Research Guides: Graduate Students' Guide to Library Resources and Services : Avoiding plagiarism and copyright infringement

What is plagiarism?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines plagiarism as follows:

plagiarism, n.

The action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft.
A particular idea, piece of writing, design, etc., which has been plagiarized; an act or product of plagiary.

The UC Student Code of Conduct defines plagiarism as:

submitting another’s published or unpublished work in whole, in part or in paraphrase, as one’s own without fully and properly crediting the author with footnotes, quotation marks, citations, or bibliographic references.
submitting as one’s own original work, material obtained from an individual, agency, or the internet without reference to the person, agency or webpage as the source of the material.
submitting as one’s own original work material that has been produced through unacknowledged collaboration with others without release in writing from collaborators
submitting one’s own previously written or oral work without modification and instructor permission.

Learn more about plagiarism and its avoidance

Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing
This excellent guide covers many aspects of ethical writing and plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, ethically inappropriate writing practices, authorship issues and conflict of interest .
Plagiarism — Graduate Level
Video tutorials created at CJSU King Library, including one on copyright infringement and fair use.
Plagiarism Spectrum: Tagging 10 Types of Unoriginal Works
This infographic from turnitin identifies 10 types of plagiarism.

Plagiarism in the sciences

In science, each discovery and paper builds on previous discoveries and can be understood in the context of prior knowledge. Relevant work is summarized briefly for its support of the new finding. All statements about prior work derive their legitimacy from the replicability of the work, and citation of that work is essential to the weight of the statements. It is therefore advantageous to cite prior work as much as possible .For that reason, seldom is any individual work mentioned in the form of text longer than a sentence; exact wording is almost never quoted. The rare exception would be a short quotation of a remarkable statement in a review article. Plagiarism of ideas is more difficult to track, but is contrary to the purpose and practice of science. Guidelines on these points are specifically detailed by the American Chemical Society, among others.

Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research (PDF)
The guidelines embodied in this document were revised by the Editors of the Publications Division of the American Chemical Society in July 2015.

In addition, plagiarism in the sciences is part of a broader definition of misconduct inresearch.The recognition of the larger framework into which the specific issue of plagiarism in the sciences fits can be seen in the National Science Foundation (NSF) definition of research misconduct as “fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.” Issues of citation when using other people’s work, however, apply in the sciences as in other fields of academic work.

(The content of this box is taken from Avoiding and Detecting Plagiarism: A Guide for Graduate Students and Faculty created at the Graduate Center, City University of New York).

Plagiarism detection software

Turnitin is a plagiarism detection tool that is embedded within Canvas. By applying Turnitin to a Canvas assignment, you can check the originality of student work against the expansive Turnitin database. Turnitin can be used for both group and individual assignments and is a great way to prevent, as well as detect plagiarism within student writing. Turnitin can also be used as a formative tool to help students learn appropriate citation practices.

As a student, you need to know how to submit a Turnitin-enabled assignement.

As an instructor, learn how to set up a Turnitin assignment and read an originality report.

To minimize the likelihood of plagiarism in research, the Office of Research Integrity RIO manages the iThenticate plagiarism detection software license providing access as appropriate. If you would like access to iThenticate to screen your work, please contact the RIO.

Copyright and Fair Use

Find a wealth of information in our Copyright FAQ Guide.

If you are teaching a course and have questions about copyright provisions in emergency situation, please visit Library Materials for Online Teaching.

Copyright and dissertations

Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis: Ownership, Fair Use, and Your Rights and Responsibilties"
This manual created by Kenneth D. Crews, Director of the Copyright Office at Columbia University, "is principally intended to help readers learn and understand the copyright issues relevant to doctoral dissertations."
Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis (ProQuest) (PDF)
General guidelines for avoiding copyright infringement in your dissertation or thesis. The document includes a sample permission request for use of previously copyrighted material.
Dissertation and Master's Theses Traditional Publishing Agreement (ProQuest)

Plagiarism prevention instruction for your students

As a teaching assistant, you need to educate your students about plagiarism and its consequences. Direct your students to the interactive library tutorial:

Plagiarism: Why It should Matter to You
In this module you will learn what plagiarism is is and why it is a problem; how to recognize plagiarism and where to get help with attribution of sources. The module includes a quiz.