What Every Student Should Know About Avoiding Plagiarism

by Linda Stern

Students will take plagiarism seriously and understand its consequences with this timely and effective supplement. Here, source usage methods -- summary, paraphrase and quotation -- are explained, with examples. The most common types of plagiarism are discussed, from simple mistakes such as forgetting to use quotation marks when using someone else's exact words, or failing to acknowledge another's thoughts and ideas, to wholesale fraudulence, such as purchasing student papers from online sites and claiming them as one's own work. A brief essential guide to citing sources using both MLA and APA documentation styles is also included.

80 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2006

Reviews

[Christopher Goins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned this book as a university freshman (or no later than sophomore year) in 2007 and never read it in its entirety. It was straightforward and I learned a few things. It has lessons and then immediate applications. It has lessons and then short tests.

Most tests were clear but The last test was the confusing. You get tested on identifying plagiarism without being given the original sources. Therefore, for some questions, there is no way to tell what information is not being quoted when the original source is in the answer key; nor is there a way to see if the information is quoted in context. And yet I was expected to see what I had no access to until the test was over.

That keeps me from giving this book a 5/5. However, it was so clear and concise that must give it no less than a 4/5.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oftentimes, as teachers, we are expected to know all of the rules of plagiarism if we are going to "catch" students in the act. The only problem is that there are ambiguous rules and assumptions that we have to interpret and hope our students don't ask us to explain or prove. This book lays everything on the line; it is a very straightforward, precise explanation of what counts as plagiarism and why. In addition, it goes through numerous examples to show how to recognize the various types of plagiairsm in writing as well as ways to avoid them through attributions and citations. This is an excellent resource for every writer, and it is now a required text for my students. No more excuses.