Plagiarism

What did the student do wrong? What could he/she have done to include the source correctly?

     What the student did that was wrong was that he or she plagiarized. He used the author’s words and tried to pass it off as his own. He copied and pasted the words of the author and claimed them as his own. The student should have paraphrased instead and then cite his source. The student could have also quoted the source and then cited it. If the student was going to incorporate a source, he shouldn’t have copied it without crediting the author.

   

Write a sentence using the original source correctly: use a quotation or paraphrase.

     The structures in the painting seem to cause a sense of isolation. The two structures that cause this feeling are the steeple and the dark structure to the left of the painting. The steeple ”casts down a sense of stability onto the town, and also creates a sense of size and seclusion”. The dark structure to the left “develops an even greater sense of size and isolation”. (A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings, Unknown Author)

What are at least three ways to avoid plagiarism?

     One way to avoid plagiarism is by paraphrasing. Instead of just copying and pasting, you can rephrase the text into your own words.  You can quote a line from the text instead of just copying it. Finally, you can make sure you cite your sources correctly. You should include both the title of your source and it’s author.