Language Arts Courses in Cobb County

One of the most common violations of academic honesty is plagiarism. A writer's facts, ideas, and unique phraseology should be regarded as his property. Any person who uses a writer's ideas without giving due credit through documentation is guilty of plagiarism.

Read the following original passage from an essay by Eliot A. Daley, titled "Is TV Brutalizing Your child?" in the book Freedom of Dilemma.

Through television, our children's lives are inundated with death and disaster one moment, trivia and banality the next, cemented together with the sixty-second mortar of manipulation and materialism. In the matter of violence alone, their formative years are bathed in blood. Writers have amply documented the depressing statistics: The TV stations of one city carried in one week 7,887 acts of violence. One episode of a western series garnished Christmas night with 3 homicides. Between the ages of 5 and 14, your children and mine may, if they are average viewers, witness the annihilation of 12,000 human beings.

Suppose you want to paraphrase the above material on your note card. Here are two examples of common mistakes in paraphrasing. Both constitute plagiarism.

By watching television, our children's lives are filled with disaster and death one minute, trivia and banality the next, put together with one minute of materialism and manipulation.

Note how the writer has merely changed a few words and rearranged the order of others. He has given no credit to the original source, thereby giving the impression that these are his thoughts and words.

Children growing up today are witnessing huge amounts of violence on television. The TV stations of one city carried 7,887 acts of violence in one week. One western program shown Christmas night produced three homicides. Children between the ages of 5 and 14 may witness the deaths of 12,000 human beings.

Here the writer used the exact figures from the original source but gave no credit to the writer who first researched and published the information. Obviously, the average person would not know exact statistics such as these; therefore, the writer must cite his source for his reader.

To paraphrase and document the original passage correctly, the writer will use the statistics and thoughts of the source, but he must use quotation marks for directly quoted material, and he must give the author's name and page number on his note card and in his final paper.

Look at the following correct example of paraphrasing as it might appear in the paper:

Children grow up seeing excessive violence on television. Statistics give depressing testimony to the prevalence of TV violence. As television critic Eliot Daley comments, "Between the ages of 5 and 14, your children and mine may, if they are average viewers, witness the annihilation of 12,000 human beings" (50).

The writer of the preceding passage avoided plagiarism by paraphrasing the first two sentences then quoting the statistical information verbatim. He introduced the source by name in his lead-in to the quotation so that only the page number is required in the parenthetical documentation. (See "Documenting Sources" for more detailed information regarding parenthetical documentation.)

In deciding whether or not to document, ask yourself the following question:

Is this information common knowledge that a mature reader would most likely know?

If you believe he would not, document the passage. Of course, always document a quotation, summary, or paraphrased passage. For example, document such information as major decisions and statements made by a famous President because the average person would not be aware of this specific information; however, the fact that John F. Kennedy was a U.S. President would not require documentation.

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One of the most common violations of academic honesty is plagiarism. A writer's facts, ideas, and unique phraseology should be regarded as his property. Any person who uses a writer's ideas without giving due credit through documentation is guilty of plagiarism.

Read the following original passage from an essay by Eliot A. Daley, titled "Is TV Brutalizing Your child?" in the book Freedom of Dilemma.

Through television, our children's lives are inundated with death and disaster one moment, trivia and banality the next, cemented together with the sixty-second mortar of manipulation and materialism. In the matter of violence alone, their formative years are bathed in blood. Writers have amply documented the depressing statistics: The TV stations of one city carried in one week 7,887 acts of violence. One episode of a western series garnished Christmas night with 3 homicides. Between the ages of 5 and 14, your children and mine may, if they are average viewers, witness the annihilation of 12,000 human beings.

Suppose you want to paraphrase the above material on your note card. Here are two examples of common mistakes in paraphrasing. Both constitute plagiarism.

By watching television, our children's lives are filled with disaster and death one minute, trivia and banality the next, put together with one minute of materialism and manipulation.

Note how the writer has merely changed a few words and rearranged the order of others. He has given no credit to the original source, thereby giving the impression that these are his thoughts and words.

Children growing up today are witnessing huge amounts of violence on television. The TV stations of one city carried 7,887 acts of violence in one week. One western program shown Christmas night produced three homicides. Children between the ages of 5 and 14 may witness the deaths of 12,000 human beings.

Here the writer used the exact figures from the original source but gave no credit to the writer who first researched and published the information. Obviously, the average person would not know exact statistics such as these; therefore, the writer must cite his source for his reader.

To paraphrase and document the original passage correctly, the writer will use the statistics and thoughts of the source, but he must use quotation marks for directly quoted material, and he must give the author's name and page number on his note card and in his final paper.

Look at the following correct example of paraphrasing as it might appear in the paper:

Children grow up seeing excessive violence on television. Statistics give depressing testimony to the prevalence of TV violence. As television critic Eliot Daley comments, "Between the ages of 5 and 14, your children and mine may, if they are average viewers, witness the annihilation of 12,000 human beings" (50).

The writer of the preceding passage avoided plagiarism by paraphrasing the first two sentences then quoting the statistical information verbatim. He introduced the source by name in his lead-in to the quotation so that only the page number is required in the parenthetical documentation. (See "Documenting Sources" for more detailed information regarding parenthetical documentation.)

In deciding whether or not to document, ask yourself the following question:

Is this information common knowledge that a mature reader would most likely know?

If you believe he would not, document the passage. Of course, always document a quotation, summary, or paraphrased passage. For example, document such information as major decisions and statements made by a famous President because the average person would not be aware of this specific information; however, the fact that John F. Kennedy was a U.S. President would not require documentation.

next page