Self-Study A - Recognising Plagiarism

Plagiarism Exercises
Assignment Summary
EXERCISE ONE:
From Michael Ventura's "The Tools of an Animal": Different tools shape words
differently, the way different tools build furniture and shoes differently.... Pen and paper
are slow and messy, of course. Modernity loves speed and claims to hate mess. But speed
is only a value when it's useful, and it isn't always useful. Slowness can be useful too.
Using an instrument that doesn't let you go too fast can make you pause where you might
not have, and a pause at the right time can change or even save your life, not to mention
your work.
From a student's essay:

Most writers have come to depend on computers, and they can't imagine writing a paper
without one. But, in an essay titled "The Tools of an Animal," Michael Ventura reminds
us that sometimes computers aren't the right tool for a writer's task, sometimes using an
instrument that doesn't let you go too fast can make you pause at a crucial point--and this
pause may save your work from failure (5).
Works Cited
Ventura, Michael. "The Tools of an Animal." The Independent Weekly 20 April 1994: 5.
1. Explain why there is or is not plagiarism in the passage from the student's essay.
There is plagiarism in the passage because the student borrows Ventura's exact words
without using quotation marks.
2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution.
The student uses attribution at the beginning of the second sentence: "in an essay titled
'The Tools of an Animal,' Michael Ventura. . . .
3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

MLA.
EXERCISE TWO:
From William Zinsser's On Writing Well:

Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the
next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to "personalize” the author. It’s a question of
using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest strength and the least
clutter.

An important quality of good writing is "aliveness" (Zinsser 6). To achieve aliveness, a
writer must avoid gimmicks and instead use the English language to achieve great
strength and a minimal amount of clutter.
Works Cited
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction. 3rd. ed.
New York: Harper, 1985.
There is plagiarism because the student’s second sentence paraphrases from Zinsser
without documentation. The student’s paraphrase also borrows too closely from the
original.
The student does not use attribution in this passage.

MLA
EXERCISE THREE:
From James L. Kinneavy, William McCleary, and Neil Nakadate's Writing in the
Liberal Arts Tradition:
The goal of learning to write "in the liberal arts tradition" is the well-rounded writer-- a
person with training and experience in a range of writing tasks, from term papers to
poems and stories.

The authors of Writing in the Liberal Arts Tradition believe that "the goal of learning to
write 'in the liberal arts tradition' is the well-rounded writer" (xiii). A well-rounded
writer, they explain is one with training and practice in a variety of writing tasks (xiii).
Works Cited
Kinneavy, James L., William J. McCleary, and Neil Nakadate. Writing in the Liberal
Arts Tradition: A Rhetoric with Readings. New York: Harper, 1985.
There is no plagiarism in this passage. The student’s paraphrase in the second sentence is
appropriately attributed and referenced.
2. Identify where the student uses attribution.
The student uses attribution in both the first and second sentences: “The authors of
Writing in the Liberal Arts Tradition believe’ and “they explain.”
EXERCISE FOUR:
From a lecture by John C. Bean:

Who among us begins writing an article by choosing a topic, narrowing it, and then
writing a thesis statement and outline? Rather, most of us begin by being gradually drawn
into a conversation about a question in our disciplines that doesn't yet seem resolved. We
find something unsatisfying about this conversation; something is missing.... Whatever
the source of our puzzlement, our own writing originates in our sense of a conflict or
question.
From a student's essay: Often, people view the writing process as a rigid series of steps.
First, you choose a topic, then you form a thesis. An outline precedes the first draft,
revision succeeds the first draft and editing is always the final step. In practice, however,
the writing process is not nearly so clear cut. For instance, John C. Bean (1989) argues
that writing often begins not with a thesis but with a question.
References
Bean, John C. (1989, October). Lecture presented at Gustavus Adolphus College, St.
Peter, MN.
There is no plagiarism in the student’s passage because appropriate attribution and

documentation are used to acknowledge the ideas borrowed from Bean. (In APA
documentation, a page number is not required for summaries or paraphrases, but the date
is.)

APA
EXERCISE 5:
From Edward Abbey's "Come on In":

The canyon country of southern Utah and northern Arizona is something special.
Something else. Something strange, marvelous, full of wonders. So far as I know there is
no other region on earth much like it, or even remotely like it. Nowhere else have we had
this lucky combination of vast sedimentary rock formations exposed to a desert climate,
of a great plateau carved by major rivers--the Green, the San Juan, the Colorado-into such
a wonderland of form and color.

In a short essay titled "Come on In," Edward Abbey introduces his readers to the wonders
of the canyon country in the American Southwest. This area has a fortunate combination
of extensive sedimentary rocks exposed to a desert environment and a great plateau
shaped by important rivers. For Abbey, it is "a wonderland of form and color" (3).
Works Cited
Abbey, Edward. "Come on In." Plateau 49.1 (1976): 3-5.
There is plagiarism because the student’s second sentence borrows from the source but
does not acknowledge the borrowing with documentation or attribution. The student’s
paraphrase in this sentence is also too close to the original. She should use her own
sentence structure.
The student uses attribution in the first sentence, “In a short essay titled ‘Come on In,’
Edward Abbey introduces” and in the last sentence, “For Abbey.”

