GSICS Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism*
Academic Affairs Committee
Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS)
Kobe University“Plagiarism” is a form of academic fraud. If a GSICS student is caught plagiarizing, thefollowing rules apply.
Memorandum of Understanding
Regarding Cheating on Examinations, Reports, Theses,
Dissertations, and/or other Assignments**
1. If a student is caught cheating on an examination, report and/or otherassignment in the Kobe University Graduate School of International
Cooperation Studies (GSICS), the following actions will be taken:(1) At the request of the course instructor, the chair of the GSICS Academic
Affairs Committee will appoint a hearing panel to investigate the alleged case,after which, the Faculty Meeting, when necessary, will impose the following
actions:a) The submission by the student of a self-evaluation report regarding his/her
act of cheatingb) Failing grades in all or some of the student’s courses, with the exception ofseminars, for the semester in which s/he was caught cheating.
(2) In serious cases, Kobe University student disciplinary policies and procedures
will be applied. These include the following: issuing of an admonitory warning,suspension or being expelled from Kobe University.
**Source: GSICS Guide Book, p.5

If you submit a plagiarized work of any kind, you must bear the consequences, as
indicated above. This guide explains what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. If in any
doubt, ask your supervisor for guidance.
* These guidelines are an excerpt from the website of plagiarism.org, with some revisions and additions
by GSICS. Each article on the website is provided by Turnitin.com and Research Resources and can be
downloaded from: http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_printable_handouts.html.
GSICS has obtained permission from Plagiarism.org to reprint and disseminate the articles on its
website.
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How to Avoid Plagiarism

1. What is Plagiarism?
Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas.
But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense:
According to the Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means
1) to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own2) to use (another's production) without crediting the source3) to commit literary theft
4) to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying
about it afterward.
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
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turning in someone else’s work as your own
copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of yourwork, whether you give credit or not

Attention!
Changing the words of an original source is not sufficient to prevent plagiarism. If
you have retained the essential idea of an original source, and have not cited it, then no
matter how drastically you may have altered its context or presentation, you have still
plagiarized.
Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply
acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience
with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent
plagiarism.

22. Types of Plagiarism
Anyone who has written or graded a paper knows that plagiarism is not always a blackand-white issue. The boundary between plagiarism and research is often unclear.
Learning to recognize the various forms of plagiarism, especially the more ambiguous
ones, is an important step in the fight to prevent it.
Sources Not Cited
1) “The Ghost Writer”
The writer turns in another’s work, word-for-word, as his or her own.
2) “The Photocopy”
The writer copies significant portions of text straight from a single source, without
alteration.
3) “The Potluck Paper”
The writer tries to disguise plagiarism by copying from several different sources,
tweaking the sentences to make them fit together while retaining most of the originalphrasing.
4) “The Poor Disguise”
Although the writer has retained the essential content of the source, he or she hasaltered the paper’s appearance slightly by changing key words and phrases.
5) “The Labor of Laziness”
The writer takes the time to paraphrase most of the paper from other sources andmake it all fit together, instead of spending the same effort on original work.
6) “The Self-Stealer”
The writer “borrows” generously from his or her previous work, violating policies
concerning the expectation of originality adopted by most academic institutions.

3Sources Cited (but still plagiarized!)
1) “The Forgotten Footnote”
The writer mentions an author’s name for a source, but neglects to include specificinformation on the location of the material referenced. This often masks other formsof plagiarism by obscuring source locations.
2) “The Misinformer”
The writer provides inaccurate information regarding the sources, making it
impossible to find them.
3) “The Too-Perfect Paraphrase”
The writer properly cites a source, but neglects to put in quotation marks text that has
been copied word-for-word, or close to it. Although attributing the basic ideas to thesource, the writer is falsely claiming original presentation and interpretation of theinformation.
4) “The Resourceful Citer”
The writer properly cites all sources, paraphrasing and using quotations appropriately.
The catch? The paper contains almost no original work! It is sometimes difficult tospot this form of plagiarism because it looks like any other well-researched document.
5) “The Perfect Crime”
Well, we all know it doesn’t exist. In this case, the writer properly quotes and cites
sources in some places, but goes on to paraphrase other arguments from those sources
without citation. This way, the writer tries to pass off the paraphrased material as hisor her own analysis of the cited material.

