View this helpful guide created by the APA Style Experts to help you avoid plagiarism:
Below is the definition of plagiarism as it appears in the Rasmussen University course catalog and syllabi:
Plagiarism is the act of representing an individual's or organization's words, thoughts, or ideas as one's own.
Examples of plagiarism include:
STUDENTS:
One common form of plagiarism occurs when students do not cite information discussed in an assignment. If it is new information, including information discussed in a discussion forum, the source needs to be cited.
Example: You have an assignment that you give your thoughts on a provided case study. As you are explaining the case study, you would need to cite the case study in the in-text citation as well as in the reference page. You are giving information that you did not know prior to writing the assignment.
Note: To ensure you are not plagiarizing, always cite (document) your sources when you refer to information you learned during your research or study. Even if you've summarized the information or if you've rephrased it into your own words, you still need to cite the source of the information.
Remember the basic rule of plagiarism: if you use, mention, refer to, quote, summarize, paraphrase, describe...someone's else's ideas or facts, other than your own, you must cite them. There is the whole area of "common knowledge," example: the United States has 50 states, which you do not have to cite.
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It is:
When incorporating a paraphrase into your writing, you will need to provide a citation, just as you would for a direct quotation. Even though you are writing in our own words, you are paraphrasing someone else's ideas. The ideas are not your own.
When paraphrasing, you need to be careful to not plagiarize. Here are some helpful tips for paraphrasing:
Let's take a look at an example:
Original Passage:
Plagiarized Version:
(Notice that much of the text is taken directly from the original source. This passage is not in the writer's own words.)
Paraphrased Correctly Versions:
For more information, see the FAQ on how to Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize.
Academic writing often requires students to integrate information found in source material. There are various ways to do this; quotations, summaries, or paraphrases. A paraphrase is a detailed restatement in your own words of main ideas from the portion of the source that is paraphrased.
Creating a well-written paraphrase can be a challenging skill to learn. Understanding the qualities of a "good" paraphrase can help. A well-written paraphrase includes the following qualities:
Example of a well-written paraphrase:
Original Passage:
University of Tulsa psychologist Judy Berry studied seventy-three Oklahoma eighth graders who had taken a parenting course. For ten days, each student had to care for a ten-pound sack of flour as if it were a baby. Berry's research on her young subjects suggests the course worked. The teenagers in the study had a sounder sense of parental responsibility than they did before they took the course.
Harper, K. S. (1996). 'Flour babies' surrogacy teaches eight-graders parenting skills. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(4), 25-28.
Example of a Good Paraphrase:
Extended parental role-playing can actually increase an adolescent's awareness of parental responsibilities as shown by psychologist Judy Berry's study involving eighth grade students (Harper, 1996).
Avoid Patch Writing!
Students learning how to paraphrase may inadvertently "patch write." Patch writing occurs when a writer uses a passage from source material and changes a few words and phrases before including the passage in a paper or assignment. Not only is this "bad" paraphrasing but it is also a form of plagiarism. View the example below to gain a better understanding of patch writing:
Original Passage:
University of Tulsa psychologist Judy Berry studied seventy-three Oklahoma eighth graders who had taken a parenting course. For ten days, each student had to care for a ten-pound sack of flour as if it were a baby. Berry's research on her young subjects suggests the course worked. The teenagers in the study had a sounder sense of parental responsibility than they did before they took the course.
Patch Writing Example:
University of Tulsa psychologist Judy Berry conducted a study of eighth graders who had taken a parenting course. Students had to treat a ten-pound sack of flour as if it were a baby. The results of Berry's study suggested that teenagers in the study had a better understanding of parental responsibility than they did before they took the course (Harper, 1996).
TIP: Notice how the bolded phrases are identical to the original. Even though there is an in-text citation, patch writing is still a form of plagiarism.