Some information on plagiarism for students in Sociology,
Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Rutgers-Camden
Sections in this guide:
Citations, citations
Plagiarism, a persistent plague
A few citation guides
Three ways to cite one quote
Papers written by students who were caught plagiarizing
Bibliography
Citations, citations
The proper use of citations is not only the correct way to write a paper,
but failing to use them can get you into a lot of academic (and sometimes
legal) trouble. But, don't despair. This guide will explain about citations
and plagiarism. The citations used in this guide are in APA (American Psychological
Association) format.
Citing gives credit where credit is due for:
1. exact wording
2. findings/facts
3. ideas
4. suggestions for solutions to problems
And, as an added bonus, citations refer readers to additional sources.
When you are reading articles and books with citations, the citations tell
you where to go to find additional information on the topic you are studying.
Even introductory textbooks have citations in them, so you could begin
your literature search by finding the sources listed in textbooks.
Citing sources also allows you to protect yourself by transferring credit/blame
to others for statements, ideas, and statistics. For example, consider
how citing my sources transfers credit (and or blame, depending on your
point of view) for the viewpoints and statistics in the following excerpt
from some of my own writing (in fact, all of the examples in this guide
are from papers I have written, many of them when I was a student):
The situation in this country has improved immensely, but domestic
abuse still affects millions of women (and men, too, as research has shown
that many husbands, up to one half, are abused in domestic settings, e.g.,
Kunitz, Levy, McCloskey & Gabriel, 1998, p. 1086) yearly. On average,
960,400 women fall victim to intimate violence, and one-third of homicide
victims are killed by intimates (Greenfeld et al., 1998, pp. v,
45). According to one exhaustive review of published reports and statistics,
between 8% and 17% of U.S. women experience some form of domestic violence
annually (Wilt & Olson, 1996). Women experience more than 10 times
as many intimate violence incidents as men and are more than eight times
as likely as men to be killed by an intimate (Zawitz, 1994, p. 2). Of course,
these figures vary within population subgroups. A recent report issued
by the U.S. Department of Justice notes that the rate of violence experienced
by Native Americans throughout the country is about 2.5 times that of the
national rate and that the rate of Native American violence among intimates
is slightly more than twice as high as the national rate (Greenfeld &
Smith, 1999, pp. 2, 6).
On reservations, domestic violence has become commonplace
and represents a perplexing problem for tribal officials to address (French,
1984, p. 206). Tribal Judge Carey Vicenti (1993) notes that domestic violence
is "institutionalized" on reservations and that society ignores it, merely
explaining "he's just beating up his old lady, that's his business." To
illustrate how pervasive domestic violence has become, consider the popular
advice playfully given by well-known Indian activist Russell Means to his
brother, who was having problems with his girlfriend: "You know what- you've
got to slap them every once in a while. They kind of like the caveman approach
now and then" (Means & Wolf, 1996, p. 96).
Plagiarism, a persistent plague
Plagiarism is probably one of the most misunderstood elements of scholarship.
While everyone recognizes the evil of copying the work of another word
for word, the consensus readily dissolves when discussions turn towards
less egregious forms of "borrowing."
One particularly problematic method of paperwriting that many students
have used is what is sometimes called "cut and paste." Writers who "cut
and paste" take (cut) small chunks of material from several sources and
assemble (paste) them into another document that does not acknowledge the
original authors. Sometimes the student writes text that appears between
the pasted quotes, but some students just paste together long strings of
quotes into a larger whole and say they have "written" a paper.
There are two problems with cutting and pasting. First, it is plagiarism.
Secondly, even if it wasn't, how can students be graded on material written
by others? The purpose of writing a paper isn't to create a masterpiece
that looks beautiful to everyone who sees it. The purpose of paperwriting
is to demonstrate your knowledge of a particular subject. I don't know
of any professors who downgrade undergraduate papers because they aren't
publishable. Professors don't expect publishable prose. In fact, they tend
to get suspicious when average students turn in something the professor
would have difficulty writing!
