After one or two assignments, teachers are familiar with a student's writing style, making plagiarism very easy to spot. The student's work may contain formal words the student cannot pronounce and does not know the meaning of, but the expected citation will be missing. Embedded among the student's simple sentences will be phrases that express complex thinking or knowledge beyond the student's previous abilities, yet no citation will be given. More obviously, the paper will have font changes, suggesting that words were cut and pasted, yet no citation will follow. Plagiarism results whenever a source's words or ideas are used in a paper but are not properly cited and documented.
Many online article allow readers a cut and paste option. The ability to place sections of an online source into another document eliminates the need to transcribe and makes it easier to maintain accurate information about the source material. Plagiarism occurs when writers fail to make a distinction between their words and the source's. Instead, the writer pastes another writer's words into a paper and does not inform readers that a source has been used either by naming the source in text or in a parenthetical citation.
Some students, instead of using their own brain power to analyze a text and and to generate and organize their own ideas, avoid writing altogether. These students use the Internet to visit paper mills, websites and online databases where generalized, ready-made papers are available for purchase. The fact that these papers exist online, however, make it possible for teachers and administrators to trace the paper's origins and to ultimately build a successful plagiarism case. Plagiarism is turning in work created by another person and presenting it as one's own.
According to A.W. Bates and Gary Poole, authors of Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education, "A lot of plagiarism is not so much due to unethical students as laziness or ignorance." Avoid trying to find shortcuts when working with online sources. Take the time to create digital and print copies of links, URL information, and databases used to retrieve information. All of these are needed to properly cite and document the source and to maintain accuracy.
Some students freely borrow from online articles and fail to cite or document their sources. In fact, Sara Rimer of the New York Times reports that "almost half the students said they considered such behavior trivial or not cheating at all." While students may have a cavalier attitude toward cheating, teachers and administrators usually have zero tolerance for academic dishonesty. When evidence of plagiarism is established, the offender will fail the class, be placed on academic probation and will lose their financial aid scholarships.
Make it clear that a source's words and ideas have been integrated into a paper. Placing borrowed information in context instead of just pasting it in a documents helps prevent plagiarism. Use attribution, which means name the source, article title, and web site sponsor directly before quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing. At the end of the sentence where borrowed words or ideas appear, provide the author's name and page number inside inside parenthesis. This information leads readers to the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page or bibliography.
When cutting and pasting, enclose words borrowed from a source inside quotation marks and follow with a parenthetical citation. Missing quotation marks, either before or after using borrowed words, is considered plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism when paraphrasing, print out the source's words and then delete them from the paper.
If a paraphrase contains two or more strings of words that match the sources, rewrite until the majority of words are original and cite the source at the end of the paraphrase to avoid plagiarism.