Plagiarism and the Web
The Web has made access to information easier than ever before. It has also made plagiarism easier than ever before -- the plagiarist no longer has to laboriously write out the stolen material in long-hand. Instead, just highlight, cut, paste and you're done.
To plagiarize is to use the ideas of another as one's own. Those ideas can be words, paintings, photographs, computer programs or any other creation of the human mind. Don't kid yourself -- when you plagiarize, you are stealing. There is no moral difference between stealing a tube of lipstick or words. They are both wrong.
It can be hard to know where to draw the line between a source that inspired you to go off on your own stream of thought, and one that has prior authorship over the ideas you are using. Here's a guideline: If you are stating the same thing the source does, the source needs to be cited. This is true even if you paraphrase the source. Copyright is implied -- the author does not have to expressly display a copyright notice. You should assume that everything you read is copyrighted, and that all copyrighted material must be cited.
If you are a student writing a paper or webpage for a class, I hope the comments at Papaya Palace give you some ideas to think about. But do not try to pass these words off as your own. You might get away with it this time, and even the next time, but somewhere down the line, you will be caught. The penalty is usually high -- a failed assignment, a bad grade in a class or even suspension or expulsion. Is it really worth it?
If a teacher or other person in authority contacts me with a valid claim of plagiarism, I will take the following actions: (1) I will notify the offender's internet service provider. The terms of use for many ISP's include termination in cases of plagiarism and copyright violation. Do you really want to lose your internet connection over this? and (2) I will notify the principal of the offender's school and will forward all e-mail communications on the subject to the principal.
To avoid the problems of plagiarism, simply cite any ideas or words your take from a webpage. You'll find some suggested citation formats below.
If you are a webpage author, the standards are a bit lower. Strickly speaking, you only need to cite a page if you quote something from it directly. Typically, a link to the source is a sufficient reference. However, it's always nice to give credit where credit is due if someone inspired a new idea in you or you paraphrase their work. I tend to over-cite things on my webpage and give credit to anyone who inspired my idea.
The benefit of proper citation (in addition to avoiding a penality for plagiarism) is twofold: a) you become part of a community of ideas. Whether in writing or some other medium, you are linking yourself to a tradition of thought. and b) you highlight your original ideas. In a carefully cited paper, it is easy to see the unique contributions one individual is making. Proper citation of other's work makes yours shine.
All contents copyright 2002.
See my plagiarism policy for more details.
Some suggested citation methods are below:
The Modern Language Association or MLA has explicit directions for citing a webpage on their website. According to MLA style, when citing a personal web site like this one, you would include an entry like this in your reference list at the end of the work:
Plagiarism and the Web. No author. Apr. 2002. 24 May 2002. .
The basic order of elements is: title of page, author or editor name, date page was created, date accessed, url.
Florida State University library has directions for using the Chicago Manual of Style system for citing a webpage. The Chicago Style is similar to the MLA style and would look like this:
No author. Plagiarism and the Web. April 29 2002.
Note that the only difference is the order of elements, whether the title is underlined, and that the Chicago style uses just the date the page was created, not the date it was accessed.
For both the MLA and Chicago styles, you would include "(Plagiarism 2002)" in the text of your work just after quoting this page or using one of its ideas. Both MLA and Chicago Style offer the variation of either endnotes or footnotes. Your discipline might have a specific style you should use, or your teacher might ask you to follow some guidelines, but the basic idea is the same -- you need to reference the source of your ideas.
Last updated: April 29, 2002.
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