Basic tools of writing

Plagiarism writing assignment

Purdue University

Avoiding plagiarism
Academic writing in American institutions is filled with rules that writers often don’t know how to follow. A working knowledge of these rules, however, is critically important; inadvertent mistakes can lead to charges of plagiarism, or the unacknowledged used of somebody else’s words or ideas. While other cultures may not insist so heavily on documenting sources, American institutions do. A charge of plagiarism can have severe consequences, including expulsion from the university. . . .
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html)

Indiana University

Plagiarism:
What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It
In college courses, we are continually engaged with other people's ideas: we read them in texts, hear them in lecture, discuss them in class, and incorporate them into our own writing. As a result, it is very important that we give credit where it is due. Plagiarism is using others' ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. . . .
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

DePauw University

Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is turning in or passing off someone else's work as your own. Sometimes, the line between borrowing and stealing is unclear. In an intellectual community, ideas are passed around freely. Most intellectual inquiry could not take place without borrowing from the work of others. . . .
http://www.depauw.edu/admin/arc/plag.html

Each of these sites contains a fairly short article on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. The essay we want you to write should demonstrate that you understand the major concepts that the essays discuss.

The essay will also demonstrate your ability present information clearly and coherently and to put together information from different sources(without plagiarizing, of course).

You may bring these articles with you to your lab session and use them in writing your essay. If you quote directly from any of these articles, you should put the name of the university and page number of the quoted passage in parentheses immediately after the quotation. (See the example to the left.) You should not quote directly more than two or three times in the essay. This should be in your own words.

You do not need to do any other referencing or footnoting for this essay, but you will need to turn in your copies of the articles along with your essay. You may use only these three articles as references for your essay.

This essay will be graded with the following criteria in mind:

Accuracy. The information should be accurate. You will need to read the articles carefully and make sure you understand them completely before writing this essay.

Completeness. A reader of your essay should understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it after reading your essay. In an essay this short, you will not be able to say everything there is to say about the subject, of course, but you should be able to present the major concepts.

Efficiency. You should edit and/or rewrite your essay so that every word counts. Every word and phrase should help in the development of your ideas or contribute new information to the essay. If it does not, you should edit it out.

Precision. You should use the language well. Grammar, spelling and punctuation rules should be applied. Lab instructors will be looking especially for those things that we talked about in the lecture on Friday.