BEINDP 101: Business and Society

Plagiarism is the act of using another person's words or ideas as your own. 

It can happen deliberately, if you: 

• Borrow a sentence or a section from another source -- even if it's put into your own words -- and do not cite it.
• Download a paper off the internet. 
• Re-submit a friend or roommate's paper as your own, even if you make a few edits to it. 

Or accidentally, if you: 

• Fail to cite a paraphrase, or cite it with incorrect formatting (e.g., missing a page number or a year).
• Cite a paraphrase, but it's too close to the original.

But no matter how it happens, plagiarism has serious consequences. Review the examples below to be able to recognize it.

Then use the Reference Examples page to help you create your References list, and the In-Text Citation page to help you create those.

Consider this example quote: 

College students are often instructed by their professors to produce writing that is "college level" but that term can be vague or inconsistent. Not everyone agrees on what constitutes college-level writing, and this lack of agreement can lead to frustration for students (and professors) when the expectations of each group do not align.

...which comes from the chapter "College-Level Writing" by Lynn DuPree from the book Business and Society: Building Skills and Awareness for the Workplace edited by Megan Matthews and Jon Werner. 

This is plagiarism because it's missing the in-text citation: 

While there is a consensus on the requirement for a higher standard of writing in college level classes, "not everyone agrees on what constitutes college-level writing, and their lack of agreement can lead to frustration for students". 

This is plagiarism because it's paraphrased and cited, but the paraphrase is too close to the original -- you need to change more in your paraphrase:

College students are often directed by their professors to turn in writing that is "college level". Not everyone can agree on what college-level writing is. This lack of agreement can cause students to become frustrated (DuPree, 2019). 

Consider this example quote: 

College students are often instructed by their professors to produce writing that is "college level" but that term can be vague or inconsistent. Not everyone agrees on what constitutes college-level writing, and this lack of agreement can lead to frustration for students (and professors) when the expectations of each group do not align.

...which comes from the chapter "College-Level Writing" by Lynn DuPree from the book Business and Society: Building Skills and Awareness for the Workplace edited by Megan Matthews and Jon Werner. 

This is not plagiarism because it is a correct citation for an exact quote

While there is a consensus on the requirement for a higher standard of writing in college level classes, "not everyone agrees on what constitutes college-level writing, and their lack of agreement can lead to frustration for students" (DuPree, 2019, 34). 

This is not plagiarism because it is the correct citation for a paraphrase

There is a consensus that higher writing standards should be required of college students, but there is a lack of agreement on the definition of college-level writing. Students can often get confused and frustrated because their definition does not coincide with their professors' (DuPree, 2019). 

The author will need to list the item along with any other sources used in the Reference list, as shown below: