15 What is Plagiarism?
Think About It
Think about each of these situations, and then talk with a partner. Which ones are acceptable? Which ones are cheating?
- Rita is writing a research paper for her college class. She finds a perfect paragraph on a website that explains her topic. She copies and pastes the whole paragraph into her paper.
- Carlos wrote a fantastic essay last semester for his Intermediate ESOL class, and he got a good score. This semester, his new teacher assigned a similar topic for an essay. Carlos decides to reuse several paragraphs from his previous essay in his current assignment without telling the teacher.
- Abdul is writing an essay about nutrition. He wants to include a quote from a famous scientist to support his ideas. He copies the scientist’s words, uses quotation marks, and gives a citation to explain where he found the quote.
- Sofia is writing her ideas in her class discussion forum. She finds a paragraph in an article that perfectly captures her thoughts. She rewrites the paragraph using different words and sentence structure, but the ideas remain the same. She doesn’t mention the original author or article in her discussion post.
- Sergei finished writing his personal narrative about his own experiences. He really likes what he has written, but he’s worried about his grammar. He asks his cousin to read his narrative and fix his mistakes. She fixes all his grammar errors and also rewrites some of his sentences so they sound more advanced.
- Amina has an assignment to write her opinion about gun control in the United States. She is having trouble thinking of ideas to write about. She asks ChatGPT to explain some of the arguments in favor of and against gun control. She chooses two of the topics to write about in her assignment, using her own words.
What Is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is copying someone else’s words or ideas and using them as your own. It is like stealing someone’s ideas without giving them the credit or acknowledgement.
Plagiarism is wrong because it is dishonest. When you plagiarize, you are lying about who did your assignment or where you found your ideas. It is also unfair because you aren’t acknowledging the person who did the work. Plagiarism is also harmful for your learning because you aren’t using your own skills to figure out the answers.
What Are the Consequences of Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is a form of cheating, and it’s not acceptable in college or at work. If you plagiarize, some of the consequences could be:
-
- Being asked to write your assignment again
- Getting a “0” or failing grade on your assignment
- Failing the class
- Getting suspended or dismissed from school
- Being scolded by your employer
- Losing your job
What are the rules about plagiarism and cheating in your class or at your school?
How Can We Avoid Plagiarism?
The easiest way to avoid plagiarism is to always write in your own words. Don’t look at the original book, article, or website when you are a writing.
You can also learn how to paraphrase, quote and use citations correctly. You will learn about this in the next chapters here.
Here are some other tips to help you avoid plagiarism:
- Make sure you understand what you are reading. Use a dictionary, translator, or other reading strategies to help you. Read several times if necessary.
- If you take notes as you are reading, be sure to mark which ideas are YOUR ideas, and which ideas came from the ORIGINAL TEXT.
- Give yourself plenty of time to finish your assignments. Students often plagiarize when they feel stressed or under pressure, and they think copying will be faster than using their own words.
- Remind yourself that doing your own work will lead to more learning and increased English ability. Copying someone else’s writing or ideas will not advance your learning.
- Ask for help. If you feel overwhelmed and are tempted to cheat or plagiarize, ask your teacher for help or visit the Writing Center at your college.
