Plagiarism, the inappropriate use of other's work, is a growing problem on high school and university campuses.  A Wellsley College student, Sarah Parks, has described the problem succinctly:  http://firstclass.wellesley.edu/~sparks/cs100/rp1.html

In courses at George Mason University, as at all universities, all work must be your own.  Inappropriate use of others' work without attribution is plagiarism, and constitutes an Honor Code violation ( http://www.gmu.edu/facstaff/handbook/aD.html ).

Please familiarize yourself with its provisions.  Honor Code violations can be punished by explusion from the University.  When in doubt, ask for guidance from your instructors!  Also, see further below for suggestions on writing and plagiarism self-identification.

The last five years at the School of Public Policy, I have encountered about a dozen plagiarism cases.  These cases arose despite special efforts to inform students about School and University policies  about plagiarism, to provide them with resources to check their work and take appropriate steps to correct any problems, and with repeated notification that students' work would be subjected to plagiarism checking services to which the School of Public Policy now subscribes.

General steps to combat plagiarism will contribute to raising the quality and integrity of all student work, including the final project.  I propose that departments consider adopting the policies outlined in this document:  http://mason.gmu.edu/~tlaporte/plagiarism_suggestions.html

To guard against plagiarism, written work will be checked against existing published materials.  Accordingly, all materials for this course are required to be submitted in both electronic and hardcopy form. Frequently used plagiarism detection services include:

Turnitin.com
http://www.turnitin.com

Interiguard.com
http://www.integriguard.com/

Glatt Plagiarism Program
http://www.plagiarism.com/

Word Check Systems.com
http://www.wordchecksystems.com/

For lists of "term paper mills" that share or sell term papers, see http://www.coastal.edu/library/mills2.htm . I'm sure you can do work that is much higher quality than what is purveyed there.

In addition, some Internet search engines are particularly effective in identifying plagiarized material.  To use them effectively, copy or type in short phrases of suspect material from several different places in the text to be tested.  Unusual phaseology or writing styles, writing that is "too perfect," or texts that are not precisely on topic are sometimes indications of unattributed texts.:

Google
http://www.google.com

Altavista.com
http://www.altavista.com

Where the work of others is used, even paraphrased, it must appropriately referenced, including material taken from on-line sources.  If you have any questions about identifying possible plagiarism in your own work, including proper referencing practice, contact the

University Writing Center
http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/

or read the information on plagiarism self-detection from

Indiana University Writing Tutorial Services
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html , or

Hamilton College Writing Center
http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/resource/wc/AvoidingPlagiarism.html.

And always, when in doubt, ask for guidance from your instructors!

Todd M. La Porte
School of Public Policy
George Mason University
tlaporte *at* gmu.edu
http://mason.gmu.edu/~tlaporte/plagiarism.html

Updated November 13, 2002