Avoiding Plagiarism

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest update: August 10, 2000
Faculty on the Site.

• Pat's Essay
  
• Jeanne's Essay
  
• Analysis of Essays by Plagiarism.org

One of the difficulties of dealing with the school's idea of plagiarism is the student's conception of what it means to say something in your own words. If you read a paragraph that I have written, and then try immediately to tell someone what I said, you are very likely to use some of the same words, because they are right there in your mind. You just read them. But even more than that, you are likely to structure your argument the same way I did. That's really sticking pretty close to my ideas, almost like walking in my shadow.

A Take-Home Essay Sample

Let's consider the following example. Suppose that you were asked to describe in essay form one of the major issues in social theory today. Suppose that our school stresses collaborative work, so that you have been given permission to work together, but you must each write your own short essay. Suppose that your group met today, and that Patricia Acone had comleted her essay, and shared it with the group.

The Question

Describe in essay form one of the major issues in social theory today.

Pat's Essay

"One of the major contentions between modernist and postmodernist theory today is that of the subject/object. Who is studying whom? What role does dominance play, if any? And what then is objectivity? Jacques Lacan suggests that the very identity, which we see as coming from within, ultimately the subject, could, in fact, be the object, for the identity we settle on is actually the one reflected to us by the world around us. (Elliott, ed. Contemporary Social Theory, p.6). Donna Haraway speaks of the "conquering gaze from nowhere," meaning the gaze of "Man and White." Haraway calls this privileged gaze situated knowledge, knowledge which takes a perspective that women and non-whites are presumed to take as their own situated knowledge. (Ibid, pp.290-291)."

The Study Group's Discussion of Pat's Essay

• Question requirements are met.
  • social theory - Lacan and Haraway as theorists
  • major issue - subject/object relationship in contemporary theory
• Argument
  1. Contrasting modernist/ postmodernist theory
  2. The subject/object question
  3. Lacan plays on the need for subject to use reflection of self from the other to construct self identity
  4. Haraway's talk of the gaze of the white male plays on same reflective aspect - woman must work with the reflection that comes back to her from the white male; her self identity is confused by the white male perception of that identity
  5. Describes the issue, which is all we can do in one paragraph.

What jeanne Needs to Remember

Give credit to the one whose idea it was.

Even it it's another student, you could footnote the paragraph, and call it a personal communication. You will have plenty of ideas of your own. Give appropriate credit to others. That's what the brouhahaha about plagiarism is all about.

Say it in your own words.

Most teachers don't like strung together quotes of what others have said. In an essay, you should use your own words. Put Pat's paragraph down and do something else for a while. Then go back to the essay question and try to answer it without reading Pat's paragraph again. You'll find that it will be easier to find your own words that way. Say it in plain English first. Afterwards, when you have all the ideas down, you can go back and put in high fallutin' words if you like. That's called editing.

Structure the argument on your own.

If you break down the argument, first you can be sure there is one. Then you can look for related areas that you could bring in. Do that while you are studying Pat's paragraph with the study group. Be sure you've got a clear sense of what Pat's argument is. Just tell the answer to someone. The chickens will do, as my fourth grade teacher so often reminded us, as we struggled with multiplication tables. Then put Pat's paragraph down and do something else for a while. Then later, go back to the essay question and try to answer it without reading Pat's paragraph again.

It often helps me to make a few notes first. What might I remind myself of about this question? Well, first I want to read the question again.

Describe in essay form one of the major issues in social theory today.

From the question:
• social theory
• major issue
And from the paragraph I found:
• subject/object
• gets itself turned around
• because the subject is reflected to us
• like a mirror where others are the mirror (my own idea)

• when subject/object gets turned around hard to tell what's objective
• so objectivity is really "situated" - that's what Donna Haraway says

• so women want a scientific objectivity (slightly different spin to the conclusion from paragraph I found)
• that includes their "situated" perspective
• because "situatedness" affects how we see even science

Now I can see that my notes broke naturally into three parts:

introductory sentence

• subject/object
• gets itself turned around
• because the subject is reflected to us
• like a mirror where others are the mirror (my own idea)

  middle

• when subject/object gets turned around hard to tell what's objective
• so objectivity is really "situated" - that's what Donna Haraway says

  conclusion

• so women want a scientific objectivity (slightly different spin to the conclusion from paragraph I found
• that includes their "situated" perspective
• because "situatedness" affects how we see even science

Now write the assigned essay answer for the question without returning to the paragraph you found:

Jeanne's Essay

One of the most important arguments in social theory today revolves around objectivity. What does it mean to be objective in science? Lacan says that even in constructing our identities, our description of our own subjectivity, we use the reflection that others give us of who we are. (1) This means to some feminists, like Donna Haraway, that the objectivity of science has not been "objective" at all, but "situated" by the privileged perspectives of being male and white.(2) Haraway believes that objectivity must remain open to self questioning, and that such openness is essential to the "successor science."

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fn. 1. Elliott, ed. Contemporary Social Theory, p. 6. This idea comes from a discussion with fellow student, Pat Acone. We were given permission to work together on these essays.

fn. 2. Ibid, at p.290, Haraway's description of "a successor science".

Analysis of Pat's and Jeanne's Themes by Plagiarism.org

To test Plagiarism.org's analysis I submitted each of our essays exactly as they appear in this file. As you can see, they were about the length of the comments we ask you to submit. Above you see the chart that came back in response to both.

Despite their similarities, there was no detection of any problems with copying. And we were careful to acknowledge each other's contributions. This shows that it is possible to work together, to share ideas, and still write your own interpretation of that work. And it shows that our use of Plagiarism.org will not mistake that kind of work for plagiarism.

We were very pleased to find this. We are particularly pleased that Plagiarism.org recognizes student confusion in this new electronic age and does not presume an adversarial position. It is important to establish communication between student and teacher so that questions can be asked and answered, assurances given. We all have much to learn as the Web grows. And we are pleased that the Web seems to offer us help in teaching critical thinking and writing.

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