B(log)SOP

What is Plagiarism?

Any act of incorporating into one’s own work the work of another without indicating that source. Examples of plagiarism:

a) Idea plagiarism - Students may freely discuss ideas and concepts with others, since such discussion is valuable; however, ideas received from others and used in a paper must be properly cited, since the paper must express the original thoughts of the student. Stringing several properly cited quotations together is technically not plagiarism but it is often a poor way to write a paper.

b) Not citing sources - Texts, cassettes, and other sources used by a student must be properly acknowledged by appropriate documentation. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism.

c) Using papers from previous classes - A student without prior permission from all instructors concerned may not submit papers containing substantially the same content for credit in more than one course.

Students often have trouble distinguishing between privileged information and common knowledge when deciding what materials should be footnoted. Obviously, one would not cite a reference if one included the fact that Martin Luther was a German theologian who was in the forefront of the Church Reformation. A general rule to follow is that an idea may be considered common knowledge if it is encountered at least three times in separate sources during one’s research into a particular subject. (Reprints of one source do not constitute separate sources.)

To learn to discern what is included in plagiarism, the following case study from the Vanderbilt University Student Handbook illustrates problems that can arise.
A student turned in a paper with the following paragraph:

But the higher man, for his part, can admit the possibility of coexistence, even in the face of this moral conflict which, as we have seen, does exist. Instead, it is the body of common men, the herd, which eliminates this possibility. The herd will try to get a single standard. And according to Nietzsche it succeeded in doing this, at least in the West, in Christianity. He would not relieve Christianity of all its dignity and worth, but at the same time he sees in it an instance of the dissatisfaction of the common man who has been conscripted by a morality.

A short time later, the instructor turned the paper over to the Honor Council, citing this paragraph as evidence of four examples of plagiarism. The instructor presented the following paragraph from A History of Philosophy, Volume 7, Modern Philosophy, part ii, Shopenhouer to Nietzsche by Frederick Copleston, S.J.:

What we see, therefore, in the history of morals is the conflict of two moral attitudes or outlooks. From the point of view of the higher man there can in a sense be coexistence. That is to say, there could be coexistence if the herd, incapable of anything higher, was content to keep its values to itself. But, of course, it is not content to do this. It endeavors to impose its own values universally. And according to Nietzsche it succeeded in doing this, at least in the West, in Christianity. He does not deny all value to Christian morality. He admits, for instance, that it has contributed to the refinement of man. At the same time, he sees in it an expression of the resentment which is characteristic of the herd?instinct of slave?morality.

The instructor delineated four examples of plagiarism as follows:

a. Idea Plagiarism

Copleston: What we see, therefore, in the history of morals is the conflict of moral attitudes or outlooks. From the point of view of the higher man there can in a sense be coexistence.

Student: But the higher man, for his part, can admit the possibility of coexistence even in the face of this conflict of moral attitudes, which, as we have seen does exist.

The instructor explained that this is plagiarism because, while the student’s sen?tence is not exactly like Copleton’s the idea presented is in both cases the same. The student’s sentence is merely a reshuffling of the word order given in the book. It is necessary to cite the source of ideas even if they are restated.

b. Key Term Plagiarism

Copleston: That is to say, there could be coexistence if the herd . . . .

Student: It is the body of common men, the herd, which eliminates this possibility. The herd will try…

The instructor stated that this line is plagiarism because the student used a catchy word without citing its source. In this case, the word is “herd”. Actually, the student could have legitimately used the word by qualifying it: “It is the body of common men, or to use Nietzsche’s term, the herd, which…”

c. Word for Word Plagiarism

Copleston: And according to Nietzsche it succeeded in doing this, at least in the West in Christianity.

Student: And according to Nietzsche it succeeded in doing this, at least in the West in Christianity.

The instructor pointed this out as word for word copying, the most blatant form of plagiarism. The instructor also noted that, had the student put Mr. Copleston’s words in quotation marks and properly footnoted them, there would have been no offense.

d. Paraphrasing Plagiarism

Copleston: He does not deny all value to Christian morality . . . . At the same time, he sees in it an expression of the resentment which is characteristic of the herd?instinct of slave?morality.

Student: He would not relieve Christianity of all its dignity and worth, but at the same time he sees in it an instance of the dissatisfaction which is characteristic of the common man and his group instinct of morality.

This, the instructor said, was paraphrasing, or taking the source’s words and bit by bit replacing them with one’s own. Paraphrasing is a technique of writing that is also, unless acknowledged, an act of plagiarism. For purposes of explication, greater clarity, translation, and other reasons, paraphrasing is often an advantageous tool. However, the student must understand that each use of paraphrasing must be clearly indicated either with a footnote or a referencing technique acceptable to the instructor.