Avoiding Unintentional Plagiarism

Amber Cook explains unintentional plagiarism
By Amber Cook, Senior Writing Specialist

A specific image comes to many of our minds when we think of the word plagiarism. A sinister and perhaps lazy student surfs the Internet and finds a well-written paper by another writer. Hoping to avoid the effort involved in writing an original work, and knowing that this other writer’s paper will likely earn a higher grade, the student downloads the paper. Looking around to make sure no one is watching, the student deletes the name of the original author, replaces it with his or her own, and submits the paper, intentionally deceiving the unsuspecting reader.

This scenario might occasionally occur, but the plagiarism committed by many writers looks quite different from this act of blatant cheating. In the Writing Center, for instance, the vast majority of plagiarized passages we see are unintentional. Some writers paraphrase poorly or intend to add citations after finishing the paper. (This practice, by the way, is a bad, bad idea. You may want to refine your APA format after you’ve finished the writing, but you should always put at least a note to yourself to indicate the need for a citation.) Other writers do include citations, but these attempts are inadequate for the type of citation being used. For instance, many writers will borrow wording directly from another source and then provide only a parenthetical citation for that source. This is better than nothing, but without quotation marks or block quotation format, this passage would still be considered an academic integrity violation. Check out our website for more information on directly quoting or paraphrasing a source.

Although the plagiarism in the cases mentioned here may be unintentional, it is still problematic. Walden’s plagiarism policy, like that of most academic institutions, involves disciplinary measures. Learning to cite properly and use sources judiciously is part of the challenge of becoming an academic writer. If your instructor or writing tutor points out plagiarism during a paper review, try not to be offended. There is a broad range of mistakes that fall under that term, which can include the unintentional plagiarism mentioned above. Your reviewer’s job is to call your attention to anything suspect, and your job is to learn quickly, making the avoidance of academic integrity violations your top priority.

If you’re ever feeling unsure about your citation format, you may want to send your paper through the Academic Skills Center’s Turnitin dropbox. Turnitin will help you identify any material that matches other documents in its database, and you can then adjust any citation format as needed. Once you’re in the habit of thorough and proper citation, you can still use the tool to double check your use of source information.

20 comments:

  1. Plagiarism hurts and should be avoided by all means. Good article!

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  2. if you have unintentionally plagiarized and your professor points it out, do you automatically get dropped from the class or kicked out of the program?

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    1. If your instructor points out plagiarism in your work, even if it’s unintentional, he or she will expect you to review Walden’s academic integrity policy (http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/809.htm) and to use resources like the Writing Center’s one-on-one paper reviews (http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/Tutoring.htm), paraphrasing (http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/295.htm) and citing (http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/11.htm) information, and Turnitin (http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/809.htm) to work on using source information properly. Each instructor may have his or her own course policies regarding plagiarism, but you can read more about Walden’s policies on our website: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/63.htm. If you have any questions about plagiarism and proper source use, we encourage you to talk with your instructor and to get in touch with us at the Writing Center. We are here to help!

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  3. The information provided is of great importance and will be helpful i belief throughout the program. i look forward to reviewing this time and time again to get as i progress to the next level.

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  4. Thanks, for the additional information on this topic as well as the resources available to help prevent it from happening unintentionally.

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    1. You're welcome! We're glad this blog post was helpful for you.

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  5. Good information. Thanks!



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  6. This information is very helpful. I wish we had something like this in my BSN program. Thank you for providing this.

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  7. Thanks for this kind comment. Definitely check out Walden's Online MSN program if you ever consider going back to school. You'd have plenty of writing support from your friends at the Writing Center!

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  8. Upon reflection, I really like your point of placeholder citing as a real bad, bad idea. Thank you for the information refresher.

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    1. Glad that advice hit home. Lots of writers have to learn that lesson the hard way. Keep up the good work!

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  9. It seems like every sentence turns out to be cited, even when information is common knowledge in the medical field. especially of you have been working in the field for a long time. I seem to have to need to hunt down citations when I really didn't get the information from a source in the first place

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    1. Hi NA,
      It is true that some ideas that are common knowledge within your field (or experiential knowledge) would not be considered common knowledge in general and therefore would need to be cited with an external source to ensure the point is supported and to avoid accidental plagiarism. Our webpage on common knowledge and personal experience includes more on this topic: http://bit.ly/2RZkFXE.

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  10. thank you for this clarification, i am a victim of this situation you described.

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  11. Great information to avoid plagiarism and own your work.

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