Through exploring the psychopathology of Capgras syndrome, in which a patient mistakes a loved one for an imposter, The Echo Maker offers a sustained meditation on the ways in which we project our own problems onto other people. As a reflection on the mysteries of consciousness, the novel offers some interesting if not especially new insights into the fuzzy boundaries between scientific and literary interpretations of the mind. Read more
Plagiarism: What Is It and How to Avoid It
In the Citation Guide I explain how to reference The Pequod website if you use its contents in your own work or writing. This page explains the nature of plagiarism in more detail, gives some real-life examples and stories of how plagiarists do get caught, and - more positively - suggests why correct referencing and citation can be helpful for your own work, rather than a chore.
What is Plagiarism?
The word plagiarism derives from Latin roots: plagiarius, an abductor, and plagiare, to steal. Stealing is precisely what you are doing if you re-use work derived from The Pequod without acknowledgement; such reproduction without citation will be taken as a breach of my copyright terms.
Most colleges and universities have severe penalties for students caught plagiarising. At the university at which I teach, for example, students are warned that if plagiarism is discovered in their thesis or dissertation, examiners are expected to fail the candidate and that the student will not be allowed to resubmit their work.
How Can Plagiarism Happen?
Plagiarism can happen in one of two principal ways:
"A friend of mine had frantically finished his essay a few hours before the deadline. He lay down for a nap, and woke just five minutes before the essay needed to be submitted. He swiftly printed off his essay, and handed it in. A week later, he received a letter accusing him of plagiarism. Horrified, he checked his computer to find that, in his haste, he had printed and submitted his draft version - without references - rather than his final version. His mark was struck off, and instead of getting a distinction he got a pass."
Consciously, if you deliberately copy the words, concepts or arguments of other people, and pass them off as if they are your own. The most explicit example of this sort of plagiarism is downloading a paper from the internet, or quoting substantial chunks of an essay without surrounding them in quotation marks, and attributing them through footnotes and/or a bibliography.
Unconsciously, if you absorb the words, concepts or arguments of other people and rewrite them into your own work, but without acknowledgement. Alternatively, you may simply be disorganised and not have time to compile a list of works cited before the deadline (see the box-out on the right for a true story).
Both types of plagairism are to be avoided and may well carry a similar penalty if you are caught. Clearly the latter is less devious, but it is also the more easy to slip into almost by accident or by poor preparation. Almost every time I write an essay or article, I find myself quoting or paraphrasing the works of other people without referencing them, because I have unconsciously absorbed their ideas and concepts. In my proof-reading, therefore, I carefully check that I have cited everything that needs it; if in doubt, provide a citation. Providing extra information may not look great, but it is better than being a plagiarist.
Finally, compiling an accurate list of works cited is a mark of your humility, since it acknowledges fully that no work is ever, except in a very small but vital proportion, the spontaneous and unique insight of its author.
The short answer to this question is: yes. As the creator of The Pequod, I have uncovered or been told of numerous cases where a student has been found to have plagiarised my work (see the box out below for a real life example of a plagiarist who was found out by his teacher).
People plagiarise because they think they can get away with it. After all, teachers have a lot of marking to do, and will not have read every book or article that you have. But in my experience as a university teacher, it is not difficult to spot plagiarism:
If you have written an average essay, and suddenly a sentence of great insight appears in the middle of it, alarm bells will start to ring. It may take only a quick Google search to find the internet paper from which it has been taken
Many universities, colleges and schools run all assignments through automatic plagiarism software, such as Turnitin.
You may think it is possible to get away with reproducing a nice sounding phrase without quotation marks, and passing it off as your own. The trouble is, if you think it sounds good, the chances are your classmates will use it also. For example, many essays written by my first years in drama studies talk about the "fetishistic pistols" in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. The phrase was first used by Elaine Showalter, but some people choose not to put it in quotation marks or provide a reference. However, the moment it crops up in more than one essay, it is not too hard to work out that unattributed copying has been going on, and a Google search immediately showed me the original source of the phrase.
You might copy from a text so rarely used - the last library stamp is from decades ago! - that you imagine no other reader would ever know of it. But remember that, especially if you are at a university, your essay may be read by authorities on the subjects on which you are writing; no matter how esoteric the book, your teachers may still know of it. As happened in one case I have heard of, they may even have written it themselves. Plagiarising the very person who is going to be marking your work is undoubtedly a bad idea!
Why Correct Citation Makes Everyone a Winner
One of the reasons people plagiarise is that they think it devalues the quality of their own work if they use too many quotations from other people. But this is not necessarily a bad thing; all good scholars admit that their work is only ever building on the existing achievements of others, and that therefore scholarship is not just about the finished product but about the dedicated researching and reading that preceded it.
Whilst referencing might seem a pain, you can turn it to your advantage. Even if you do quote lots of other writers, you can still show that you have done sound study; you can also use references to improve your own skills, and so increase your ability to write independently. Here are some reasons why good citation can help you, as well as simply being a legal and academic convention.
When it comes to revision (or another reader) you (or they) will be able to see at a glance what books or articles you had read to reach your initial conclusions.
If you find yourself referencing lots of specific points drawn from lectures or basic study guides, this will indicate that you need to start thinking more independently.
If your essay makes extensive use of secondary quotation and thus has lots of footnotes, it will be clear at a glance that you have perhaps used too many critics and not written enough in your own words.
If you want to demonstrate that you have comprehended different criticism, but do not want this to disturb the flow of your essay, you can use the footnotes to carry out a brief meta-criticism (criticism of the criticism). For example, if you quote Critic A as supporting your views in the essay, then in the reference to him, you could also comment that "Though this is disputed by Critic B, although he was writing some 100 years earlier." You thereby show your awareness of other points of view or intepretations, which will often be credited with good marks.
Referencing can be a pain, requiring extra effort on your part. Hopefully, this page has shown that plagiarism is a serious offence which will get caught and penalised, but that providing accurate citations can help you intellectually, as well as just being required by your teachers.
