Plagiarism (B&S3, p36, Study Skill)

What we read

On page 36, we read Stella Cottrell's notes on plagiarism, which is a crime you want to avoid both in your academic work and elsewhere (2013). 

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My response 

In my general notes on the writing process, which is based on ideas that are common in books that teach academic writing, I say that AUA students do not normally need to do research, but this is not true for academic work, where research is a normal part of writing: academics and students in academic courses are expected to use the ideas of other writers. We need to use facts, arguments and other ideas from sources. The use of other people's ideas is a normal part of academic work, and it's important to learn how to properly use sources in these situations. 

This is another reason for our regular blogging of stories in the news. The summary paragraphs we write are entirely other people's ideas, so we must properly tell readers what our sources are. There are strict rules for this, and failing to follow them can have disastrous consequences. For example, in 2011, the German Minister of Defence had his doctorate degree (PhD) withdrawn by the University of Bayreuth, which had awarded it in 2007, when it was discovered that he had plagiarised material in it (Wikipedia contributors, 2018). As the Wikipedia entry tells us, he was subsequently forced to resign from his powerful position in the German government. The university's action is normal for every good university. 

For our first blog writing, I didn't worry about this, but I will in the next weeks. Plagiarism is easy to avoid; don't risk a zero grade by committing this form of corruption. 

Cottrell offers some useful strategies to avoid accidental plagiarism. I think her most useful suggestion is that "Once you can say what the [source says], note it down in your own words" (2013).  I would also emphasise her suggestion that you write your summary without looking at your source, (close the page) and if you do want to copy a few words because they state an idea so perfectly, always put them in quotation marks, which is what I've just done in the previous sentence. If you check my source, Cottrell, you'll see that I changed a couple of her words, which is why they are in [brackets]. Brackets tell your readers that you made a small change inside a quotation from a source. 

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My questions

• Do you agree with Cottrell that some people might be tempted to plagiarise because they lack confidence in their own words?
   
• Do you like her suggestions for avoiding plagiarism? Have you used them before? 

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References

• Cottrell, S. (2013). Plagiarism. In J. Bixby, & J. Scanlon. Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3 (p. 36). Oxford: Macmillan Education.
   
• Wikipedia contributors. (2018, March 13). Guttenberg plagiarism scandal. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:01, March 16, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guttenberg_plagiarism_scandal&oldid=830139599