PLAGARISM POLICY by Jennifer Lewis The following document describes what will be considered plagiarism in this class. By signing this, you are stating that you have read this document, understand it, and you agree to abide by these policies. Plagiarism, what is it? 1. Copying word for word 2. Not adequately paraphrasing 3. Paraphrasing another’s work without giving reference to that work The following describes in detail what each of the above refers to. 1. Copying word for word. Copying word for word cannot be done legally without placing the phrase within quotation marks. This should however, be reserved for very special situations. For example, reasonable use of a quote might be copying a line that someone famous has said in the past, such as Mark Twain or Einstein. Example When to Use Quotes: “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar”. Mark Twain, unknown date Quotes should not be used when you can put the phrase in your own words. And this refers to almost every bit of information that you will ever read. Example When NOT to use quotes: “During an investigation of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) behavior in the waters of the lower Florida Keys, a previously undescribed foraging behavior was observed (Lewis and Schroeder 2003)”. The above is word for word from a paper by Lewis and Schroeder. This information could be written in your own words. It is not so unique that it cannot be paraphrased. 2. Not adequately paraphrasing. Paraphrasing means very simply to write something in your own words. This means ALL of the words are yours. Not half of them, not two-thirds of them. ALL OF THEM. Changing a few words in a sentence does not make it yours. Actual paragraph within a paper: (taken from Gannon et al. 2005) “On average, focal dolphins turned 41º towards the sound source and increased their echolocation index by 1.2 when fish sounds were played (Table 5). There were significant differences between the pre- and poststimulus headings (Wilcoxon signed-ranks test: TZ 2, NZ 11, PZ 0.015) as well as between the pre- and poststimulus echolocation indexes (ZZ 2.676, NZ 15, PZ 0.007) for the fish sound treatments. By contrast, snapping shrimp sounds resulted in an average directional change of 13º away from the sound source and an increase in echolocation by 0.1 points. For the snapping shrimp treatments,there were no significant differences between pre- and poststimulus headings (T Z 4, N Z13, PZ 0.171) or between pre- and poststimulus echolocation indexes (Z Z 0.000, NZ 15, P Z1.0).”Example of inadequate paraphrasing: Dolphins on average turned towards sound sources when fish sounds were played. Significant differences were found between pre- and poststimulus headings. Differences were also found between the pre and poststimulus echolocation indexes for the fish treatments. In the above example, much of the sentence structure from the original document remains. Even if you were to provide reference to the paper from which you obtained the information, the above would be considered plagiarism. Example of adequate paraphrasing: Results of playback experiments with dolphins showed that these animals responded positively (by changing direction and moving towards the sound source) when fish sounds were played but not to shrimp (Gannon et al. 2005). 3. Paraphrasing another’s work without giving reference to that work While paraphrasing is the way to go when writing papers, you must still give credit for all material you learned about when writing your work. So credit must be given to anything outside of things you have learned by doing the work on the subject yourself (and then you would likely cite yourself). So even though you may be aware that dolphins are found in tropical waters, you were not born with that information, you learned about it somewhere, and if you write about it in a formal paper, you will have to provide reference to where that information can be found. Credit is given by providing a reference to the work where you learned that fact. Providing reference in scientific papers can occur within the sentence or at the end of a sentence. Example (taken from Karczmarski et al 2005): “For example, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) form resident and socially stable populations in sheltered and seasonally stable environments, such as Sarasota Bay, western Florida (Wells, 1991, 2003; Wells et al., 1987). In contrast, along the open coastline of southern California, they roam over several hundred kilometers and show weak levels of social stability (Defran and Weller, 1999; Defran et al., 1999; Weller, 1991). Similarly, humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) off the exposed Eastern Cape coastline, South Africa, display fluid social patterns characterized by lack of consistency in group size and membership and generally short-lasting affiliations (Karczmarski, 1999; Karczmarski et al., 1999a,b).” In this example, each bit of information provided is backed with references where that information was previously reported. This class will hold a ZERO tolerance policy for plagiarism. Evidence for plagiarism will result in severe penalty that may include failure in the course and expulsion from the University. I, ________________________ have read, understand and agree to comply with the above stated policies.