Earn your 'A' your own way; you don't need to steal material from others.
You can use whatever you find as long as you give credit to the person
who originally wrote or said it. Imagine how angry you would be if you
were surfing the net and found that someone had reprinted one of your best
papers and said they had written it!
Another reason, apart from ethics, to avoid plagiarism is the sometimes
serious penalties that are attached to this form of academic misconduct.
I know of many students who were kicked out of school due to plagiarism,
and even more who received flunking grades for their plagiaristic actions.
Professors are actually pretty good at finding original sources and have
probably already read whatever plagiarizing students try to turn in as
their own work. In fact, I have had two students plagiarize off of my own
work, which made it very easy to prove what they had done.
One way to avoid the shame of getting caught is to avoid questionable
behavior in the first place. Because I have found that many students don't
understand how to cite materials, I have included a guide for students
to follow. If you have any questions, look in a writing guide or other
source for assistance. Professors are also willing to help students who
need help. For some great tips on both writing and citations, look into
assistance provided by your learning resource or tutorial center; the classes
are usually very helpful and last only a few hours.
A few citation guides
There are many ways to cite material you use, so I will provide examples
of each.
Exact quote: Exact quotes are the easiest to understand. When
you use an exact quote, you include the quoted words within quote marks.
Note that there are four important parts to the citation: the quote itself,
the author's name, the year of publication, and the number of the page
where the quote appears (the page number follows the quote and is designated
with 'p.' for a single page and 'pp.' for more than one page):
Not so long ago, the women of many Native American tribes held strong
positions of decision-making and the abuse of women was "virtually unheard
of among most tribes" (Allen, 1986, p. 191).
Quote a few key words or a catch phrase: You must use quote marks
even if you are only taking a few key words. Notice how the following statement
quotes just one word.
The modern concepts of crime and deviance are viewed by the Navajo
simply as "disharmony" (Zion & Zion, 1993, p. 408).
Pithy phrases: Pithy phrases are short, but eloquent. Pithy phrases
tend to be repeated over and over in other articles, and must always be
cited, just like any other quote. Just because they are so common doesnt'
mean you don't need to give the original authors credit for them. A few
pithy phrases follow to give you an idea of what they are.
Blumberg (1967): "attorney-client confidence game"
Burger (1982): "factories with fences"
Johnson (1941): "caste definition of crime"
Petersilia & Turner (1985): "racially tainted" criteria
Blocked quote: Blocked quotes are quotes that are 40 words or longer.
Because they are so long, blocked quotes are indented to set them off from
the rest of the document; since they are indented, block quotes do not
involve quote marks. Indent only the text that is quoted directly. Notice
the below example includes the four important parts. The use of the brackets
in this quote will be discussed later.
Similarly, Weyerman (1991, p. 65) argued that the absence of hope
among youths on the Navajo reservation leads to violence:
The result is few jobs, no running water or electricity in many places,
few paved roads, no progress, and, most importantly, no hope. [Navajo Police
Captain] Hillgartner has asked young Navajo offenders what they wanted
and why they were committing these crimes. Their wishes have been quite
simple: a job, a house, a car. On the reservation, these things are not
attainable. Frustration can foster moral breakdown. Despair can lead to
savagery.
Present a finding: When you are using statistics reported by others,
you need to provide the source for those figures. Notice the use of the
page number although no text is actually quoted directly. Page numbers
are not necessary unless you are citing a book (because there are so many
pages in books), but they considered good form; your reader will appreciate
the page numbers if they decide to go get the source you are citing.
The U.S. Census reports that, even among Native American tribes, the
Navajo Nation is economically substandard. A high percent of people living
in poverty (57.8%), a high unemployment rate (30%), and a low per capita
income ($3,735) characterize the reservation (Bureau of the Census, 1993,
pp. 9-10). When compared to figures for the United States as a whole (living
in poverty: 15.1%, unemployment: 6%, per capita income: $15,777), it is
clear that the Navajo Nation is not sharing equally in the American dream.
