Part II: Writing and Submitting Your Manuscript
Imitation is NOT Flattery!
Avoiding Plagiarism
One of the most common ethical pitfalls for authors is plagiarism.
According to the University of Colorado’s Honor Code, plagiarism is defined as
the use of another’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgment. Examples of plagiarism include: failing to use quotation marks when directly quoting from a source; failing to document distinctive ideas from a source; fabricating or inventing sources; and copying information from computer-based sources, i.e., the Internet.
Plagiarism is perceived as enough of a problem in the academic community that many scholarly associations and societies have adopted statements about ethical conduct and academic integrity, including plagiarism.9
Not all scholars agree on the definition of plagiarism. There are examples of noted authors who carefully footnoted their sources and were still challenged on their usage because their sentence structure was too similar to the original text. This is why just citing your sources may not be enough to avoid charges of plagiarism.10
Confused? Fortunately, there are a number of tutorials on the Web that explain plagiarism and provide examples on how to avoid it by accurately paraphrasing and citing sources. It’s a good idea to review at least one of these to make sure you aren’t inadvertently committing plagiarism.
Sample Professional Association Statements
- American Chemical Society, "The Chemist’s Code of Conduct"
- American Historical Association, "Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct"
- American Psychological Association, "Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct"
- Modern Language Association, "Statement of Professional Ethics"
Online Resources for Avoiding Plagiarism
- Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices
This statement from the Council of Writing Program Administrators defines plagiarism; reviews some of its causes; proposes solutions for students, teachers, and administrators; and recommends classroom practices that can help reduce the incidence of plagiarism. - Plagiarism and How to Avoid It
Created by David Gardner for students at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), this tutorial offers techniques for paraphrasing, copying directly from the text, expressing your opinion about quoted information, and creating reference lists and bibliographies. A helpful self-test allows you to review several examples of how students used a source text, and determine whether or not it would be considered plagiarism. - Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources
From the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this succinct guide covers the key points to consider when quoting and paraphrasing original sources. There are some very helpful examples of successful vs. unsuccessful paraphrases. - Synthesis: Using the Work of Others From the University of Maine at Farmington Writing Center, this website describes plagiarism and provides tips on how to avoid it, including using valuable, credible sources for information; taking careful notes; and quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.
9 Frances Kauffmann, "Call the Pros: Professional Organizations’ Recommendations on Intellectual Honesty," in The Plagiarism Plague: A Resource Guide and CD-ROM Tutorial for Educators and Librarians, ed. Vibiana Bowman, 143-155 (New York: Neal-Schuman, 2004).
10 Writing Center, "Why is Plagiarism Difficult to Avoid?" University of Maine at Farmington, http://plagiarism.umf.maine.edu/difficult.html (30 April 2006).
