copyright 2004 philip l. cochran and indiana university writing skills and plagiarism

Copyright 2004 Philip L. Cochran and Indiana University

WRITING SKILLS AND PLAGIARISM


Writing Skills

• Language Skills Matter.

• Punctuation and Grammar Matter.

• Reading a poorly written paper:– Is like driving down a potholed road.– Distracts from the these of the paper.– Signals that the ideas may be faulty.


Importance of Punctuation• A panda walked into a café. He ordered a

sandwich, ate it, then pulled out a gun and shot the waiter. ‘Why?" groaned the injured man. The panda shrugged, tossed him a badly punctuated wildlife manual and walked out. And sure enough, when the waiter consulted the book, he found an explanation.

• “Panda,” read the entry for the assailant. “Large black and white mammal native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves.”

– From EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss, Profile Books

– This book is dedicated to the memory of the striking Bolshevik printers in St. Petersburg, who in 1905, demanded to be paid the same rate for punctuation marks as for letters, and thereby directly precipitated the first Russian Revolution


Plagiarism

• Examples of ethical issue in a school setting

• Becoming a major concern of faculty and students

• Definitions


Neil Kinnock Speech• Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand

generations to be able to get to University? Why is Glenys [Kinnock’s wife] the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to get to university? Was it because all our predecessors were thick?...Those people who could sing and play and recite and write poetry? Those people who could make wonderful, beautiful things with their hands? Those people who could dream dreams, see visions? Why didn’t they get it? Was it because they were weak? Those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football?


Joe Biden Speech, 1997• I was thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that

Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife who is sitting out here in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I’m the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?...Those same people who read poetry and wrote poetry and taught me to sing verse? Is it that they didn’t work very hard, my ancestors who worked in the coal mines of Northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours?


Perils of Plagiarism

• Sen. Biden not running for President– Tuesday, August 12, 2003 Posted 7:42 AM EDT

(1142 GMT)

• WILMINGTON, Delaware (CNN) – Sen. Joseph Biden, D- Delaware, ended speculation about his presidential aspirations Monday with the announcement of his decision not to join the 2004 Democratic presidential field.

• [Biden] ran in the 1988 presidential race, but dropped out in 1987 amidst allegations of plagiarism in his campaign speeches.


Plagiarism Sources

• Avoiding Plagiarism• How Not to Plagiarize• Plagiarizing by Paraphrasing• Plagiarism and the Internet• Types of Plagiarism

– failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas– failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation

marks– failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own

words• source: Diana Hacker A Pocket Style Manual, 4h ed., 2004

Bedford/St. Martin's, pp 228-30.)

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/book.asp?1149000255


Example 1in the middle of a 22 page analysis of Microsoft

• Microsoft has now gone as far as to try and patent the numbers one and zero, or the basic building blocks of all mathematical programs and languages. Microsoft is looking to charge 10 cents per character if the patent is to go thru, in essence putting most software businesses in bankruptcy status or forcing them to move to analog. This language has been used since 1975, but Gates stated that the increasingly predatory practices of certain competitors now leave us with no choice but to seek compensation for the use of our numerals.”\– MBA paper


Example 1in the middle of a 22 page analysis of Microsoft

• Microsoft has now gone as far as to try and patent the numbers one and zero, or the basic building blocks of all mathematical programs and languages. Microsoft is looking to charge 10 cents per character if the patent is to go thru, in essence putting most software businesses in bankruptcy status or forcing them to move to analog. This language has been used since 1975, but Gates stated that the increasingly predatory practices of certain competitors now leave us with no choice but to seek compensation for the use of our numerals.”– MBA paper

• Microsoft has now gone as far as to try and patent the numbers one and zero, or the basic building blocks of all mathematical programs and languages. Microsoft is looking to charge 10 cents per character if the patent is to go thru, in essence putting most software businesses in bankruptcy status or forcing them to move to analog. This language has been used since 1975, but Gates stated that the increasingly predatory practices of certain competitors now leave us with no choice but to seek compensation for the use of our numerals.”– MisterJokester.com


Example 2From another team paper, same semester

• The thread of substitutes is moderate. Exhibit 2 shows the main substitutes of soft drink. These substitutes include bottled water, juices and juice drinks, ready-to-drink tea, and sports drinks. A relative newcomer to the beverage industry, the so-called new age or functional beverages segment continues to exhibit strength in the marketplace, with products that include all-natural juices and teas laced with a cornucopia of herbs and ingredients. Functional beverages accounted for only $2.1 million in revenues in 1996, but have grown explosively since then. Revenues totaled $286 million in 1999, almost tripling from an estimated $100 million in 1998. -- MBA Paper

• that include all-natural juices and teas laced with a cornucopia of herbs and ingredients. Functional beverages accounted for only $2.1 million in revenues in 1996, but have grown explosively since then. Revenues totaled $286 million in 1999, almost tripling from an estimated $100 million in 1998.

