4 Plagiarism Defined

Plagiarism is one of the most frequently committed violations of academic integrity. It comes in many forms, ranging from direct plagiarism, where a student purposefully submits work that is not their own, to accidental plagiarism, where a student commits plagiarism by mistake while attempting to do honest work. In some cases, plagiarism encompasses an entire paper while in others the plagiarized text may include only a few words. This unit will provide you with the skills necessary to avoid the various types of plagiarism.

What does the word plagiarism mean?

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The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary[1] defines “plagiarize” as:

  • “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own”
  • “use (another’s production) without crediting the source”
  • “to commit literary theft”
  • “present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source”

The LSUS Student Code of Conduct provides the following definition for “plagiarism”:

  • “Lack of appropriate citation, or the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else’s words, structure, ideas, or data; failure to identify a source, or the submission of essentially the same work for two assignments without permission of the instructor.”

These are just a few of the many definitions of the word plagiarism, but all have one thing in common: the misrepresentation of something created by another person as your own.

Direct vs. Accidental Plagiarism

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What is direct plagiarism?

Direct plagiarism occurs when someone purposefully claims the words of another as their own. This type of plagiarism is deliberate; it involves actively choosing not to provide a citation for material from another source.

What is accidental plagiarism?

In other cases, plagiarism is committed unintentionally because individuals are unaware that their behavior qualifies as misrepresentation. Accidental plagiarism includes such situations as providing a direct quotation without quotation marks, failing to cite a source, providing an inaccurate citation, and improperly paraphrasing when using material from a source.

Key Takeaways

  • Accidental plagiarism and direct plagiarism look the same in practice, but the intention is different— direct plagiarism is completed on purpose while accidental plagiarism is completed unintentionally.
  • Even if you have the best of intentions, the consequences for accidental plagiarism are the same as those for direct plagiarism.

  1. “Plagiarize, V.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize. Accessed 28 Apr. 2022. ↵

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Understanding Plagiarism Copyright © 2022 by Ulrike Kestle; Jessica Hawkes; Kaci Wilson; Sarah Mazur; Abigail McCoy; and Kay Slattery is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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