EXERCISES

TO
IDENTIFY
PLAGIARIS
M
Do you know if you
have plagiarized
someones words or
ideas?

PRE-TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

IS THE ANSWER TRUE OR FALSE?

PRE-TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Is the answer TRUE or FALSE?

FALSE

1. Copying and pasting from the Internet can be

done without citing the Internet page, because
everything on the Internet is common knowledge
and can be used without citation.
Web pages and other Internet sources are created by an
author or authors so if you use something from the
Internet, you have to cite it.
2. If you borrow someone's idea and use it in a
paper, you don't have to cite it.

FALSE

FALSE

Any time you quote, paraphrase or summarize someone

else's words or ideas, you have to cite them no matter
what form e.g. lyrics, image, etc.
3. When you summarize a block of text from
another work, citing the source at the end of
your paper is sufficient.
When you summarize a block of text, you have to cite the
source within your paper.
Reference: University Libraries'

PRE-TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

contd
Is the answer TRUE or FALSE?

FALSE

4. If you quote your roommate in an interview, you

don't have to cite him/her or use quotation
marks.
Citing
a conversation is not different from citing an article
or a book. Whenever you quote someone's words,
whether they're printed, spoken or sung, you have to cite
them.
5. You don't have to quote famous proverbs
because they're common knowledge.

TRUE

Proverbs are common knowledge, and therefore don't

have to be cited.
6. Using a few phrases from an article and mixing
them in with your own words is not plagiarism.

FALSE

Using someone else's words without acknowledging who

wrote them--even when you blend those phrases with
your own--is plagiarism.
Reference: University Libraries'

PRE-TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

contd
Is the answer TRUE or FALSE?

FALSE

7. You don't have to use quotation marks when

you quote an author as long as you cite the
author's name at the end of the paragraph.
Whenever you quote someone else's words you have to
designate what they say by using quotation marks to
show that you've borrowed it and to set it apart from your
own writing.
8. If you come across the phrase "era of error" and
use it in your paper, you should cite it.

TRUE

Whether it's two words or ten, you have to credit your

source any time you use someone else's words.
9. You can submit a paper you wrote for another
in the
past. from yourself, known as selfYoucourse
are literally
stealing

FALSE

plagiarism. You can build on previous work, but it is

dishonest to submit the same work for credit twice.
Reference: University Libraries'

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
IS IT PLAGIARISM?

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:
Nineteen percent of fulltime freshmen say they
spend only 1 to 5 hours
per week preparing for
classes

You write:
Nineteen percent of fulltime freshmen say they
spend only 1 to 5 hours
per week preparing for
classes.

From: Young, Jeffrey R. Homework?

What Homework? Chronicle of Higher
Education, 49 (15).12/6/2002.

YES! Need to use quotes and cite source.

Reference: University of Wisconsin-Eau Cla

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:

You write:

"Students are studying

about one-third as much as
faculty say they ought to,
to do well," said George D.
Kuh, director of the survey
and a professor of higher
education at Indiana
University at Bloomington.

Most students spend

about one-third as much
time studying as faculty
say they should.

From: Young, Jeffrey R. Homework?

What Homework? Chronicle of
Higher Education, 49 (15).12/6/2002

YES! Must credit source if paraphrasing text.

Reference: University of Wisconsin-Eau Cla

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:
"Students are studying about
one-third as much as faculty
say they ought to, to do well,"
said George D. Kuh, director
of the survey and a professor
of higher education at Indiana
University at Bloomington.
From: Young, Jeffrey R. Homework? What
Homework? Chronicle of Higher Education,
49 (15).12/6/2002

You write:
According to George D.
Kuh, Indiana University
at Bloomington, students
study about one-third of
the time that is expected
by faculty. (Young, 2002)

NO! As long as, the Young article is included in your

reference list, and you have properly cited the source.

Reference: University of Wisconsin-Eau Cla

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:
The tip given most
consistently by professors
and college officials is that
students should simply do
their homework. The most
commonly prescribed amount
is at least two hours of class
preparation for every hour
spent in the classroom

You write:

College students should

do their homework.

From: Young, Jeffrey R. Homework?

