To begin with, after reading, "What is Plagiarism?" and "How to Avoid Plagiarism," I learned what a huge deal it is to copy someone else's work on college campuses, even if it is just paraphrasing. Personally, this is something I have never done. I find no reason not to cite my work; it shows that you have evidence to support your claims in a science paper and quotes to back up your thesis in an English essay. On top of that, though, there is nothing wrong with taking someone else's ideas and using it to make a point (as long as you cite it after) because it shows how connected human beings are. We take ideas from the "350,000,000 pages on the Internet" ("What is Plagiarism?") because we believe they are articulated well and present intellectual ideas; it is essentially a method of learning.
Right now, I am going to copy the definition of plagiarism: "Stating someone else's ideas in your own words" ("What is Plagiarism"). But, what did I do? I put quotes around the sentence and cited it right after. It takes five extra seconds to add that citation and it saves the student the possibility of suspension of even expulsion for plagiarism. It was really interesting getting that visual of the proper ways to site things in "How to Avoid Plagiarism" through examples. That, along with the explanation after each citation, was definitely helpful!
That's all for now.
Xoxo,
Ariana
Hi Ariana,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated how you referenced and properly cited the plagiarism articles were instructed to read in your blog post. I completely agree that not citing sources to avoid plagiarism is simply laziness because of the short amount of time it takes to cite something. Also, I agree that the explanations from each citation were incredibly helpful for distinguishing what needs to be cited in an academic paper. Before reading this article, I too did not know how big of a deal it is to paraphrase, and I will watch for that in my future papers.
Cassie
Arianna I am very impressed that you know how to cite your sources and that you always sight your sources. I think sometimes I just forget to sight my sources and therefor I commit plagiarism. I would really argue for a website that is run by the university that would allow students to submit their papers with citations for plagiarism review prior to turn in. I fell this would keep students from plagiarizing because before they an turn in the assignment they must first pass it through a plagiarism test. Hopefully you will be able to teach me how to sight my sources in the future.
ReplyDeleteChris Jung
Ariana,
ReplyDeleteI also really liked how you cited your blog post! Smart. In college, I am extra afraid of committing any types of acts of plagiarism because I know the consequences are so intense. The worst possible thing to happen to any college student (especially a UCSB one) is to get kicked out for copying. That makes me think about why people don't cheat. Is it because they know it's wrong, and therefore don't do it? Or has it been drilled in our heads that plagiarizing is inappropriate and wrong, so we don't? Regardless, I choose to quote and cite my sources for both reasons, but most importantly college is a place to put out your own new and creative ideas, not steal someone else's.
Madison Frame