Research

Three Questions to Eliminate Plagiarism from Your Work:

• Have I given proper credit for other people’s work, ideas, & words?

• Do I understand the content that I am presenting?

• Does this writing sound like me?

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is defined as presenting another person’s words, work or opinions as one’s own (see the Gordon College Student Handbook).

Examples of Plagiarism

Not all plagiarism is purposeful; most instances of plagiarism are minimal and result from lack of knowledge or planning.

• The use of short but distinctive phrases without citation
• Substitution of synonyms into a quoted sentence
• Not using in-text citations after paraphrased information
• Sentences or paragraphs from other sources are inserted verbatim into the assignment without any citation
• Submitting someone else’s complete work as one’s own
• Submitting an assignment that has been purchased or generated online
• Reusing an assignment or a portion of an assignment that has been previously submitted for another course without explicit permission

How to Avoid Plagiarism

1. Organize Your Sources. From the start of your research, you should always track:
   • Title
   • Author
   • Citation
   • How to Access
2. Take notes.
   • Paraphrase as you go
   • Use bullet points
   • Clearly indicate what is a quote
   • Track page numbers
3. Cite Your Sources.

Tools for Avoiding Plagiarism:

What you need to cite

Most plagiarism can be avoided by giving proper credit to your sources. Give credit to others for:

• Quotations
• Data
• Ideas or conclusions from someone else's work
• Pictures
• Social media content: memes, posts, and photographs
• Music

What you might need to cite

• AI-generated content- check with your professor's AI policy for your course and assignment to see if you need to formally cite AI use or acknowledge the use of AI separately. 

What you don't need to cite

• Your own thoughts
• Your analysis
• Your original research
• Common knowledge and observations (COVID-19 increased feelings of loneliness.)
• Common phrases (He woke up on the wrong side of the bed.)