Cite source of a fact: When you quote a fact, you need to provide
the source. This is one form of citation that sometimes tricks writers
who feel they are not quoting anything directly. When you get a fact from
another writer, give them credit where credit is due. Because the source
for this statement is a book, page numbers are required.
Many defendants who plead not guilty at their arraignments change
this plea to guilty by their second appearance (Lindquist, 1988, p. 24).
Take an idea: Similar to facts, sources for ideas must also be cited.
This is another area that is sometimes tricky for writers. Because the
source for this statement is an article, and there are no direct quotes,
page numbers may be left out (but, it is always good protocol to include
them to make your readers' lives easier).
Hispanics should be analyzed separately from blacks because they are
a distinct ethnic group (Zatz, 1985).
Two ideas in one sentence: What do you do when you have two different
sources in one sentence? You simply cite each part, in turn, as below:
It is in the lower courts that defendants, complainants, witnesses,
jurors, and bystanders form their opinions of the criminal justice system
(Brickey & Miller, 1975) and "often they come away with a less-than-favorable
impression" (Neubauer, 1984, p. 358).
More than one source: What do you do when multiple sources say the
same thing? Cite them all! When including multiple citations for one sentence,
list the sources alphabetically by author's last name, as below:
Plea-bargaining is the primary way judges, prosecutors, and defense
attorneys work together toward their individual goals (Blumberg, 1967;
Eisenstein & Jacob, 1977; Nardulli, 1978).
Editing out part of a quote: When you want to omit part of a quote,
perhaps because including the whole quote would make it too long, you can
use ellipses (...) to show that you edited the quote, as below. Note my
attribution of the quote by Rinkevich to the person who printed it, Philip
Brasher in this case.
Another outgrowth of the gang problem is an increase in criminal activity
to which tribal police must respond: "[several reservations] are at a crisis
level.... Parks and schools are dominated by gangs, the community is living
in fear of gangs, there is an increase in truancy-dropouts and crime and
the police are overburdened" (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center director
Charles Rinkevich, as quoted in Brasher, 1997).
Ensuring readers know words are another's: Sometimes you want to
make sure your readers know that a certain word or phrase was coined by
another person. Just include it in quotes, like below:
Scheduling of cases before a "favorable" judge can improve attorneys'
reputations and fatten their fees (Blumberg, 1967, p. 105).
Sneering at another's words: Sometimes, you want to sneer at what
another person said because their statements were incorrect or because
you disagree with what they said. When you want to do that, make sure to
include in quote marks, their original words, even if they would not normally
be quoted normally (e.g., because the wording is so common-place):
Bullock (1961, p. 412) refers to his work as a study of "bias at the
judicial level," but he limited his research to offenders sentenced by
juries.
At their best, boarding schools deprived children of contact with their
families in the name of creating "honorable, useful, happy citizens" who
would leave their "paltry reservations" and integrate fully into mainstream
American society (Morgan, 1889, pp. 94-96). At their worst, boarding schools
separated entire cultures from their language, traditions, and belief systems.
Sensationalized/unpopular wording: From time to time, you may wish
to use sensationalized or unpopular wording in your documents. Like any
other quotes, enclose them in quote marks, as I have done below. Notice
that I could not find the original case, so I cited Inciardi's reprinting
of the case and gave him credit for reprinting it in his book.
In sentencing a Spanish-surnamed defendant to death, a judge referred
to him as a "cold-blooded, copper-colored, blood-thirsty, throat-cutting,
chili-eating, sheep-herding, murdering son-of-a-bitch" (United States
v. Gonzales, 1881, as reprinted in Inciardi, 1990, p. 491).
