How to Avoid The Pitfall of Plagiarism

THE INSTRUCTIONS MOST HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS GIVE ARE INADEQUATE

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 8.5" x 11" paper

1. Realize that the instructions most high school English teachers give on how to avoid plagiarism are inadequate given the prevalence of the problem among college freshmen. The typical student changes a few words from the original and includes a footnote. This method will earn him an "F" in college because he or she is "guilty of the crime" of unintentional plagiarism. The student should have been instructed to transform the original material into his own words and then add a footnote.

2. Let's say you are doing a research report on the responsibilities, the educational requirements, and the employment outlook of a computer programmer. The OUTLINE of the body of the paper will look like this:
   II. Computer programmer
   A. Responsibilities
   B. Educational requirements
   C. Employment outlook

3. Go to the library and locate several good sources on these three aspects such as The Occupational Outlook Handbook, Career Information, and VGM's Career Encyclopedia.

4. Take notes on 8.5" x 11" paper.

5. Devote each sheet to a single source only.

6. At the top of the sheet, put a heading from the OUTLINE in STEP 2. For example,
   II. Computer programmer
   A. Responsibilities

7. At the bottom of the sheet, provide all the information for the WORKS CITED entry and write down the page# for the footnote entry.

8. TAKE NOTES FROM THIS PAGE AS FOLLOWS: Read a few sentences at a time, digest what you have read, and without looking at the source, summarize what you have just read onto the 8.5" x 11" sheet. This step is crucial because you are actually writing the first draft of your term paper as you are taking notes.

9. Continue this labeling and note taking method for each different source and outline point. Therefore, if you are required to have three different sources for each aspect II.A, II.B., & II.C., use a separate sheet for each source. Later, you can stack up all your IIA, IIB, & IIC sheets like a deck of cards and basically have the body of your term paper done.

10. THIS METHOD OF TAKING NOTES IS A BIT TIME AND EFFORT CONSUMING BUT ITS BEAUTY IS THAT YOU ARE COMPOSING THE TERM PAPER IN YOUR OWN WORDS AS YOU ARE RESEARCHING IT. THERE IS NO NEED TO REWRITE ANYTHING LATER. AND IT'S A FOOLPROOF WAY OF AVOIDING THE PITFALL OF UNINTENTIONAL PLAGIARISM.

Tips & Warnings

• If the material is highly technical, read it several times before summarizing it.
• Precise figures may be copied.

[soanyway]

on 12/12/2008 Thank you. Good article and tips! I recom'd you. Keep it up!