Intellectual Honesty and Plagiarism

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Intellectual Honesty and Plagiarism

• Donna Richardson
• Helen PowellSexton Library

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What we will cover today

• ABCs of information research.
• What is intellectual honesty?
• How can you recognize and avoid plagiarism?
• Why, when how to document.
• What is the difference between an acceptable and
  an unacceptable paraphrase?
• What are the consequences of plagiarism?
• How to paraphrase and take notes effectively.

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Sexton Library

• Web page
• sexton.library.dal.ca
• Collections
• print and electronic subject books, reference
  books, journals, theses, standards

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Research Path

• General ? Specific
• Background information ? Detailed information
• Established ? Cutting Edge Research
• Reference Material ? Subject Books ? Journal
  Articles

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How to Find Books Articles

• Novanet catalogue
• Most university libraries in NS
• Databases
• E.g. Compendex, Applied Science Technology
• Library Web Site
• sexton.library.dal.ca/indust/index.html

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Visit the Library!

• Reference Desk Hours Librarian assistance
• Monday Friday, 900 500
• Saturday Sunday, 200 500
• Regular hours
• Monday Thursday, 800 midnight
• Friday, 800 900
• Saturday, 900 900
• Sunday, 1000 midnight

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Scholarly process

• Great extent of human knowledge
• Combine, amend, extend existing knowledge ?
  Intellectual innovation
• Recognize the achievements of others

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Intellectual honesty

• Acknowledge the intellectual debt
• Attribute the source of ideas
• Use documentation or citation
• If I have seen further it is by standing on
  the shoulders of Giants (Isaac Newton, 1675)

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Document responsibly

• Describe source clearly
• in text
• in list of references
• Locate citation close to quote in text
• Leave no doubt who is responsible for what

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Document usefully

• Enable reader to find the source for themselves
• Help others just as the source helped you
• Double check accuracy
• Nothing stalls a career faster than sloppy,
  unreliable work (Northwestern 2005)

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Why bother?

• Courteous, ethical and honest
• Gives credit where it is due
• Readers can find material you used
• Readers can use it as a springboard
• Shows you did background research

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What is plagiarism?

• submitting material that in part or whole is
  not entirely ones own work without attributing
  those same portions to their correct source.
  (Northwestern, 2005)
• Failure to document a source -whether
  intentionally or unintentionally (Markel
  Holmes, 1994)

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Plagiarism

• (Purdue University Online Writing Lab 2005)

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When to document?

• Quotation
• Paraphrase
• Figures, pictures, graphics
• Data
• Computer code
• Art Music
• Ideas
• Print or electronic

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How to document

• Many different systems
• All require 2 things
• citation in text plus list of references
• Use system required by work or professor
• Be clear and consistent
• Err on the side of over documentation
• Visit the Library for help

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Sample quotation

• The following is a good description of the
  process. A circulating fluidized bed (CFB)
  boiler is a device for generating steam by
  burning fossil fuels in a furnace. (Basu
  Fraser, 1991, 47)

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Sample paraphrase

• In their studies of pressured combustion on
  Pittsburgh no. 8 coal, Shiao et al. (1991, 262)
  found that the kinetic rate constant of oxidation
  increased with pressure, temperature and gas
  velocity.

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Figures

• Graphs, charts, diagrams, photographs
• Source needs to be acknowledged
• entire figure
• data

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In-text citation

• Figure 1. How a centrifugal pump works. (Bell,
  1998, 10)

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Reference List
Basu, Prabir Fraser, Scott A. (1991).
Circulating fluidized bed boilers design and
operations. Boston Butterworth-Heinemann.
  Bell, Theo. (1998). Centrifugal pumps in your
everyday life. Halifax Dalhousie University
Press.   Shiao, B.K., Hassab, J., Coley, D.,
Thorne, K.S. (1991). Pressured combustion A
study of Pittsburgh no. 8. Pensacola, FL Society
of Environmental Toxicology.
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Electronic resources

• Always cite electronic resources in text AND
  include in List of References
• Benton Foundation. (1998). Barriers to closing
  the gap. In Low income communities, chap. 2.
  Retrieved August 18, 2001, from
  http//www.benton.org/Library/Low-Income/two.html
• Burka, L.P. (1996). A Hypertext history of
  multi-user dimensions. Retrieved February 14,
  1999, from http//www.ccs.neu.edu/history.html

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Document information sources when you

• Quote anothers spoken or written words
• Paraphrase anothers spoken or written words
• Use anothers ideas, opinions
• Refer to stats, graphs, drawings that you did not
  develop
• Use information from the Web

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Quotation, paraphrase, summary

• Quotation
• Identical to original Word for word
• Paraphrase
• Someone else's ideas translated in your own
  words Slightly condensed
• Summary
• Only the main points of someone else's work
  Significantly shorter

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Quiz
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The Consequences of plagiarism

• In the academic environment
• Fail the assignment
• Fail the course
• Expulsion
• In the workplace
• Firing
• Loss of career
• Loss of reputation

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Research Tips

• Take notes as you work
• read actively
• summarize main points
• jot down ideas to look up
• avoid cut and paste

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Paraphrase as you work

• Do not cut and paste unless quoting
• Read original carefully
• Write your paraphrase without original
• note basic points
• translate original into own words
• Check your rendition against original
• Add key words to indicate subject of paraphrase
• Add quotation marks to identify any unique term
  or phrase you have copied
• Record source (with page) so you can cite

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Research portfolio

• Create a research portfolio with
• copy of every source you use, print or electronic
  
• your notes paraphrases for all sources
• annotations for your sources
• main points, key ideas
• your working bibliography
• RefWorks

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File management

• Save your work in different stages
• Dont work in one computer file
• Save different drafts as separate files with
  folders
• Create a folder with the name of your paper
• Create subfolders for chapters and figures
• Save all drafts for each chapter
• Remember, use Save As to save a new version of
  each new draft, e.g., Draft5_20May05,
  Draft6_25June05

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Example of File ManagementKeep copies of all
drafts