Secondary citation: When I cited the above case, I gave credit to
Inciardi because I found it in his book. Sometimes, you will find other
juicy tidbits that you want to include in your writing even though you
can't find the source. This is especially useful when quoting people interviewed
in other writings. Secondary citations are actually double citations, one
for the originator of the material and another for making it available
to you:
Steiner and Brown (1927, pp. 136-137, as cited in Sellin, 1928) noted
that blacks were more likely to be sentenced to chain gangs while whites
convicted of the same offenses would be sent to prison.
Replete with errors: What if the source you want to cite has typos
in it? You have two common choices. First, you can quote it directly, including
the typographical errors, usually putting '(sic)' after the mistakes to
let your reader know that you know your source is in error. Second, you
can correct the spelling, but must technically consider this as editing
the original, so you must use brackets around your corrections. See how
both options were implemented with an extremely problematic excerpt from
In
Re Jesus Ramirez (1851, Tuolumne County, California, Case No. 516):
This is a suit fore (sic) Mule Steeling (sic) in which Jesus Ramirez
is indited (sic) for steeling (sic) one black mare mule... from Sheriff
Werk. I ... found Jesus Ramirez gilty (sic) of ... steelin (sic) the aforesade
(sic) mule sentenced him to pay the cost of Coort (sic) $10 and fined him
$100 more as a terrour (sic) to all evil dooers (sic).
This is a suit [for] Mule [Stealing] in which Jesus Ramirez is [indicted]
for [stealing] one black mare mule... from Sheriff Werk. I ... found Jesus
Ramirez [guilty] of ... [stealing] the [aforesaid] mule[,] sentenced him
to pay the cost of [Court] $10 and fined him $100 more as a [terror] to
all [evildoers].
Reprint: Sometimes you will want to use books that have been reprinted
or articles that have been reprinted. This is often true about anthologies
of readings that include reprints of good articles for use in classes.
If the pagination is changed, you should cite both editions of the publication.
Technically, you should try to get the original source, but sometimes that
is impractical because the reprint is of a hard-to-find manuscript. Below
is how to cite a reprint. The first year is the year in which the document
was originally published and the second year is the year of the reprint.
Sometimes there will be more than one edition of a work, such as below,
where one citation cites to the translation of the original 1764 publication
and the second cites to the translation of the fourth edition from 1775.
Beccaria (1764/1963) argued that justice often meant judicial favoritism;
the powerful met with favor from the courts while the powerless met with
severe sanctions.
Beccaria (1775/1983) argued that justice often meant judicial favoritism;
the powerful met with favor from the courts while the powerless met with
severe sanctions.
Unpublished documents: Just because a document hasn't been published
doesn't mean you don't have to cite it. Below are citations to a speech
made at a conference, an informal interview, an unpublished manuscript,
an unpublished grant report, and an unpublished dissertation. You could
also cite flyers, company literature, and other sources of information.
If you use it, cite it!
Three Akwesasne elders cogently summed up Native thought when they
lamented that the destruction of Native culture was "intentional" and that
"missionaries were very good at making us forget who we are" (Adams, Porter
& Thompson, 1993). These scholars recognize that oppression and racism,
in and of themselves, can facilitate violence.
The celebrated role of women is due, at least in part, to the equality
granted to women in Navajo creation narratives and ceremonies; indeed,
First Holy Man and First Holy Woman are carefully depicted as complementing
one another in all ways, showing the value of women (and men) in Navajo
society (Bluehouse, 1999).
Some Navajo police officers experience conflicts between the white and
Navajo justice norms during the performance of their duties due to their
traditional Navajo cultural values (Gould, 1997, p. 15).
In the only quasi-experimental comparison of family conflict cases on
the Navajo reservation, Gross (1999, pp. 32-36) found that cases proceeding
through peacemaking (versus the tribal criminal courts) were more likely
to result in lower rates of recidivism for the problem that brought the
disputants to court.
