- it is plagiarism to steal ideas without proper attribution, even if you do not re-type the ideas word for word from the original)
- Rule of thumb: every paragraph of ideas that are not your own (and that are not common knowledge) should have at least one citation.
- "Common knowledge": a good rule of thumb is that you do not need to cite something that a typical high school student can reasonably be expected to know. For example, there is no need to cite the facts that George Washington was the first U.S. president, George Bush was president during the Gulf War, or Canada and Mexico both border the United States. A similar rule of thumb is that anything you need to look up is not common knowledge.
- Direct quotes must be enclosed in quotation marks and accompanied by citations of the source and page number. It is usually a good idea to avoid direct quotation wherever possible, though, limiting direct quotes to material that is absolutely necessary to understanding the point or especially memorable or well-written points.
- Excessively close paraphrasing is wrong, even if you cite the original source. I had a student once who took an entire class paper directly from a CD-ROM encyclopedia, who thought she was avoiding plagiarism because she changed one word per sentence. (needless to say, she was wrong)
- When in doubt, cite your source; it is always better to overdocument your research than to risk plagiarism by underdocumenting or assuming that something is common knowledge.
Additional Resources
- Avoiding Plagiarism (from The Writing Place at Northwestern University)
- Cyber-Property: Copyright, Citation, and the WWW (from Janice Walker at the University of South Florida)
- Documenting Sources (from the Paradigm Online Writing Assistant)
- Intellectual Property in the Information Age: A Classroom Guide to Copyright (from Janice Walker at the University of South Florida)
- Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Avoid It (from Indiana University's Writing Tutorial Services)
- Plagiarism and Academic Honesty Page (from Mitch Sanders at Notre Dame)
- Plagiarism in Colleges in USA (by attorney Ronald B. Standler; places more emphasis than most of these sites on legal aspects of plagiarism, including citations to court cases and notes about universities that have expelled students or revoked graduates' degrees for plagiarism)
- Statement on Plagiarism (from the Capital Community College Library in Hartford, CT)
- What is Plagiarism? (from Georgetown University's Honor Council)
Parenthetical Citations and Footnotes
By looking at your citation, a reader should be able to determine which source from your bibliography was used for a particular point, and where to look in that source (i.e., which exact page) if further research is needed.
Feel free to use any format that gets all of the information across. I personally prefer simply using the author's last name, a comma the year of publication, a colon, and the page number (as long as this uniquely identifies the source that is used -- other information may be needed if your bibliography includes several works by the same author that were published in the same year). Any of the following styles can be used, though, as long as they indicate which source was used and which page is being referenced. Similarly, I personally prefer using in-text (parenthetical) citations, but footnotes or endnotes may also be used.
In-text (Parenthetical) Citations:
It is generally considered preferable in many circumstances to give the author's name in the sentence itself, in which case the citation only needs to include the year of publication (to identify the source being used) and the page number in question:
- Ziegler (1997: 85) notes/argues that...
Where this can not be done easily, or where it does not make as much sense, citations should be given at the end of a phrase or sentence and should include the author's name:
- Blah blah blah (Ziegler: 85).
- Blah blah blah (Ziegler, p. 85).
- Blah blah blah (Ziegler, 1997: 85).
- Blah blah blah (Ziegler, War, Peace, and International Politics: 85). -- note that book titles along with authors' names are generally used only when the bibliography includes several works by the same author published in the same year, and that a more desirable strategy is to supplement the years with letters (e.g., 1996a or 1998b)
More details, including discussions of citation/footnote/endnote formats in APA, MLA, and Turabian/Chicago style, can be found in the Additional Resources section at the bottom of this page.
Footnotes or Endnotes
Footnotes and endnotes are not used as often in the social sciences as in-text citations, although certain other disciplines (and certain social science journals) prefer the use of footnotes or endnotes. In undergraduate papers, the choice between in-text cites, footnotes, and endnotes is generally up to the writer (unless the professor requests a particular format).
Note that the full bibliographic reference is not needed for footnotes or endnotes; the purpose of these notes is to indicate which source from the more detailed bibliography was consulted and which specific page was used. In general, the format of footnotes or endnotes should follow the format for in-text citations, as discussed above:
- 1. Ziegler: 85.
- 1. Ziegler, p. 85.
- 1. Ziegler, 1997: 85.
- 1. Ziegler, War, Peace, and International Politics: 85.
Bibliographies
While citations, footnotes, or endnotes are kept brief and generally give the minimum amount of information required to identify the source of information. The references list at the end of a paper, though, must give complete bibliographic citations, so that the reader can identify exactly which edition of which book (or which journal/magazine/newspaper issue) was consulted.
- It is vital that the bibliography include all sources cited anywhere in the paper.
- It is also important that the bibliography be limited to only those sources that were actually consulted (i.e., those that are cited somewhere in the paper). Otherwise, it is far too easy to pad a bibliography to give the illusion of having done much more extensive research than was actually done.
- Bibliographies should be organized in alphabetical order, by the last name of the first author of each source. Multiple entries by the same author should be organized chronologically (in either chronological or reverse chronological order).
