Political Science Department Policy on Plagiarism

(December 2008)

Plagiarism is the use, theft, purchase, or obtaining by any means another's work or ideas, and the unacknowledged or insufficiently documented submission and/or incorporation of that work as one's own. It involves quoting or paraphrasing someone else's work without providing the source or properly assigning credit. This is not merely an offense of academic dishonesty which may result in failure of a course or dismissal from the university; it is also an illegal act subject to criminal prosecution.

It is easy to avoid plagiarism. Writers simply need to acknowledge the sources they use in writing their own work. Some instances of plagiarism are inadvertent, arising from inexperience and a misunderstanding of what a writer does and does not need to cite, but ignorance is not an excuse that carries a lot of weight. Here is a rough guide to what writers do and do not need to cite in their own work:

Materials that do not need to be acknowledged:

• Information that is common knowledge. For example, a writer would not need to credit a source for the statement that Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas . The writer would, though, need to cite a source if he/she discussed information outside of common knowledge (e.g., Little Rock 's population, circumstances regarding the city's founding, etc.).
• Information that is widely available in a variety of sources. A writer who mentions the fact that President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 would not need to cite a source for that information, even if the writer had to check to insure that the date was correct. If a borderline case arises, consult your teacher.
• Information based on the writer's own field research. If you use information gathered from your own surveys, observations, and interviews, you only need to say so in your work.

Materials that do need to be acknowledged:

• Direct quotations.
• Summaries and paraphrases of someone else's words. Note that whereas a summary is a recapitulation or a succinct covering of a text's main points, a paraphrase is a rewording, perhaps a simplification, of a text. Borrowing from either requires that the user credit the source.
• Facts not widely known and statements that are arguable. For example, the assertion that the U.S. is becoming increasingly socialistic is arguable, while the statement that Augustus attempted to reduce the size of the Senate, but gave it up in bafflement is (presumably) a fact beyond common knowledge. Writers should be careful in judging whether the borrowed information is fact or opinion and use the information fittingly in their own work.
• Data such as statistics, tables, and other graphs not derived from your own work.

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To the department policy, I add two other points.  First, when directly quoting or summarizing or paraphrasing, give specific page references (or, when dealing with web sources, some other specific direction) where the quotation, summary or paraphrased material can be found.  Second, a citation should be given at each point you are drawing on another source; it is not sufficient just to credit the source at the end of a paragraph or at the bottom of your work, but there should be a citation directly tied to each use of a source.