Types of plagiarism
Any original piece of work can be plagiarized. It seems essential to identify that the images, ideas, original works and even the data can also be plagiarized. The following aspects may be helpful in differentiating various types of plagiarism:
- Extent
- Originality of copied material
- Position / context
- Referencing / attribution
- Intention
- Author seniority
- Language
Five Types of Plagiarism
1. “Copy & Paste Plagiarism”
“Any time you lift a sentence or significant phrase intact from a source, you must use quotations marks and reference the source.”
2. “Word Switch Plagiarism”
“If you take a sentence from a source and change around a few words, it is still plagiarism. If you want to quote a sentence, then you need to put it in quotation marks and cite the author and article. But quoting Source articles should only be done if what the quote says is particularly useful in the point you are trying to make in what you are writing.” In many cases, paraphrasing and then citing the original sources is a better option.
3. “Style Plagiarism”
“When you follow a Source Article sentence-by-sentence or paragraph-by-paragraph, it is plagiarism, even though none of your sentences are exactly like those in the source article or even in the same order. What you are copying in this case is the author’s reasoning style.”
4. “Metaphor Plagiarism”
“Metaphors are used either to make an idea clearer or give the reader an analogy that touches the senses or emotions better than a plain description of the object or process. Metaphors, then, are an important part of an author’s creative style. If you cannot come up with your own metaphor to illustrate an important idea, then use the metaphor in the Source Article, but give the author credit for it.”
5.” Idea Plagiarism”
“If the author of the source article expresses a creative idea or suggests a solution to a problem, the idea or solution must be clearly attributed to the author. Students seem to have a hard time distinguishing author’s ideas and/or solutions from public domain information. Public domain information is any idea or solution about which people in the field accept as general knowledge. For example, what a black hole is and how it is defined is general knowledge. You do not need to reference a general description of a black hole. The escape velocity of earth is also general knowledge and needs no reference. The distance to the center of the Galaxy is also general knowledge. However, a new idea about how to look for black holes or a new solution to a physics problem needs to be attributed to the authors. If you don’t know what is accepted as public domain in a particular field, ASK.”
Five Types of Plagiarism Taken From:
Barnbaum, C. “Plagiarism: A Student’s Guide to Recognizing It and Avoiding It.” Valdosta State University. http://www.valdosta.edu/~cbarnbau/personal/teaching_MISC/plagiarism.htm (Accessed 23 January 2006).
Liles, Jeffrey A. and Michael E. Rozalski. “It’s a Matter of Style: A Style Manual Workshops for Preventing Plagiarism.” College & Undergraduate Libraries, 11 (2), 2004, p. 91-101.