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Philosophy

Avoiding Plagiarism

"The word plagiarism comes from a Latin word that means plunderer or thief. Writers plagiarize when they present others' words or ideas without making it clear that these are not their own words or ideas" (Seech 31).

"Plagiarism is the theft of someone else's words, work, or ideas. It includes such acts as (1) turning in a friend's paper and saying it is yours; (2) using another person's data or ideas without acknowledgement; (3) copying an author's exact words and putting them in your paper without quotation marks; and (4) using wording that is very similar to that of the original source, but passing it off entirely as your own" (MacMillan 44).

"Plagiarism sometimes occurs unintentionally through faulty notetaking... Take notes using your own words; you must get away from being awed by other people's words and move toward building confidence in your own thoughts and phrasings. Notetaking involves critical evaluation..." (Pechenik 33).

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MacMillan, V.E. 1988. Writing papers in the biological sciences. New York, Bedford/St. Martin's.

Pechenik, J.A. 2001. A short guide to writing about biology. 4th ed. New York, Pearson Longman.

Seech, Zachary. 2009. Writing philosophy papers. 5th edition. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.