Avoid Plagiarism,or How to Successfully use the Works of Others   Tags: copyright, plagiarism, plagiarize, science writing  

You can use the works of others but you need to follow copyrights and give credit where it is due.

Plagiarism is using someone else's work or idea, and passing it off as your own. (Oxford English Dictionary, 2009, online)

But, it seems difficult to avoid plagiarism because:

• You need to show you understand the topic using your own words and grammatical structure, without altering facts or meanings; and,
• To be clear and concise you will likely use scientific terminology, yet you still must avoid using someone else's words.

The information presented here is for your class work.

Each tab of this guide shows different ways of using the works of others:

In the simplest terms, "copyright" means "the right to copy." In general, only the copyright owner, often the creator of the work, is allowed to produce or reproduce the work or to permit anyone else to do so.

(From Copyrights: Canadian Intellectual Property Office)

Can students include copyright materials in their assignments and presentations?
Generally yes. Copyright has a fair dealing exception allows students to use works for research, private study, criticism or review. So provided the student is including the work for one of these purposes, and acknowledges the author and source of the material, and the use could be characterized as fair, bearing in mind fair dealing factors, it will likely be covered by the fair dealing exception.

This website was created with the research and writing assistance of Kristen Jensen, BSc (PT) & MLIS candidate, August 2009.

"Issues in Scientific Writing: Paraphrasing, Plagiarism, and Misrepresentation" by M. Eberle (Fort Hays State University, Kansas, USA) provided both inspiration and information for the Guide authors. With his gracious permission we have followed his example in presenting & analyzing different forms of plagiarism.