What Homework? Chronicle of Higher
Education, 49 (15).12/6/2002

NO! Commonly known facts or ideas do not have to be

cited, if this information is found in at least 5 sources.

Reference: University of Wisconsin-Eau Cla

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You find:

Your title page:

Should we or
shouldnt we
protect the
gray wolf?

Gray wolf (Canis lupus).

Jeff Lepore/Photo Researchers
Wolf. Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved March
31, 2004, from Encyclopdia Britannica Online.
<http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=79400>

By Ima Lamb
Eng 110
Apr. 1, 2004

YES! Must credit source of images and other media.

Reference: University of Wisconsin-Eau Cla

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:

You write:

If the existence of a signing

ape was unsettling for
linguists, it was also startling
news for animal
behaviorists.

The existence of a signing

ape was unsettling for
linguists, and was also
startling news for animal
behaviorists.

From: Davis, F. (1978) Eloquent

Animals. New York: Putnam Pub
Group.

From: Hacker, Diana. The Bedford

Handbook for Writers. Boston: St.
Martin's Press, 1991.

YES! Need quotation marks around words from

source, and reference in brackets with page number.

Reference: Christian Brothers Univers

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:

You write:

If the existence of a signing

ape was unsettling for
linguists, it was also startling
news for animal
behaviorists.

The existence of a signing

ape unsettled linguists and
startled animal behaviorists
(Davis, 26).

From: Davis, F. (1978) Eloquent

Animals. New York: Putnam Pub
Group.

From: Hacker, Diana. The Bedford

Handbook for Writers. Boston: St.
Martin's Press, 1991.

YES! The source was cited and paraphrasing was

attempted, but the writers words are not his own.

Reference: Christian Brothers Univers

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:

You write:

If the existence of a signing

ape was unsettling for
linguists, it was also startling
news for animal
behaviorists.

If the presence of a signlanguage-using chimp was

disturbing for scientists
studying language, it was
also surprising to scientists
studying animal behavior
(Davis, 26).

From: Davis, F. (1978) Eloquent

Animals. New York: Putnam Pub
Group.

From: Hacker, Diana. The Bedford

Handbook for Writers. Boston: St.
Martin's Press, 1991.

YES! Source is cited and synonyms are substituted,

but sources sentence structure is unchanged.

Reference: Christian Brothers Univers

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:

If the existence of a
signing ape was
unsettling for linguists, it
was also startling news
for animal behaviorists.

From: Davis, F. (1978) Eloquent

Animals. New York: Putnam Pub
Group.

You write:
According to Flora Davis,
linguists and animal
behaviorists were
unprepared for the news that
a chimp could communicate
with its trainers through sign
language (Davis, 26).
From: Hacker, Diana. The Bedford
Handbook for Writers. Boston: St.
Martin's Press, 1991.

NO! Original was properly paraphrased and source

was referenced. No parenthetical citation required.

Reference: Christian Brothers Univers

IDENTIFICATION PRACTICE
Is It Plagiarism?

You read:

If the existence of a
signing ape was
unsettling for linguists, it
was also startling news
for animal behaviorists.

From: Davis, F. (1978) Eloquent

Animals. New York: Putnam Pub
Group.

You write:
When they learned of an
ape's ability to use sign
language, both linguists
and animal behaviorists
were taken by surprise
(Davis 26).

From: Hacker, Diana. The Bedford

Handbook for Writers. Boston: St.
Martin's Press, 1991.

NO! Original was properly paraphrased and source

was referenced.

Reference: Christian Brothers Univers

REFERENCES
Christian Brothers University. What is plagiarism? (And
why you should care!). Retrieved from
http://www.cbu.edu/
The University of Southern Mississippi, ' University
Libraries "Plagiarism Pre-Test. Retrieved from
http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/plagiarismtutorial.php
adapted from Robert A. Harris's book The Plagiarism Handbook :
Strategies for Preventing, Detecting, and Dealing with Plagiarism,
Los Angeles, CA : Pyrczak Publishing, 2001.

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Is it Plagiarism?

[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.uwec.edu/

FOR ADDITIONAL HELP OR

PRACTICE
If you are still uncertain about how to
properly cite sources of information,
you can ask for assistance from:
Your Teachers
Library and
Media Services,
L1003
The Learning
Centre, A2019