A number of educational scholars now feel that the negative results
were intended-- that boarding schools were not guided by admirable but
misguided instincts to do good for the Native American. Instead, these
scholars argue that the federal government felt that through the aggressive
use of boarding schools, it could "prepare Indian students in such a way
that they would not and could not return to their people" (Woodcock, 1986,
p. 5).
Three ways to cite one
quote:
It is important to recognize that there are many ways to cite any given
source. For this exercise, I have cited a quote three different ways. The
first usage of the quote is verbatim, with no editing. The second usage
of the same material involves using some of the words written by the original
author, but also involves some writing by me. The third use of the same
material involves no words directly attributable to the original author,
but still requires a citation because I got the idea from him. Read over
these three examples and see how they differ and how the citations differ
for each. Notice that I changed the quote marks to apostrophes when quoting
something the original author put in quotes. The use of apostrophes lets
your reader know that you are quoting a quote!
Exact quote, verbatim:
"A judge may dismiss charges against a person with a 'promising'
future, not wishing to jeopardize that future. But someone else may be
vigorously prosecuted for a minor charge because he is known to be a serious
troublemaker" (Feeley, 1979, p. 25).
Some exact words:
Judges may reward standing in the community by dropping charges against
those "with a 'promising' future" while allowing less fortunate individuals
to be prosecuted fully (Feeley, 1979, p. 25).
Idea only:
Defendants' standing in the community may affect the type of justice
they receive in our nation's courts (Feeley, 1979, p. 25).
Notice the differences between the three examples. If I were to rely on
a lot of verbatim quotes, like the first example, I would probably
get a lower grade than I am capable of simply because I did not do much
writing myself. In other words, you should reserve verbatim quotes for
really good material that is well-stated or needs to be quoted to convey
the original author's intent. Instead, you should use examples like the
second and third, because this requires you to think about the material
you have read. Here's a story to illustrate the point. In one of my classes,
a student turned in a draft that contained several vertabim quotes per
page. When I alterted her that the practice is "legal" as long as she used
quote marks and gave credit to the original authors, it would be hard for
me to give her a good grade because she hadn't actually written the paper
(i.e., the people she quoted had done most of the writing because all she
did was string their quotes together). She grumped and groaned, but went
home and rewrote the quotes, eliminating most of them and using just a
few words from the other quotes. When she turned in her final paper, I
was amazed at how much better it was! Through this exercise, she realized
that the original authors didn't have her ideas in mind when they did the
writing, so that made her a better writer than the people she quoted! A
good trick is to black out all of your verbatim quotes and look at the
paper to see how much of the writing is "yours" versus "someone else's."
If there's a lot of blacked out blocks, you might get a lower grade than
you would get if you rewrote the quotes and took just the ideas. Even if
you rewrite, of course, list a citation to the originator of the idea.
Now, you're ready to write and cite. Go do some cite-seeing of your
own and see how you can incorporate the ideas of others into your own writing.
Papers written by students who were caught
plagiarizing:
The following papers/poems were written by students who were caught
engaging in minor forms of plagiarizing. To protect their identities, I
have removed their names and identifiers.
Paper
#1: Plagiarism
Paper
#2: Your paper is due tomorrow
Paper
#3: Here's the scenario
Paper
#4: Plagiarism paper
more papers to come!
Bibliography (this list includes the
citations for the items used above)
Adams, J., Porter, T. and Thompson, M. (1993, September). Canadian
Akwesasne Community Peacemaking Process. Presentation at the 1993 National
Conference on Traditional Peacemaking: "Remaking Justice." Phoenix, Arizona.
Allen, P.G. (1986). The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American
Indian Traditions. Boston: Beacon Press.
Beccaria, C. (1963). An essay on crimes and punishments. New
York: Macmillan. (Translated by H. Paolucci and reprinted from Dei delitti
e delle pene, 1764).
Beccaria, C. (1983). An essay on crimes and punishments. Brookline
Village, MA: Branden Press Inc. (Translated and reprinted from Dei delitti
e delle pene, (4th ed.), 1775, London: F. Newberry).
