Scholarly Writing: Plagiarism

17.1.2 Plagiarism from the FSU College of Law Student Conduct Code 

Plagiarism is representing the work of another as the student's own. Students are expected to know and employ accepted conventions of citations and attribution. Failure to indicate quoted or paraphrased sources constitutes plagiarism. More specific definitions of plagiarism for particular courses or in particular contexts may be supplied by a course instructor, editor, or faculty employer of a student. A student should request clarification in case of doubt. Any student charged under this section may prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the misrepresentation of work resulted from mistake or inadvertence as a complete defense.

FSU Academic Honor Policy 

PLAGIARISM. Presenting the work of another as one's own (i.e., without proper acknowledgement of the source).   Typical Examples Include: Using another's work from print, web, or other sources without acknowledging the source; quoting from a source without citation; using facts, figures, graphs, charts or information without acknowledgement of the source.

1. Put in quotations everything that comes directly from the text especially when taking notes.

2. Paraphrase, but be sure you are not just rearranging or replacing a few words. Instead, read over what you want to paraphrase and then cover up the text with your hand, or close the text so you can’t see any of it. Think about it and write out the idea in your own words without having the text open.

3. Check your paraphrase against the original text to be sure you have not accidentally used the same phrases or words, and that the information is accurate.

4. Determine whether something is common knowledge and whether it needs attribution.  Common knowledge is a fact that can be found in numerous places and is likely to be known by a lot of people. For example, John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960. This is generally known information. You do not need to document this fact. However, you must document facts that are not generally known and ideas that interpret facts.

Adapted from Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN