Plagiarism Types

Plagiarism is nasty business. Not giving credit for ideas and words can earn you a zero on a
paper or project, get you kicked out of college or even get you fired. To avoid all types of
plagiarism, understand these basic terms.

ParaphraseDictionary.com defines this term as A restatement of speech or writing that

retains the basic meaning while changing the words. A paraphrase often clarifies the original
statement by putting it into words that are more easily understood.

Verbatim PlagiarismWhen you cut and paste large sections of writing directly from another
source without using quotation marks. This applies even if you use an introduction or conclusion
that comes from your own words. Combat this by either using quotation marks and directly
citing the quote or paraphrasing. If using a direct quote, you will then either lead in with
information about your source or include it in parentheses after the quote. Youll have a citation
at the bottom of the page that matches up with this information. If youre paraphrasing, youll
still need to include source information (see Uncited Paraphrase for information).

Mosaic PlagiarismAccording to the Harvard Guide to Using Sources, If you copy bits and
pieces from a source (or several sources), changing a few words here and there without either
adequately paraphrasing or quoting directly, the result is mosaic plagiarism (What Constitutes
Plagiarism). In short, when you pull one line from one source, another from somewhere else,
and maybe more from another site without changing enough of the words, youve committed
mosaic plagiarism. Solve this in the same way you would verbatim plagiarism (above).

Inadequate ParaphraseThis occurs when a writer changes some of the words in a piece of
writing but not all and still uses some of the main vocabulary from the original document. This
occurs often and is the main source of plagiarism I see in school. See this example from the
What Constitutes Plagiarism page on the Harvard Guide to Using Sources:

Source material

So in Romeo and Juliet, understandably in view of its early date, we cannot find that
tragedy has fully emerged from the moral drama and the romantic comedy that
dominated in the public theaters of Shakespeare's earliest time. Here he attempted
an amalgam of romantic comedy and the tragic idea, along with the assertion of a
moral lesson which is given the final emphasisalthough the force of that lesson is
switched from the lovers to their parents. But tragedy is necessarily at odds with
the moral: it is concerned with a permanent anguishing situation, not with one that
can either be put right or be instrumental in teaching the survivors to do better.

--Leech, Clifford. "The Moral Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet." Critical Essays on Romeo
and Juliet. Ed. Joseph A. Porter. New York: G.K. Hall, 1997. 20. Print.

Plagiarized version

In his essay, "The Moral Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Clifford Leech suggests that
rather than being a straight tragedy, Romeo and Juliet is a mixture of romantic
comedy and the tragic idea, and that it asserts a moral lesson which is given the
final emphasis. The impact of the moral lesson is switched from the lovers to the
parents (20).
 This is an inadequate paraphrase because the student has only replaced a
few words ("mixture" for "amalgam"; "asserts a moral lesson" for "assertion
of a moral lesson"; "impact" for "force") while leaving the rest of Leechs
words intact.

Acceptable version #1 (Adequate paraphrase with citation)

In his essay, "The Moral Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Clifford Leech suggests that
there is more to Romeo and Juliet than simply a gloom-and-doom tragedy of two
people destined to die for their illicit love. According to Leech, Romeo and Juliet is
part romantic comedy, part tragedy, part morality tale in which the moral lesson is
learned at the end. But this moral lesson comes with a twist: Since the lovers are
dead, their parents experience the consequences of their actions (20).

In this version, the student communicates Leechs ideas (and cites Leech with
an MLA in-text citation), but does not borrow language from Leech.

Uncited Paraphrase

Even if you alter the words used in an original piece of writing, you still need to give credit
for the ideas presented there. For example, if youre giving a brief biography of an author
and important events in his/her life, those ideas arent common knowledge and the person
or source giving you the information deserves credit. The helps out with this rule of
thumb: Whenever you use ideas that you did not think up yourself, you need to give
credit to the source in which you found them, whether you quote directly from that
material or provide a responsible paraphrase (What Constitutes Plagiarism). Avoid this
by leading in with the source youre using. Try phrases like According to _____ or In the
article/book/essay/etc. ______ by _________, she/he states.

Uncited Quotation

Putting the direct words of a source in quotations is great. However, sometimes there is
no cooresponding source given. This is an uncited quotation. To avoid this, always include
a citation at the bottom of the page or in a works cited page if youve included a quote.

Works Cited

What Constitutes Plagiarism. Harvard.edu. President and Fellows of Harvard College,

2016. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.

Paraphrase. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com 2016. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.