-- http://www.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/08/16/beverages...


Example 3Another team paper that semester

• With respect to safety, UAL invests in safety. UAL has a reputation to protect and liability insurance to buy. However, due to the current extensive losses, UAL is desperately looking to cut costs by sacrificing minimum safety levels, UAL spends on average 12.3% of operating expenses, the third-highest non-capital cost after labor and fuel. – MBA Paper

• Even without an FAA, carriers would invest in safety. They have reputations to protect and liability insurance to buy. But since they lost $6 billion last year, they are desperately looking to cut costs. Airlines spend on average 12.3% of operating expenses to keep planes flying, the third-highest non-capital cost after labor and fuel. -- http://www.untied.com/ual/news.html


Example 4One paragraph from ten pages lifted verbatim from a paper posted on the Internet

• The third barrier to entry is brand loyalty and reputation. In the areas of healthcare, consumers are purchasing security as much as tangible services. Since a relatively high level of emotion is involved, reputation is critical. Therefore, the companies that survive tend to be those that have strong brand recognition and loyalty…

-- MBA Paper

• The third barrier to entry is brand loyalty and reputation. In the areas of healthcare, consumers are purchasing security as much as tangible services. Since a relatively high level of emotion is involved, reputation is critical. Therefore, the companies that survive tend to be those that have strong brand recognition and loyalty… -- http://web.bentley.edu/empl/h/ahoffman/cigna.pdf


Example 5From an MBA Strategy course

• Factors spurring consolidation among soft- drink bottlers include efforts to reduce operating expenses and the need for greater capital outlays. Consolidation also reduces the number of competitors, which helps improve the industry pricing flexibility. In addition, franchisers are attempting to limit the number of bottlers with which they do business. For example, Coca-Cola’s efforts to streamline its distribution system have led to a steep decline in the number of bottlers. In 1978, Coca-Cola’s U.S. bottling system had 370 bottling operators. By the end of 2000, the total had shrunk to 83, and the company expects the consolidation of its distribution system to continue.


Example 5From an MBA Strategy course

• Factors spurring consolidation among soft- drink bottlers include efforts to reduce operating expenses and the need for greater capital outlays. Consolidation also reduces the number of competitors, which helps improve the industry pricing flexibility. In addition, franchisers are attempting to limit the number of bottlers with which they do business. For example, Coca-Cola’s efforts to streamline its distribution system have led to a steep decline in the number of bottlers. In 1978, Coca-Cola’s U.S. bottling system had 370 bottling operators. By the end of 2000, the total had shrunk to 83, and the company expects the consolidation of its distribution system to continue. --- MBA Paper

• Factors spurring consolidation among soft- drink bottlers include efforts to reduce operating expenses and the need for greater capital outlays. Consolidation also reduces the number of competitors, which helps improve the industry pricing flexibility. In addition, franchisers are attempting to limit the number of bottlers with which they do business. For example, Coca-Cola’s efforts to streamline its distribution system have led to a steep decline in the number of bottlers. In 1978, Coca-Cola’s U.S. bottling system had 370 bottling operators. By the end of 2000, the total had shrunk to 83, and the company expects the consolidation of its distribution system to continue. --- from a paper at University of Central Florida


Why Plagiarism?

• “Everybody does it.”

• It’s easy to do.

• No one gets caught.

• Not discussed in public schools or universities.


Plagiarism Hurts Other Students

• Majority don’t cheat.

• Honest students can get lower grades.

• Plagiarism is not victimless.

• Lower grades might mean future earnings less by >> $1,000,000.


Catching Plagiarists

• Very easy in 2006.

• From Google– “cornucopia of herbs and ingredients”

• To Turnitin.com

• It is VERY EASY to catch plagiarism!


Plagiarism Hurts Plagiarists

• Can’t run for President. ;-)

• May not get degree.

• May lose degree after it was granted.– Charlottesville, Virginia (AP) Tuesday, November 26,

2002”: “A wide-ranging probe of student plagiarism at the University of Virginia ended with the dismissal of 45 students and the revocation of three graduates’ degrees.”--- http://archives.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/12/uva.plagiarism.ap


Plagiarism Hurts Society

• Would you want to use a surgeon who cheated in medical school?

• Would you want to use an airline pilot who cheated in flight school?


Don’t Plagiarize

• Plagiarism is VERY EASY to avoid.

• Read several sources, set aside, write your paper without looking at the sources.

• Return to sources to verify accuracy and lack of plagiarism.


Don’t Plagiarize

• Cite sources for ANY facts that not common knowledge.

• For direct quotations, use quotation marks.

• Write over 90% of your papers in your own words – do not paraphrase.


ANY QUESTIONS?

copyright 2004 philip l. cochran and indiana university writing skills and plagiarism

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