Plagiarism: The Facts (Accessible View)

The Facts

• In 2013, 125 Harvard students were implicated for cheating on an exam. 60 of those students were forced to withdraw (Conway & Lee 2014). 
• In 2011, 55% of college presidents reported an increase of students cheating on papers (Parker, Lenhart, & Moore).

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is taking someone else's ideas or published information and using it in your own writing as if it was your own. When you cite someone, you are acknowledging you have used the information created by someone else in your work. 

If you have additional questions about plagiarism, contact your class instructor, the Writers Workshop or Ask a Librarian.

Why is plagiarism a big deal? 

Plagiarism is stealing. When you plagiarize, you are denying an author rightful credit for their work. In other words, you are stealing. 

Plagiarism is dishonest. Plagiarism is a form of lying--you are passing off someone else's work as your own. 

Plagiarism goes against academic integrity. In the academic world, scholars abide by "academic integrity." This means they agree to share their work under the condition that they receive credit for their original work and scholarship.

How to avoid plagiarism

1. ​Don't submit someone else's work as your own. This includes friends as well as information you find on the Internet or in a library.

2. Always cite your sources. This lets your audience know where you got your information. If you don't cite, you're submitting someone else's work as your own. 

3. Ideas from someone else have to be either paraphrased (rephrased in your own words) and cited; summarized and cited; or quoted and cited. See the difference between quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing.

If you don't cite...

Your instructor and/or an academic committee may look into any suspicions of plagiarism or cheating. If the accusations turn out to be true, the University of Illinois' Student Code states that you could face: 

1. A reduced or failing grade in the course.
2. No credit for the course. 
3. Suspension or dismissal from the University of Illinois.
4. Any combination of these options. 

Read the University of Illinois' Student Code.

Don't panic! Yes, you have to cite. But we can help! Check out our citation guide: guides.library.illinois.edu/citingsources

References:  

APA (American Psychological Association)

*Use hanging indentation after the first row of text if reference is multiple rows of text long.

Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. DOI (if available)

Journal Articles

Author, A. A., Author B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Websites

Author, A. A., & Author, B.B. (Year, Month Date). Title of webpage. Name of Website. URL

In Text

(Author Last Name, Year of Publication, p. #)

Learn More

Purdue Online Writing Lab: APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)

There are three ways you can integrate sources into your paper.

1. Quote: Any time you use the exact wording found in a source it needs to be "quoted." Use only when the source has written something in an interesting or distinctive way.
2. Paraphrase: Paraphrasing puts an excerpt from a source into your own words, rephrasing but not shortening it. Paraphrase when a quote won’t quite fit into the grammar or tone of your own writing.
3. Summarize: Summarizing boils a text down to its essential points. It is especially useful for incorporating other authors’ big ideas without sacrificing too much space in your own writing. 

For more information and to see examples of how to integrate sources, see the Integrate Sources Into Your Paper link below.

The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to describe the cited material, whether a book, article or other type of source. It is a brief, descriptive note that should provide sufficient information so that a determination can be made as to whether the source should be examined further for use. Annotations help to clarify each source, and they will often provide evaluative information as well.

This guide contains instructions on creating an annotated bibliography.