Sunday, December 2, 2012

Blog 9 Plagiarism Tutorial



The goal of the Online Tutorial is that helping students understand plagiarism deeply. It sets ten questions which are different situations that students probably face during college life; among these questions, there are diverse options and detailed explanation for each option.

In the question 4, it asks that what you should do when you can not find the copy of the original article, being citing in another article. When I read this question, I firmly believe that citing out the reference in other’s article is enough and is the best way for it. Nevertheless, the website interprets that although it may not be considered as plagiarism, but it is possible that the citing reference is not reported and invalid. This question reminded me “the safest way” is not safe as I thought. Every time my instructor emphasizes the seriousness of plagiarism, I thought not stealing other’s work without citation is the safest way. However, plagiarism exists near us all the time and we should be alert to plagiarism.

In the question 8, it asks that whether a student pasting resource from the internet should be considered as plagiarism. The first answer came out from myself is that I should paraphrase the resource and cite the reference. We practiced paraphrasing a lot and learned plenty of methods about citation. It is easily to forget that quotation is another good way to avoid plagiarism. Undeniably, it is the easiest way to avoid plagiarizing. Meanwhile, quotation maintains the original words which may easier for readers’ understandings.

In summary, the Online Tutorial uses specific examples to explain plagiarism and offers the proper options for students. I had a new understanding of plagiarism and learned new knowledge after reading these questions, like “personal communication” is one kind of citation. It is good website for helping students avoid plagiarism.

--Yalin Chen

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