Mrs. Ruland's Tutorial on Plagiarism and Paraphrasing — Page 1

 

An important step in avoiding a charge of plagiarism is to understand what you are telling a reader about your work when you submit it. The following exercise will step you through five different passages submitted by the fictitious student, Gertrude Smith. (My apologies to any Gertrude Smiths that might read this.) Read the selection and then select one of the choices below. Please remember that Gertrude does not necessarily know how not to plagiarize, so in some of these examples, she may be telling her reader something about her authorship that is not correct.

 

Gertrude Smith

Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States during the American Civil War. This was a very bloody war and Lincoln was upset by all the casualties. After the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, a national cemetery was created at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address for the dedication of that cemetery. He was a very compelling writer, and this was one of the most moving speeches ever written.

Gertrude is telling the reader that:

1 The ideas in the selection are Gertrude's ideas, and the words in the selection are Gertrude's words.
2 The ideas in the selection are from another source, but all the words in the selection are Gertrude's words.
3 The ideas in the selection and the order of presentation are from another source, but all of the words in the selection are Gertrude's words.
4 The ideas in the selection are from another source, and at least some of the words in the selection are from another source.
5 The ideas in the selection are from another source, and the words in the selection are from another source.

 

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