Plagiarism
Although plagiarism existed before the Internet, the ease with which information can be copied and shared online has increased the likelihood that others' work will be used without proper acknowledgment, either intentionally or accidentally, and thereby misrepresented as your own. Whether it's copying and pasting text into a research paper or inserting an image into a PowerPoint presentation, plagiarism is a clear and consequential violation of WSU's Academic Integrity Policy. Avoiding accidental plagiarism should be covered in any course requiring the submission of original student work. Students can also visit the WSU Writing Center and the Darrell W. Kruger Library for help, review several courses on LinkedIn Learning, and use plagiarism detection services to check their work.
What's plagiarism?
At WSU, plagiarism is defined in two locations:
WSU Academic Integrity Policy: Using the words or ideas of another writer without proper acknowledgment, so that they seem as if they are your own. Plagiarism includes behavior such as copying someone else's work word for word, rewriting someone else's work with only minor word changes, and/or summarizing someone else's work without acknowledging the source.
WSU Student Conduct Code: Includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. It also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.
Plagiarism comes in several forms. Direct plagiarism is perhaps the most familiar, as it includes using word-for-word or otherwise unaltered copies of others' work without proper identification (e.g., quotation marks) or attribution (e.g., citation). Self-plagiarism refers to copying your own work, submitted previously, without proper identification or attribution (e.g., misrepresenting a paper you submitted in another class as original work). In cases of mosaic plagiarism, elements of someone else's work are altered but the structure and meaning are copied and misrepresented as original work. Global plagiarism refers to the submission of someone else's work in its entirety. This includes cases of contract cheating, wherein students pay another person to write a paper for them. The first three of these forms of plagiarism could happen intentionally or accidentally. Global plagiarism is intentional by definition.
Avoiding accidental plagiarism
Ask your instructor
If you have questions about the integration of another person's work or your own previous work into an assignment, your first course of action should always be to talk with your instructor. Instructors can provide feedback, suggestions, and guidance tailored to your specific course assignments. Your instructor is your first and best source of information about how to attribute and cite the work of others properly, how to paraphrase without engaging in mosaic plagiarism, and how to communicate your own ideas effectively within the context of your specific course assignments.
Visit the Writing Center
If you have a question about potential plagiarism in your written work, contact the WSU Writing Center. Located on the Winona campus in Minne Hall 348, Writing Center staff are also available online through Zoom.
Visit the Library
Darrell W. Krueger Library faculty and staff are available in person and online to answer your questions. Chat with a librarian online and check out their online guide titled Get Started with Research that includes a section on citing the work of others.
Take a LinkedIn Learning course
LinkedIn Learning is a library of over 16,000 online courses covering topics in the areas of business, technology, and creativity. All WSU students and employees have free access to this resource. Courses are composed of brief video clips. Learn how to access and use LinkedIn Learning. Watch all the clips in a course or pick and choose to meet your learning needs. Of relevance to the topic of plagiarism are the following courses:
- Information Literacy (2015) Elsa Loftis. The whole course is excellent, but Chapter 4 Ethical Use of Information and Chapter 5 Citation are particularly relevant. Here is a link to the Welcome video clip for the course.
- Understanding Intellectual Property (2014) Dana Robinson. This course covers legal topics unrelated to plagiarism, but Chapter 1 Copyrights will help you understand the basics of copyright protection under federal law, the consequences of copyright infringement, and the myth of "fair use" in higher education. Here is a link to the Welcome video clip for the course.
Use a plagiarism detection app
There are numerous online plagiarism detection apps available that will analyze your written work using an algorithm and provide you with feedback. This might include an overall indication of how much of your paper was considered plagiarized as well as more detailed feedback on specific sections and passages. Although many of these tools offer free access to a limited set of services, these freemium versions are often used to convince you to purchase a subscription. Please be warned that there are some sketchy apps out there with "article rewrite" and "paraphrasing" features designed to bypass thoughtful and legitimate work. Whether you download a paper from a paper mill or let a bot write your paper for you, attempting to submit work as your own that was not written by you is a violation of the WSU Academic Integrity Policy. WSU does not support these free services centrally, cannot vouch for their accuracy, and students use them at their own risk. We have done some research on the following three tools and they appear to be legitimate.
- Copyleaks Plagiarism Checker for Students. Although this app only allows students to check up to 20 pages (5000 words) of text per month for free, all of the features and functions of Copyleaks are applied. A report is generated with an overall indication of the percentage of the paper that's plagiarized and highlighted sections for follow-up, including links to where similar information was found online. Students can purchase 1200 pages per year (300K words) for $9.16/month.
- Grammarly Plagiarism Checker. The free online app has no page or word limit, but provides very little feedback, indicating only the degree to which plagiarism was detected and the number of grammar and writing issues present. Students can purchase the Premium version for $12/month.
- Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. Although no free version is offered, students can pay $19.95 per document (7500 words), which may be preferable to maintaining a monthly or annual subscription.