Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is:

copying another person's paper
copying another person's words without putting quotation marks around them, and without citing it as a source
copying entire sentences and paragraphs from a print or electronic source without using proper documentation
giving your rough draft to another person to significantly write or revise in your place, then submitting the final draft under your name

Perhaps a more complete definition of plagiarism is provided by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA): "In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else's language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source."

At the Campus Writing Center, we make it our priority to help students become stronger, more effective writers through sustained interaction with tutors. In fact, we are more interested in your development as a writer than we are in perfecting your paper.

This is why Campus Writing Center tutors need you to participate actively in the drafting and revision of your paper. They may make suggestions or write down your ideas as you talk; but they will spend most of the session helping you evaluate what you have written and asking you questions.

You Can Reasonably Expect Your Tutor to:

Give you one-on-one guidance in any phase of the writing process (from research to grammar)
Help you get your ideas from mind to page
Help you understand the parameters (such as topic, format, and style) of an assignment
Help you decipher your professors' marks or comments
Point out errors or patterns of error in your writing, and discuss strategies to help you solve them
Help you locate appropriate sources of information
Answer writing-related questions and explain difficult writing concepts
Help you improve your own revising, editing, and proofreading skills

Your Tutor Will Not:

Predict what grade you'll receive on any assignment
Dictate content for or co-author your papers
Proofread your papers or edit your assignments (they'll show you how to do these things)
Eliminate all evidence of errors from your paper

Students should also be aware that the college currently subscribes to turnitin.com, an online service that provides help with plagiarism avoidance and plagiarism detection. For more details on this service, stop in the writing center or ask your instructor.