The most basic distinction among forms of plagiarism is whether it is intentional or unintentional. Unintentional plagiarism is often associated with poor record keeping or ignorance of citation standards. It is often comprised of oversights that, if caught early enough in the writing process, can be corrected without any penalty to the student. Plagiarism.org provides a useful breakdown of the range of ways that intentional plagiarism occurs:
Forms of Intentional Plagiarism Where Sources Are Not Cited:
- "The Ghost Writer" - The writer turns in another's work, word-for-word, as his or her own.
- "The Photocopy" - The writer copies significant portions of text straight from a single source, without alteration.
- "The Potluck Paper" - The writer tries to disguise plagiarism by copying from several different sources, tweaking the sentences to make them fit together while retaining most of the original phrasing.
- "The Poor Disguise" - Although the writer has retained the essential content of the source, he or she has altered the paper's appearance slightly by changing key words and phrases.
- "The Labor of Laziness" - The writer takes the time to paraphrase most of the paper from other sources and make it all fit together, instead of spending the same effort on original work.
- "The Self-Stealer" - The writer "borrows" generously from his or her previous work, violating policies concerning the expectation of originality adopted by most academic institutions.
Students are sometimes surprised that "self-stealing" is considered plagiarism. Submitting a paper for a class that was written for a different class is unethical, because submitting a paper for a class presumes that you are doing the work in that semester for the purpose of learning and demonstrating your understanding of the content in that course. It is possible that an instructor might allow you to build on previous work you have done, with the understanding that you would be adding to it in new ways appropriate to that course. If allowed, this needs to be approved by your instructor before you submit the work for review or grading.
Forms of Intentional Plagiarism Where Sources Are Cited:
- "The Forgotten Footnote" - The writer mentions an author's name for a source, but neglects to include specific information on the location of the material referenced. This often masks other forms of plagiarism by obscuring source locations.
- "The Misinformer" - The writer provides inaccurate information regarding the sources, making it impossible to find them.
- "The Too-Perfect Paraphrase" - The writer properly cites a source, but neglects to put in quotation marks text that has been copied word-for-word, or close to it. Although attributing the basic ideas to the source, the writer is falsely claiming original presentation and interpretation of the information.
- "The Resourceful Citer" - The writer properly cites all sources, paraphrasing and using quotations appropriately. The catch? The paper contains almost no original work! It is sometimes difficult to spot this form of plagiarism because it looks like any other well-researched document.
- "The Perfect Crime" - Well, we all know it doesn't exist. In this case, the writer properly quotes and cites sources in some places, but goes on to paraphrase other arguments from those sources without citation. This way, the writer tries to pass off the paraphrased material as his or her own analysis of the cited material.
No matter in what form plagiarism occurs, intentionally or unintentionally, students can be penalized. Ignorance of citation standards is no excuse for failing to live up to NSU's academic dishonesty standards. If you are not sure whether your actions constitute plagiarism, or you’re not sure how to properly acknowledge a source, simply talk to your instructor or make an appointment with a WCC consultant.
