Plagiarism and MLA

Referencing

Dr. Uma C. Saha

Dr. J. R. Jha

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Aims of this session
• To explain the different types of plagiarism
• To demonstrate how not to plagiarise
• Introduce you to citing items in your essay
• Demonstrate how to create a reference list

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 Plagiarism – what is it?

• Plagiarism is when you copy someone else’s work or use

their ideas in your essay, course work, thesis etc, and
then do not acknowledge that you have done this.

• Definition
– The wrongful appropriation or purloining, and publication
as one’s own, of the ideas, or the expression of the idea
(literary, artistic, musical, mechanical, etc) of another.’

Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed, (1989) Clarendon Press, Oxford.

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Why you should not plagiarise!

Every discovery builds on a framework of existing knowledge.

You must therefore read literature and understand what’s gone
before. But you can’t steal other people’s words or ideas.
Correct acknowledgment of your sources is key.

  ‘Learning how to make proper and responsible use of other

people’s work… is the heart of academic life.'

Pyper H. (2000) Avoiding plagiarism: advice for students. Leeds, School of Theology
and Religious Studies, University of Leeds.

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• Why you should not plagiarise!

If you do not acknowledge another writer’s work or

ideas, you could be accused of plagiarism. If you are
found to have plagiarised with ‘intent’ you are
cheating. This could lead to you having an
assignment marked as a ‘fail’ or even to exclusion
from the university

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Types of plagiarism

There are many different ways to plagiarise but

the most common ones are:

Collusion

If another student allows you to copy their

work and you then present the work as your
own, you are deliberately trying to deceive
the lecturer who is marking your work. This
is known as collusion.
 

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Copy and paste

This is when you copy a piece of work

from the internet, an electronic book or journal
or word document and paste it into your
assignment without acknowledging the
source. If you copy and paste work you should
always use quotation marks and reference it
appropriately.

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Word switch

If you copy a sentence or paragraph

into your assignment and change a few
words it will still be classed as
plagiarism. It is better to paraphrase than
to quote wherever possible. If you copy a
phrase you should copy it word for word
and use quotation marks and reference it
appropriately.

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Common knowledge is information which
is:

well known to all in a particular field

easily verified by consulting standard
textbooks or encyclopaedias such as
undisputed historical facts or well known
formulas or equations

Examples:

Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603

Charles Dickens is the author of A
Christmas Carol
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Common knowledge

Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603.

Elizabeth kept the last letter that
Leicester wrote to her by her bedside.

Not common knowledge

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Concealing sources

If you have cited a piece of work from

a text this does not mean you do not
have to reference any other text you
refer to from that work. No matter how
many times you refer back to the text
you must acknowledge the source,
even if it is in the very next paragraph.

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Self plagiarism

Self plagiarism is when you re-use your own

previously written work or data in a new
assignment and do not reference it appropriately.
This could be conceived as deceiving your
lecturer.

Things to remember!

If you use material from a previous assignment

you must reference it appropriately
Never use the same essay for different lecturers
If re-sitting a course do not submit the same essay

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You can avoid plagiarism by:

Paraphrasing
Quoting
Referencing & Citing
An anti-plagiarism plan

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Paraphrasing

What is it?

Paraphrasing is when you read a piece of work

and then rewrite it in your own words while
retaining the ‘flavour’ and ‘ideas’ of the original
text. Paraphrasing demonstrates that you have
understood the academic context of the piece
and allows you to support your argument.

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Quoting

Quoting is when you use the exact words of

an author in your assignment.
Quotations help support your arguments
and help to reinforce or raise a new point.
According to a survey carried out by Fresh
Minds ‘one in four students admitted to
plagiarising work’. Batty (2004: p2)

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Referencing and citing

It is very important that you reference

and cite your work properly. If you do
reference your work correctly you can
help increase your marks and avoid
being accused of plagiarism.

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Summary

Don’t forget:

to paraphrase.
if you quote text, indicate what is quoted and
where it comes form
if you use ideas or any other intellectual
property belonging to someone else,
acknowledge your source
if the facts are common knowledge there is no
need to provide a citation but if you are in any
doubt it is better to be safe and cite our source

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Referencing

What is it?
Why do it?
How to do it!

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Why do it?

It demonstrates that you have undertaken a

literature search and that you have carried out
appropriate reading.
If you do not acknowledge another writers work
or ideas, you could be accused of plagiarism.
Good, consistent referencing helps improve
your assessment grade!

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How to do it!

We are going to use the ‘MLA’ method of

citation.
You need to reference:
•Books
•Journal articles
•Electronic journal articles
•World-wide-web pages
•Video, films, CD-ROMs & audio
tape recordings

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How to do it!

•Newspapers
•Pamphlets
•Radio / TV broadcasts
•Interviews

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Citing in the text

When you have used an idea from a book,

journal article etc, you must acknowledge
this in your text. We refer to this as 'citing'.
If you are citing a piece of work you must
always state the author / editor and the date
of publication. If the work has two authors /
editors you must cite both names.

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Citing in the text
One author

Example:
The work of Smith (2001) emphasised
that the research done by Holstein was in direct
conflict of that produced by Greene. However,
Theakston & Boddington (2001) consider that
…

Two authors

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Citing in the text

If the work has three or more authors / editors the

abbreviation ‘et al’ should be used after the first
authors name.

Example:

The work of Smith et al (2001) emphasises

that the research done by Holstein was in direct
conflict of that produced by Greene.

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Citing in the text

If you reference an item which has the same author

and was written in the same year as an earlier
citation you must use a lower case letter after the
date to differentiate between the two.
 

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Citing from chapters written by
different authors
 
Some books may contain chapters
written by different authors. When
citing work from such a book, the
author who wrote the chapter should
be cited, not the editor of the book.