43. What is Citation?
A “citation” is the way you tell your readers that certain material in your work came fromanother source. It also gives your readers the information necessary to find that source
again, including:
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information about the author
the title of the work
the name and location of the company that published your copy of the source
the date your copy was publishedthe page numbers of the material you are borrowing

Why should I cite sources?
Giving credit to the original author by citing sources is the only way to use other people’s
work without plagiarizing. But there are a number of other reasons to cite sources:
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Citations are extremely helpful to anyone who wants to find out more about yourideas and where they came from.
Not all sources are good or right – your own ideas may often be more accurate orinteresting than those of your sources. Proper citation will keep you from being held
responsible for someone else’s bad ideas.
Citing sources shows the amount of research you’ve done.
Citing sources strengthens your work by lending outside support to your ideas.

Doesn’t citing sources make my work seem less original?
Not at all. On the contrary, citing sources actually helps your reader distinguish yourideas from those of your sources. This will actually emphasize the originality of yourown work.
When do I need to cite?
Whenever you borrow words or ideas, you need to acknowledge their source. The
following situations almost always require citation:• Whenever you use quotes• Whenever you paraphrase• Whenever you use an idea that someone else has already expressed• Whenever you make specific reference to the work of another• Whenever someone else’s work has been critical in developing your own ideas.

54. How do I cite sources?
This depends on what type of work you are writing, how you are using the borrowed
material, and the expectations of your instructor.
First, you have to think about how you want to identify your sources. If your sources arevery important to your ideas, you should mention the author and work in a sentence that
introduces your citation. If, however, you are only citing the source to make a minor
point, you may consider using parenthetical references, footnotes, or endnotes.
There are also different forms of citation for different disciplines. For example, when
you cite sources in a psychology paper you would probably use a different form ofcitation than you might in a paper for an English class.
Finally, you should always consult your instructor to determine the form of citation
appropriate for your paper. You can save a lot of time and energy simply by asking“How should I cite my sources,” or “What style of citation should I use?” before you
begin writing.
In the following sections, we will take you step-by-step through some general guidelines
for citing sources.

(1) Quoting Material
What is quoting?
Taking the exact words from an original source is called quoting. You should quotematerial when you believe the way the original author expresses an idea is the mosteffective means of communicating the point you want to make. If you want to borrow an
idea from an author, but do not need his or her exact words, you should try paraphrasing
instead of quoting.
How often should I quote?
Quote as infrequently as possible. You never want your essay to become a series ofconnected quotations, because that leaves little room for your own ideas. Most of thetime, paraphrasing and summarizing your sources is sufficient (but remember that you
still have to cite them!). If you think it’s important to quote something, an excellent ruleof thumb is that for every line you quote, you should have at least two lines analyzing it.

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How do I incorporate quotations in my paper?
Most of the time, you can just identify a source and quote from it. Sometimes, however,
you will need to modify the words or format of the quotation in order to fit in your paper.
Whenever you change the original words of your source, you must indicate that you havedone so. Otherwise, you would be claiming the original author used words that he or she
did not use. But be careful not to change too many words! You could accidentallychange the meaning of the quotation, and falsely claim the author said something they didnot.
For example, let’s say you want to quote from the following passage in an essay called“United Shareholders of America,” by Jacob Weisberg:“The citizen-investor serves his fellow citizens badly by his
inclination to withdraw from the community. He tends to serve
himself badly as well. He does so by focusing his pursuit ofhappiness on something that very seldom makes people happy in theway they expect it to.”When you quote, you generally want to be as concise as possible. Keep only the material
that is strictly relevant to your own ideas. So here you would not want to quote themiddle sentence, since it is repeated again in the more informative last sentence.
However, just skipping it would not work – the final sentence would not make sense
without it. So, you have to change the wording a little bit. In order to do so, you willneed to use some editing symbols. Your quotation might end up looking like this:In his essay, “United Shareholders of America,” Jacob Weisberg
insists that “The citizen-investor serves his fellow citizens badly byhis inclination to withdraw from the community. He tends to serve
himself badly… by focusing his pursuit of happiness on somethingthat very seldom makes people happy in the way they expect it to.”The ellipses (…) indicate that you have skipped over some words in order to condense
the passage. But even this version is still a bit lengthy – there is something else you can
do to make it even more concise. Try changing the last sentence from
“He tends to serve himself badly… by focusing his pursuit ofhappiness on something that very seldom makes people happy in theway they expect it to.”to
“He tends to serve himself badly… by focusing his pursuit of happiness on [money].”
The brackets around the word [money] indicate that you have substituted that word forother words the author used. To make a substitution this important, however, you had
7better be sure that “money” is what the final phrase meant – if the author intentionally left
it ambiguous, you would be significantly altering his meaning. That would make you
guilty of fraudulent attribution. In this case, however, the paragraph following the one
quoted explains that the author is referring to money, so it is okay.
As a general rule, it is okay to make minor grammatical and stylistic changes to make thequoted material fit in your paper, but it is not okay to significantly alter the structure of
the material or its content.

