{"id":2026,"date":"2019-04-16T13:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/scholarlywriting\/chapter\/plagiarism-and-self-plagiarism-2\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T17:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:32:40","slug":"plagiarism-and-self-plagiarism-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/chapter\/plagiarism-and-self-plagiarism-2\/","title":{"raw":"Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism","rendered":"Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism"},"content":{"raw":"

Plagiarism involves integrating another person\u2019s ideas and intellectual material into your writing without giving them credit or citing them<\/b>. In nursing, you will cite sources including peer-reviewed journals, textbooks, and websites. It might seem funny, but you can also plagiarize yourself: self-plagiarism <\/b>is a type of plagiarism where you don\u2019t reference ideas that you previously wrote about in other assignments\/papers. <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Why do people plagiarize?<\/h2>\r\n

Sometimes a writer plagiarizes work on purpose, for example, by copying and pasting or purchasing an essay from a website and submitting it as original work. See Figure 9.2<\/b>. This may happen because the writer has not managed their time<\/strong> and has left the paper to the last minute, or has struggled with the writing process<\/strong> or the topic. This can lead to desperation and cause the writer to take credit for someone else\u2019s ideas.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In other cases, a writer may commit accidental plagiarism<\/strong> due to carelessness, haste, or misunderstanding. A writer may be unable to provide a complete, accurate citation because they neglected to record the bibliographical information, for example, by cutting and pasting from a website and then forgetting where the material came from. Or, a writer who procrastinates may rush through a draft, which easily leads to sloppy paraphrasing and inaccurate quotations. These careless actions can create the appearance of plagiarism and lead to negative consequences.<\/span><\/p>\r\nBoth types of plagiarism have serious consequences that can affect your success in your program<\/strong>.\r\n

\u00a0<\/span>\"A<\/p>\r\n

Figure 9.2:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Plagiarism<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Turnitin<\/h2>\r\nTurnitin is a tool that helps instructors identify plagiarism. Your instructor may provide a link for you to submit your paper to the Turnitin website for scanning. This detection service compares your writing to a vast collection of writing (including Internet sources and other student papers) from around the world. It uses a similarity index to identify components of your writing that are similar to other sources. Don\u2019t plagiarize \u2013 turnitin will catch you!\r\n\r\nHow to avoid plagiarism?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nYou can avoid plagiarism by following these simple rules (also, see Film Clip 9.2<\/strong>):\r\n