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Secondary referencing

Second hand references are when an

author refers to another author’s work
and the primary source is not available.
When citing such work the author of the
primary source and the author of the
work it was cited in should be used.
 

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Secondary referencing

Example:

Ellis (1990) cited by Cox (1991)

discusses

NB: Secondary referencing should be

avoided if possible.

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Quoting in the text

Often is better to paraphrase (and thus show

your skills of interpretation and understanding), than to
use direct quotes. If a direct quote from a book, article
etc is used you must:

Use single quotation marks, (double quotation marks

are usually used for quoting direct speech).
State the page number.
 
Example:

Simpson (2002:p6) declared that ‘the explosive

behaviour was unexpected.’ Page 29
Quoting in the text

Have a separate, indented paragraph for quotes over two

lines.

Example:

Boden (1998:p72) states:

‘The most common female crime prosecuted at the
Quarter Sessions was that of battering men. This
would suggest that women were not the passive and
obedient members of society that men would have
liked to believe they were.’
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Quoting in the text
 
Duplication of charts, diagrams, pictures
etc, should be treated as direct quotes in
that the author(s) should be acknowledged
and page numbers shown.

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Citing and quoting from multi-media and Online
Resources

Electronic journal (e-journals) articles

When citing from an e-journal article it should be
treated in the same way as a paper journal,
using the author’s surname and the publication
date.
 
World Wide Web (WWW)
If the web site has an obvious author and date of
publication, the information should be cited like a
book or journal article
If there is not an obvious author, but the work is
situated on an organisational web site the
organisation can be used as a ‘corporate author’
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Citing and quoting from multi-media and
Online Resources

Example:

The Department of Health (2001)

 
If there is no author or corporate author use the title of
the document as the main point of reference.

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Citing and quoting from multi-media and
Online Resources

CD-ROMs
– If there is not an obvious author use the title of the CD-ROM as
the main point of reference
 
Example:

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2001)

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Citing and quoting from multi-media and
Online Resources

Multimedia
• If a video recording or audio-cassette is cited, the series
title should be used as the “author”.
 
Example:

World in Action (2002)

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Reference list & bibliography

At the end of your assignment you must put a reference

list and a bibliography.

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Reference list

• This is a list of all the sources that have been cited in the
assignment. The list is inclusive showing books, journals
etc listed in one list, not in separate lists according to
source type.
• The list should be in alphabetical order by author / editor.
• Books, paper journals articles, e-journal articles etc are
laid out in a particular format that must be followed.

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Reference list - Books
• Layout
– Author / Editor - if it is an editor always put (ed) after the
name
– (Year of publication)
– Title (this should be in italics)
– Series title and number (if part of a series)
– Edition (if not the first edition)
– Place of publication (if there is more than one place listed,
use the first named)
– Publisher
 

Example:

Autistic Association (2002) Understanding Autism. London, Campion.

Kirk, J (ed) (1999) Worlds Apart. Florida, Enterprise.

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Reference list – Chapters in books
Layout
– Author of the chapter
– (Year of publication)
– Title of chapter followed by, In:
– Editor - always put (ed) after the name
– Title (this should be in italics)
– Series title and number (if part of a series)
– Edition (if not the first edition)
– Place of publication (if there is more than one place listed,
use the first named)
– Publisher

  Example:

Stone, T. (2002) Libraries in the Twenty-First Century. In: Woolley, M (Ed)

The Changing World of Information Retrieval. Luton, UOL Press

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Reference list – Journal articles

Layout
– Author / Editor
– (Year of publication)
– Title of journal article
– Title of journal (this should be in italics)
– Volume number
– Page numbers of the article
Example:

Picard, J. (2001) Logistics and the Borg. Starbug Tribune. 36, 44 –

49.

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Reference list – e journal articles
Layout
– Author / Editor
– (Year of publication)
– Title of journal article
– Title of journal (this should be in italics)
– [Online]
– Volume number
– Part number
– Page numbers of the article
– Available from: URL
– [date of access]
Example:

Smith, B. (1999) Time to go home. Journal of Hyperactivity [Online] 6, 122 - 3

Available from: http://www.alu.ac.uk [Accessed 6th June, 2000].

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Reference list – WWW
• Layout  
– Author / Editor
– (Year)
– Title (this should be in italics)
– [Online]
– Available from: URL
– [date of access]

Example:

Edelson, S. (no date) Asperger’s Syndrome. [Online] Available

from: http://www.autism.org/asperger.html [Accessed 19th
September 2002].

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Reference list – multi-media

Layout
•  Video recordings: Recorded from the TV
 Example:
World in Action. (1995) All work and no play [Video:VHS] London,
ITV, 21st January.

• Video recordings: Commercial

Example:
Fragile Earth, 5 (1982) South American Wetland:Pantanal.
[Video:VHS] Henley, Watchword Video.

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• Reference list
Edelson, S. (no date) Asperger's Syndrome. [Online] Available
from: http://www.autism.org/asperger.html [Accessed 19th
September 2002].

Picard, J. (2001) Logistics and the Borg. Starbug Tribune 36, 44 –

49.

  Rymer, J. Smith, T. & Jones. E (2001) Nottingham Forest - Dream

Team.London, Blackwell.

World in Action. (1995) All work and no play [Video:VHS] London,

ITV, 21st January.

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• Bibliography

Your reference list contains all the items you

have cited or directly quoted from. There may
however, be items which you have used for your
research but not cited. These can be listed at
the end of your assignment in a bibliography.
These items should be listed in alphabetical
order by author and laid out in the same way as
items in your reference list.

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 Acknowledgement

The present lecture notes is based on the

ideas depicted by Imperial College,
London and The book entitled, “ MLA
Handbook for Writers of Research Papers”
(7th edition)

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