(2) Quoting within Quotes
When you have “embedded quotes,” or quotations within quotations, you should switchfrom the normal quotation marks (“ ”) to single quotation marks (‘ ’) to show thedifference. For example, if an original passage by John Archer reads:
The Mountain Coyote has been described as a “wily” and “single-minded” predator byzoologist Ima Warner.
Your quotation might look like this:
As John Archer explains, “The Mountain Coyote has been described as a ‘wily’ and‘single-minded’ predator by zoologist Ima Warner.”
Note the double quotes surrounding the entire quotation, and the single quotes around thewords quoted in the original.

(3) How do I include long quotes in my paper?
The exact formatting requirements for long quotations differ depending on the citationstyle. In general, however, if you are quoting more than 3 lines of material, you should
do the following:•••

Change the font to one noticeably smaller (in a document that is mostly 12 point font,
you should use a 10 point font, for example)
Double indent the quotation – that means adjusting the left and right margins so thatthey are about one inch smaller than the main body of your paper.
Do not use quotation marks for the entire quotation – the graphic changes you havemade already (changing the font, double indenting, etc.) are enough to indicate thatthe material is quoted. For quotations within that quotation, use normal quotation
marks, not single ones.

8•You might want to skip the line-spacing you are using in the document before you
begin the quotation and after it. This is optional and depends on the style preferredby your instructor.

(4) Citing Sources
Citation styles differ mostly in the location, order, and syntax of information aboutreferences. The number and diversity of citation styles reflect different priorities withrespect to concision, readability, dates, authors, publications, and, of course, style.
There are also two major divisions within most citation styles: documentary-note
citation and in-text citation. The documentary-note citation uses either footnotes or
endnotes to document sources so that information about your sources is readily available
to your readers but does not interfere with their reading of your work.
There are two major styles for the in-text citation. The first is the so-called parentheticalstyle, in which the author, publication date, and page number(s) appear in parentheses.
The second is the so-called running text style, which places the author outside theparentheses as part of the text. An example of the parenthetical style would be thefollowing sentence, taken from page 23 of a book written by Professor Scott in 1999:
One of the assertions is that “environmental reform in Alaska in the 1970s accelerated
rapidly as the result of pipeline expansion.” (Scott, 1999, p.23)
In the running text style, the sentence above becomes:
Scott (1999) asserts that “environmental reform in Alaska in the 1970s accelerated
rapidly as the result of pipeline expansion.” (p.23)
The in-text citation is generally considered an abbreviated form of citation, and it does
not require footnotes or endnotes, although it does require the equivalent of a “Works
Cited” page (i.e. Reference or Bibliography) at the end of the paper. It is easier to write,
but might interfere with how smoothly your work reads. See your instructor for
information on which form, documentary-note citation or in-text citation, is appropriate
for your paper.

Attention!
With so many different citation styles, how do you know which one is right for yourpaper? First, we strongly recommend asking your instructor. There are several factors
which go into determining the appropriate citation style, including discipline (priorities in
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an English class might differ from those of a Psychology class, for example), academic
expectations (papers intended for publication might be subject to different standards than
mid-term papers), the research aims of an assignment, and the individual preference ofyour instructor.

If you want to learn more about using a particular citation style, we have provided links
to more specific resources below.
APA Style••(American Psychological Association)

APA Style.org
http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx
Writer’s Handbook: APA Style Documentation
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html

Chicago Manual of Style••

The Chicago Manual of Style.com
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
Writer’s Handbook: Chicago Style Documentation
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html

MLA Style••

MLA Citation Style
http://www.mla.org/style
http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/mla.html
Writer’s Handbook: MLA Style Documentation
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocMLA.html

Turabian Style••(Modern Language Association)(an academic style that works in other disciplines as well)

Turabian Style Guide (University of Chicago)
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html
Turabian Citation Style Examples (Northwest Missouri State University)
http://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/citing/turabian.htm

