Acts of plagiarism are considered a violation of the UC San Diego Extended Studies Academic Integrity Policy. This article explains what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
Understanding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own, without giving them credit. And plagiarism can occur both intentionally and unintentionally. While most people think plagiarism is just copy-pasting someone else's words, there are other ways to commit plagiarism.
- Directly copying other works without attribution: The most commonly understood form of plagiarism is the act of directly copying the work and words of another person in one's work without providing any attribution (citation).
- Paraphrasing without proper citation: Even if you rephrase someone else's ideas, you still need to credit them by mentioning the original author's name, publication title, and date of publication.
- Learn more about paraphrasing.
- Failing to use quotation marks for direct quotes: Any words taken directly from a source need to be surrounded by quotation marks. Omitting quotation marks, even if accidentally, is a common method of plagiarizing.
- Learn more about direct quotes .
- Recycling your own work from previous classes without proper citation: Submitting work you've already used can be considered self-plagiarism, even though it might seem efficient, and your recent essay was excellent and earned a good grade.
- Mosaic plagiarism: Picking and choosing sentences from different sources without proper citation and weaving them together into one document creates a mosaic or patchwork. While it might yield a product resembling an essay, the work often fails to show the synthesis and deep processing that instructors are looking for in writing.
- Failing to cite information that is common knowledge but not common sense: If it's not widely known, cite it.
Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism
- Paraphrase Effectively: When summarizing or paraphrasing, understand the source material, then express it in your own words. It is not enough to change a few words, swapping the original words for synonyms. You should restructure the sentence or compress the ideas, integrating concepts in such a way that demonstrates a deeper understanding.
- Cite Everything: Whenever you use someone else's ideas, facts, or even specific wording, cite them using the appropriate style guide (e.g., APA, MLA). It is better to over-cite than under-cite.
- Use Quotation Marks: Always enclose directly quoted material within quotation marks.
- Take Clear Notes: When taking notes, distinguish your own ideas from those of your sources. It's easy to blur the lines when you are studying in a frenzy. Organization and methodical study will help you delineate your ideas from those of others.
- Plan and Organize: Developing your own arguments and structure from the beginning helps ensure originality. If you are struggling with getting started, jot down some preliminary ideas, no matter how scarce, and reach out to your instructor for advice and feedback.
For more detailed information on plagiarism, please visit https://www.plagiarism.org/.
Note: Google Gemini was used to brainstorm and check the thoroughness of this article's content. Some content is AI-written but heavily revised, and all content has been verified for accuracy by DES staff.