Plagiarism
ranges from copying word for word without quotation marks to paraphrasing without giving credit. In between there's the case of changing too few words when paraphrasing, which is also inappropriate.
Below is a sentence from a
book. The original source is followed by its use in three student
papers. See what you think is plagiarism.
For each student's version check
the pull-down box to see if the passage would be considered plagiarism.
Original Passage
Still,
the telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to
do more casually and with less effort what they had already
been doing before. (See MLA citation below.)
Abbie
The
telephone was a convenience, enabling Americans to do more
casually and with less effort what they had already been doing
before.
Brian
Daniel
J. Boorstin argues that the telephone was only a convenience,
permitting Americans to do more casually and with less effort
what they had already been doing before.
Chad Daniel J. Boorstin (1974) has noted that most Americans
considered the telephone as simply "a convenience," an
instrument that allowed them "to do more casually and with
less effort what they had already been doing before." (p.390)
MLA citation for original source:
Boorstin,
Daniel J.
The Americans: The Democratic Experience.