Examples of Bibliographic Citations
The following table gives some examples of bibliographic citation formats for sources that are likely to appear in undergraduate research papers. I personally do not require either APA or MLA style in papers for my courses; any style that provides all of this information is acceptable to me (of course, not all professors have this same attitude). The APA and MLA references listed above give more detail on these and other types of sources, so you should consult those references if you need to cite a source that is not listed here. (Note that I am presenting both APA style and a similar style that reflects what many political scientists use; for MLA style, which is rarely used in the social sciences, consult the references listed elsewhere on this page)
| Type of Source | Typical Poli Sci Format | APA Format |
| Single-Author Book | Huth, Paul K. (1996). Standing Your Ground. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. | Huth, P.K. (1996). Standing Your Ground. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. |
| Single-Author Book (specific edition) | Ziegler, David W. (1997). War, Peace, and International Politics,7th edition (or seventh edition). New York: Longman. | Ziegler, D.W. (1997). War, Peace, and International Politics (7th ed.). New York: Longman. |
| Multi-Author Book | Mansbach, Richard W., and John A. Vasquez (1981). In Search of Theory. New York: Columbia University Press. | Mansbach, R.W., and Vasquez, J.A. (1981). In Search of Theory. New York: Columbia University Press. |
| Book Chapter | Hensel, Paul R. (1999). "Charting a Course to Conflict: Territorial Issues and Interstate Conflict, 1816-1992." In Paul F. Diehl, ed., A Road Map to War. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, pp. 115-146. | Hensel, P.R. (1999). "Charting a Course to Conflict: Territorial Issues and Interstate Conflict, 1816-1992." In P.F. Diehl (ed.), A Road Map to War (pp.115-146). Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. |
| Journal Article | Lemke, Douglas (1997). "The Continuation of History: Power Transition Theory and the End of the Cold War." Journal of Peace Research 34, 1: 23-36. | Lemke, D. (1997). "The Continuation of History: Power Transition Theory and the End of the Cold War." Journal of Peace Research 34 (1), 23-36. |
| Newspaper Article (with a known author) | Orme, William A. (1999). "Palestinians and Israelis Begin Final Round of Talks." New York Times Sept 14, p. A1. | Orme, W.A. (1999, September 14). "Palestinians and Israelis Begin Final Round of Talks." New York Times, p. A1. |
| Newspaper Article (unknown author) | New York Times (1999). "Palestinians and Israelis Begin Final Round of Talks." Sept 14, p. A1. | "Palestinians and Israelis Begin Final Round of Talks." (1999, September 14). New York Times, p. A1. |
| Web Page | Hensel, Paul R. (26 Oct. 1999 -- or Oct. 26, 1999 or 10/26/1999). "Paul Hensel's Citations and Plagiarism Page." http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/citation.html (1 Dec. 1999 -- or Dec. 1, 1999 or 12/1/1999). (Note that the first date is the date of the page's creation, assuming that this is listed somewhere on the page; the second date is the date you visited the page) |
Hensel, P.R. (26 Oct. 1999). Paul Hensel's Citations and Plagiarism Page. [online] Available: http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/citation.html (1 Dec. 1999). (Note that the first date is the date of the page's creation, assuming that this is listed somewhere on the page; the second date is the date you visited the page) |
Citing Electronic Sources
The spread of the Internet and of widely available CD-ROM reference materials has raised new questions about the use and citation of electronic sources. Students considering using such sources in a college-level research paper need to visit my web page on Using and Evaluating Internet Resources, but if the source if appropriate for the paper in question, these resources will help you cite it correctly.
- A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources in History and the Humanities (from Melvin Page at East Tennessee State University)
- Citing Electronic Information in History Papers (from Maurice Crouse at the University of Memphis; this page is equally relevant for Political Science papers)
- Columbia Guide to On-Line Style (by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor)
- Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources (by Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger, from Bedford / St. Martin's)
- Resources for Documenting Electronic Sources (from Purdue University's Online Writing Lab)
Additional Resources
General Resources
- Research and Documenting Sources (from Purdue University's Onlinw Writing Lab; see especially their page of Resources for Documenting Sources, which includes links to many discipline-specific resources)
- University of Colorado History Deparment Guidelines for Referencing Papers
American Psychological Association (APA) Style
- The APA offers online style tips and guidelines for electronic resources, although they do not offer an online version of their style guide itself.
- APA Format Resources (from the Purdue University Online Writer's Lab)
- APA Style Crib Sheet (by Russ Dewey of Georgia Southern University, updated by Dr. Abel Scribe)
- APA Style Guide (from the University of Southern Mississippi library)
- APA Style Handbook (from the University of Illinois Writer's Workshop)
Modern Language Association (MLA) Style:
- MLA Format Resources (from the Purdue University Online Writer's Lab)
- MLA Style Crib Sheet (by Dr. Abel Scribe)
- MLA Style Guide (from the University of Southern Mississippi library)
- MLA Style Handbook (from the University of Illinois Writer's Workshop)
Turabian Style / Chicago Manual of Style
- The University of Chicago Press -- publisher of the Manual -- offers online questions and answers about topics not addressed in the most recent published edition.
- Turabian/Chicago Style Guide (from Colorado State University)
- Turabian Citation Guide (from the Ohio State University libraries)
- Turabian Documentation Guide (from Concordia University in Montreal)
- Turabian Style Guide (from the University of Southern Mississippi library)
http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/citation.html
Last updated: 1 October 2003
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