Legal Style••

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (Cornell University)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/
Legal Research and Citation Style in the USA
http://www.rbs0.com/lawcite.htm
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5. Avoiding Plagiarism
In a research paper, you have to come up with your own original ideas while at the sametime making reference to work that’s already been done by others. But how can you tellwhere their ideas end and your own begin? What’s the proper way to integrate sources inyour paper? If you change some of what an author said, do you still have to cite that
person?
Confusion about the answers to these questions often leads to plagiarism. If you have
similar questions, or are concerned about preventing plagiarism, we recommend using thechecklist below.
A. Consult with your instructor
Have questions about plagiarism? If you can’t find the answers, or are unsure aboutsomething, you should ask your instructor. He or she will most likely be very happy toanswer your questions.
B. Plan your paper
Planning your paper well is the first and most important step you can take toward
preventing plagiarism. If you know you are going to use other sources of information,
you need to plan how you are going to include them in your paper. This means working
out a balance between the ideas you have taken from other sources and your own,
original ideas. Writing an outline, or coming up with a thesis statement in which you
clearly formulate an argument about the information you find, will help establish theboundaries between your ideas and those of your sources.
C. Take Effective Notes
One of the best ways to prepare for a research paper is by taking thorough notes from allof your sources, so that you have much of the information organized before you begin
writing. On the other hand, poor note-taking can lead to many problems – including
improper citations and misquotations, both of which are forms of plagiarism! To avoid
confusion about your sources, try using different colored fonts, pens, or pencils for eachone, and make sure you clearly distinguish your own ideas from those you foundelsewhere. Also, get in the habit of marking page numbers, and make sure that you
record bibliographic information or web addresses for every source right away – finding
them again later when you are trying to finish your paper can be a nightmare!
D. When in doubt, cite sources
Of course you want to get credit for your own ideas. And you don’t want your instructor
to think that you got all of your information from somewhere else. But if it is unclear
whether an idea in your paper really came from you, or whether you got it fromsomewhere else and just changed it a little, you should always cite your source. Insteadof weakening your paper and making it seem like you have fewer original ideas, this will
actually strengthen your paper by: 1) showing that you are not just copying other ideas
but are processing and adding to them, 2) lending outside support to the ideas that are11

completely yours, and 3) highlighting the originality of your ideas by making clear
distinctions between them and ideas you have gotten elsewhere.
E. Make it clear who said what
Even if you cite sources, ambiguity in your phrasing can often disguise the real source ofany given idea, causing inadvertent plagiarism. Make sure when you mix your own ideas
with those of your sources that you always clearly distinguish them. If you are discussing
the ideas of more than one person, watch out for confusing pronouns. For example,
imagine you are talking about Harold Bloom’s discussion of James Joyce’s opinion of
Shakespeare, and you write: “He brilliantly portrayed the situation of a writer in society
at that time.” Who is the “He” in this sentence? Bloom, Joyce, or Shakespeare? Who is
the “writer”: Joyce, Shakespeare, or one of their characters? Always make sure to
distinguish who said what, and give credit to the right person.
F. Know how to Paraphrase
A paraphrase is a restatement in your own words of someone else’s ideas. Changing a
few words of the original sentences does NOT make your writing a legitimate paraphrase.
You must change both the words and the sentence structure of the original, withoutchanging the content. Also, you should keep in mind that paraphrased passages stillrequire citation because the ideas came from another source, even though you are
putting them in your own words.
The purpose of paraphrasing is not to make it seem like you are drawing less directlyfrom other sources or to reduce the number of quotations in your paper. It is a common
misconception among students that you need to hide the fact that you rely on othersources. Actually it is advantageous to highlight the fact that other sources support yourown ideas. Using quality sources to support your ideas makes them seem stronger andmore valid. Good paraphrasing makes the ideas of the original source fit smoothly into
your paper, emphasizing the most relevant points and leaving out unrelated information.
G. Evaluate Your Sources
Not all sources on the web are worth citing – in fact, many of them are just plain wrong.
So how do you tell the good ones apart? For starters, make sure you know the author(s)of the page, where they got their information, and when they wrote it (getting thisinformation is also an important step in avoiding plagiarism!). Then you should
determine how credible you feel the source is: how well they support their ideas, thequality of the writing, the accuracy of the information provided, etc.

* These guidelines are an excerpt from the website of plagiarism.org, with some revisions
and additions by GSICS. Each article on the website is provided by Turnitin.com andResearch Resources and can be downloaded from:http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_printable_handouts.html.
GSICS has obtained permission from Plagiarism.org to reprint and disseminate thearticles on its website.
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