How to Determine Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the word-for-word copying (or partial copying) of another's work without giving proper credit to that author. There are two forms of plagiarism--accidental and intentional. According to Leeward Community College, accidental plagiarism is when someone doesn't know how to properly quote or attribute the cited material because the person doesn't completely understand what documentation really is all about. Intentional plagiarism is someone knowingly committing the act and passing the work off as his own.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
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Read the article or story thoroughly. Does it sound like the writer presented the ideas in a fresh new way?
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Check for quotation usage. Did the author use quotes? Sometimes, a person can use quotations marks and not attribute them properly. Or the writer may totally eliminate the quotation marks and pass the statement off as his own original work. Confirm that the writer gave correct information about the source of a quotation.
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Check the article's facts. Sometimes, a writer doesn't check the facts against the source's facts and doesn't properly cite them. Confirm that the author used proper references and properly attributed them.
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Run the story or article through plagiarism detection devices. Type a few words of the article into an Internet search engine such as Google. If the phrase shows up in someone else's original work, then the version you are checking is likely plagiarized. Other detection devices can run the article, story or paper through and come back with a percentage of how much is original and what parts were copied. Find plagiarism detection tools in websites listed in the References and Resources sections.
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Contact the writer of the article. Tell the writer that you suspect or have confirmed plagiarism. Find out the school's penalties if the writer is a student. Depending on how much was plagiarized, a student could face failure of the assignment, failure of the course or expulsion. Depending on the jurisdiction, plagiarism could be grounds for a civil action or misdemeanor charges in some cases.
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