MLA
EXERCISE SIX:
From Peter G. Rowlands' "Climatic Factors and the Distribution of Woodland

Vegetation in the Southwest":
In conclusion, there is a latitudinal, phytogeographic anomaly in the Southwest taking the
form of declining woodland vegetation zones along a decreasing latitudinal and
longitudinal gradient. This anomaly can be associated with the decline of the AHB [arid-
humid boundary] from the northwest to the southeast between approximately 38'N and
31'20'N latitude. This decline in the AHB is a function of increasing summer
precipitation along the same gradient.

An unusual relationship exists between the distribution of vegetation and latitude in
Arizona and New Mexico: The lower limit of tree growth drops with decreasing latitude
rather than rising, as one would expect. Rowlands (1) demonstrated that this anomaly can
be associated with the decline of the arid humid boundary.
References
1. Rowlands P. G. Climatic factors and the distribution of woodland vegetation in the
Southwest. Southwestern Nat 38:135-1 97; 1993.
There is plagiarism because the student quotes directly from the source in her second
sentence and does not use quotation marks.

CBE
3. Explain why this documentation style is or is not appropriate for the student's
essay.
CBE is appropriate because the student is writing about a biological topic.

EXERCISE SEVEN:
From Steven D. Emslie, Robert C. Euler, and Jim 1. Mead's "A Desert Culture
Shrine in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and the Role of Split-twig Figurines":
Most of the known figurine sites in Grand Canyon share an apparent correlation with the
caves containing remains of the extinct mountain goat (though these remains are
considerably older than the artifacts) and remains of bighorn sheep, . . . The authors think
the correlation of figurines with Oreamnos or Ovis remains is not accidental, and that the
presence of these remains in a cave was the reason a site was selected for the deposition
of figurines.
From a student' essay:

Since the 1933 discovery of split-willow figurines in the Grand Canyon archaeologists
have been speculating about the function these simple figures played in the cultures of
early Canyon dwellers. Emslie, Euler, and Mead (1987), for instance, have observed that
the figurines we often found in caves with fossils from mountain goats and bighorn
sheep. They believe that this correlation is not an accident.
References
Emslie, S. D., Euler, R. C., & Mead, J. 1. (1987). A desert culture shrine in Grand
Canyon, Arizona, and the role of split-twig figurines. National Geographic Research, 3,
511-516.
There is no plagiarism in this passage because the student uses attribution and
documentation to acknowledge appropriately the information borrowed from the source.
The student uses attribution in the second sentence: “Emslie, Euler, and Mead….have
observed.”

APA.
EXERCISE EIGHT:
From Ann H. Zwinger's forward to The Grand Canyon: Intimate Views:

I first went down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in May of 1976, just after
writing a book on the Green River, during which tune I had studiously avoided run-ning
the Colorado River because I didn't want to lose focus, didn't want to be over-whelmed
by this massive canyon, this overpowering river. When that book was over- and
published, I wanted to complete my time of river running with the ultimate: the Colorado
River in the Grand Canyon, sure that I would write no more river books, do no more river
trips, and this rowing trip would be the grand finale (so to speak), the ne plus ultra.

Though writer Ann Zwinger devoted much of her adult life to studying and writing about
rivers, she carefully avoided the Colorado River for many years. Zwinger didn't want to
be overcome by this magnificent river. Instead, she wanted to save the Colorado River
until the end of her career as a river runner, believing that it "would be the grand finale"
(ix).
Works Cited
Zwinger, Ann H. Forward. The Grand Canyon: Intimate Views. Ed. Robert C. Euler and
Frank Tikalsky. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1992.
There is no plagiarism in this passage.

MLA
3. Explain why this documentation style is or is not appropriate for the student's
essay.
MLA is appropriate because the essay deals with a literary topic.

Self-Study A - Recognising Plagiarism

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Plagiarism Exercises

From a student's essay:

2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution.

3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

From William Zinsser's On Writing Well:

From a student's essay:

2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution.

The student does not use attribution in this passage.

3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

From a student's essay:

2. Identify where the student uses attribution.

From a lecture by John C. Bean:

There is no plagiarism in the student’s passage because appropriate attribution and

2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

From Edward Abbey's "Come on In":

From a student's essay:

2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution.

3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

From Peter G. Rowlands' "Climatic Factors and the Distribution of Woodland

From a student's essay:

2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

CBE is appropriate because the student is writing about a biological topic.

From a student' essay:

2. Identify where, if at all, the student uses attribution.

3. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

From Ann H. Zwinger's forward to The Grand Canyon: Intimate Views:

From a student's essay:

There is no plagiarism in this passage.

2. What documentation style is the student using in this essay?

MLA is appropriate because the essay deals with a literary topic.

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