Avoiding Plagiarism and Lazy Writing

The two most common errors in writing research papers and reports are Plagiarism and Lazy Writing.
The information listed below defines both plagiarism and lazy writing. It will help students avoid the confusion which can arise when deciding how to use materials from various sources.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism takes place when one person uses someone else's ideas or exact words from a copyrighted source. Whenever something is fixed in some form (for example, a book, journal, electronic storage medium, or even a research paper written by a fellow student) the work is considered copyrighted.
It can be unethical or even illegal to use copyrighted material as one’s own work. Students who use copyrighted material without proper citation can expect to receive a low or zero grade on an assignment.

Students should consult their instructors on class policies regarding plagiarism.

When most students think of plagiarism they think of using someone else's words or ideas without properly citing the source. Although this is one form of plagiarism, others exist. If a student uses someone else's words or ideas, but changes only a couple of words, this is also considered plagiarism.

Examples of outright plagiarism:
We'll use a sample paragraph from Phyllis Ball's A Photographic History of The University of Arizona 1885-1985 (1987, p. 2) for illustration purposes. Ball wrote the following about the "Historical Beginnings" of the University of Arizona:

The bill that passed (the Arizona State Legislature) March 12, 1885, with its $25,000 appropriation, stipulated that 40 acres of land for a campus must be obtained in a year or the funds would lapse.

If you were to reproduce this passage without placing the material in quotation marks and citing the source, you would be guilty of plagiarism. But, plagiarism also occurs if you simply change a couple of words and use the rest:

The bill that passed (the Arizona State Legislature) March 12, 1885, with its $25,000 appropriation, stipulated that 40 acres of land for a campus must be secured in a year or the state appropriation would lapse.

Notice that we have merely changed a couple of words (shown in italics). However, the basic structure, tone and organization of the original source remains the same.

Lazy Writing
In Rosnow and Rosnow's Writing Papers in Psychology (1997), lazy writing is defined as a writing flaw closely related to plagiarism. In the case of lazy writing, however, material that is copied from a source word for word, or nearly so, is cited. When a student uses too much directly quoted material (even if it is correctly cited) in his or her writing, the result is paragraph after paragraph of another person's work, with very little of their own work included– this is lazy writing. At best the student can expect a low grade on his/her written assignment.

Remember, even if you change a couple of words here and there you are still engaging in lazy writing. Changing a few words doesn't make the work yours, since most of what the original authors wrote is retained.

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism and Lazy Writing
The best way to avoid plagiarism is to correctly paraphrase and cite sources. This goes for lazy writing as well. Keep the following rules of thumb in mind when writing a paper:

1. Properly cite the source of words and ideas that are not your own.
2. Paraphrase information from another source, providing a proper citation.
3. Enclose directly quoted material in quotation marks or set longer passages off in a block paragraph style. Provide the proper citation, which includes the page number(s) where the material can be found in the original source.
4. Use quoted material sparingly, supporting ideas you have written in your own words.
5. Written assignments you turn in should be written in your own words. Never turn in a paper that consists of large amounts of material taken from other sources with little of your own writing. Even if you have made some minor, cosmetic changes to the original material and properly cited the original source, the bulk of the assignment should be the student’s writing.

** Previously Submitted Works
Students are not allowed to write a paper for one class and turn the same paper in for another class during the same semester, or during ensuing semesters, even if the student makes modifications to the paper before submitting it on another occasion.

Previously submitted papers are stored in a database. The UA compares all submitted papers to this database to access originality.

©2007 The University of Arizona Dean of Students Office