Plagiarism is the use of another writer's
ideas or words as one's own without citing that person. It is a serious
breach of ethics and carries penalties both at the School and in the
field of copyright law. Although plagiarism may not be the result of
a writer's intent to deceive, it is almost always an expression of the
writer's insecurity with the subject. CUSSW's Writing Center provides
handouts and guidance on how to best avoid plagiarism, and on the citation
form (APA Style) used by the School and the Social Work profession.
Students should also consult their instructors and academic advisors
with their questions regarding the issue.
A student may resort to plagiarism when
feeling under pressure to complete and turn in a paper on time. Also,
because the internet is increasingly being used to conduct research
for papers, there is a tendency to copy and paste material from other
sources, forgetting that it needs to be rewritten and properly cited.
Proper citation must be made for ideas and words derived from some other
source, whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, and for facts that
are not common knowledge. For example, you must write out the last name
of an author(s) and the year of publication: Smith (2001) stated that
any reference used in the paper must appear on the Reference page. When
using the exact words (a phrase, a sentence, or more) of another, the
material must be enclosed within quotation marks, and the page number,
if available, must also be provided: Smith (2001) stated that "all text
citations must appear on the Reference page" (p.256).
Related to this is the overuse of quoted
matter when writing papers. A paper containing an abundance of quotations
may tell the instructor that the student knows where certain information
can be found but not whether that student understands it. Quotations
should be used sparingly and only when you need to 1) state an essential
theory, model, or point of someone; 2) provide credibility for a point
you are making; or 3) capture how something important is expressed.
A ten page paper, for example, should include at most two or three quotations.
When reading a journal article, you will
notice frequent reference to other authors but few quotations. The writer
of that article has instead paraphrased and summarized the writings
of others, providing proper citations throughout. Effective use of paraphrase
and summary will help you to avoid plagiarism and grasp the full meaning
of an author's words. Written in your own words, a paraphrase or summary
provides the essential information and ideas of someone else. A very
few important terms and phrases from the source may be included; that
is, two or three consecutive words (i.e., a term, a model, a theory)
may be used without quotation marks.
Developing proficient paraphrasing and
summarizing skills may take time to achieve, but the long term benefits
will make the effort worthwhile. Practice reading a passage from an
article a few times; then put it aside and, in your own words, write
out a paraphrase or summary of that passage. An analogy to keep in mind
may be how a piece of music can be interpreted in countless ways, showing
that there are many different and unique ways of expressing the ideas
of another.