Bluehouse, P. (1999, June 21). Interview with Philmer Bluehouse, traditional
Peacemaker.
Blumberg, A.S. (1967). Criminal Justice. Chicago: Quadrangle
Books.
Brasher, P. (1997, Sept. 17). Gangs spread to Indian reservations. Associated
Press Wire.
Bullock, H. (1961). Significance of the race factor in the length of
prison sentences. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science,
52,
411-417.
Burger, W.E. (1982). More warehouses, or factories with fences? New
England Journal on Prison Law, 8, 111-121.
Bureau of the Census. (1993). We, the First Americans. Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.
Eisenstein, J. and Jacob, H. (1977). Felony Justice: An Organizational
Analysis of Criminal Courts. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Feeley, M.M. (1979). The Process is the Punishment: Handling Cases
in a Lower Criminal Court. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
French, L. (1984). Native American victimology. Free Inquiry in Creative
Sociology, 12, 203-207, 210.
Gould, L.A. (1997). The dilemma of the Navajo police officer: Traditional
versus European based means of social control. Unpublished manuscript.
Greenfeld, L.A., Rand, M.R., Craven, D., Klaus, P.A., Perkins, C.A.,
Ringel, C., Warchol, G. and Maston, C. (1998). Violence by Intimates:
Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and
Girlfriends. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Greenfeld, L.A. and Smith, S. (1999). American Indians and Crime.
Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Gross, E.K. (1999). Preliminary Report to the National Institute
of Justice Regarding Grant #97-IJ-CX-0039.
Inciardi, J.A. (1990). Criminal Justice (3rd ed.). New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
In Re Jesus Ramirez Tuolumne County, Case No. 516 (1851).
Johnson, G.B. (1941). The Negro and crime. Annals of The American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 217, 93-104.
Kunitz, S.J., Levy, J.E., McCloskey, J. and Gabriel, K.R. (1998). Alcohol
dependence and domestic violence as sequelae of abuse and conduct disorder
in childhood. Child Abuse and Neglect, 22, 1079-1091.
Lindquist, J.H. (1988). Misdemeanor Crime: Criminal Trivial Pursuit.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Means, R. with M.J. Wolf. (1996). Where White Men Fear to Tread.
New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
Morgan, T.J. (1889. Supplemental Report on Indian Education.
House Executive Document no. 1, 51st Congress, first session, serial 2725.
Nardulli, P.F. (1978). The Courtroom Elite: An Organizational Perspective
on Criminal Justice. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
Neubauer, D.W. (1984). America's Courts and the Criminal Justice
System (2nd ed.). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Petersilia, J. and Turner, S. (1985). Guideline-based justice: The
implications for racial minorities. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
United States v. Gonzales United States District Court, New Mexico
Territory Sessions (1881).
Vicenti, C. (1993, September). Tradition and the Remaking of Justice.
Keynote address at the 1993 National Conference on Traditional Peacemaking:
"Remaking Justice." Phoenix, Arizona.
Weyermann, D. (1998). And then there were none: On the Navajo reservation,
a passion for blood sport. Harper's Magazine, April, 60-70.
Wilt, S. and Olson, S. (1996). Prevalence of domestic violence in the
United States. Journal of American Women's Association, 51,
77-82.
Woodcock, D.B. (1986). A Prototype for the Development of a Cadre
of American Indian Higher Education Administrators. Unpublished doctoral
thesis, University of Oregon.
Zatz, M.S. (1985). Pleas, priors, and prison: Racial/Ethnic differences
in sentencing. Social Science Research, 14, 169-193.
Zawitz, Marianne W. (1994). Violence Between Intimates: Domestic
Violence. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Zion, J.W. and Zion, E.B. (1993). Hozho' sokee'-- stay together nicely:
Domestic violence under Navajo common law. Arizona State law Journal,
25,
407-426.
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