How to Recognize Plagiarism:
Tutorials and Tests

Hints

Rules of Thumb: Ask yourself before answering each test question

1. Is there word-for-word plagiarism anywhere in the student version? If yes, select "Word-for-Word plagiarism." You're done with that question.
2. If there is no word-for-word plagiarism, is there paraphrasing plagiarism anywhere in the student version? If yes, select "Paraphrasing plagiarism." You're done with that question.
3. If there is no word-for-word and no paraphrasing plagiarism anywhere in the student version, then select "This is not plagiarism."

What complicates matters is that the student version can contain parts that are word-for-word plagiarism, and parts that are paraphrasing plagiarism, and parts that are not plagiarized. The rules of thumb should be used to make your choice on each test item.

Decision Table: Repeat until all parts of the student version are evaluated

Does some part of the student version borrow ideas from someone else's original source material?
Yes				No
Is at least one idea taken from the original source a direct word-for-word quote of 7 or more words?				Not plagiarism: When the idea is common knowledge or the writer's own idea.
Yes		No
Is the direct word-for-word quote missing any of the following: quotation marks? full in-text citation that includes a specific locator? reference?		Is the paraphrased idea missing any of the following: in-text citation? reference?
Yes Word-for-word plagiarism	No Not word-for-word plagiarism	Yes Paraphrasing plagiarism	No Not paraphrasing plagiarism

Note: when one part of the student version is word-for-word plagiarism and another part is paraphrasing plagiarism, select word-for-word plagiarism for your answer.

The student version is:

Word-for-word plagiarism if it

1. borrows ideas from the original source material, and
2. takes seven or more words in sequence from the original source material, and
3. lacks any of the following:
   • quotation marks surrounding the words taken,
   • the full in-text citation with author name(s), the date, and must include the specific location within the source (e.g., page number or other locator) where the words are taken from,
   • the bibliographic reference.

Paraphrasing plagiarism if it

1. borrows ideas from the original source material, and
2. is not word-for-word plagiarism, and
3. lacks any of the following:
   • the in-text citation with author name(s) and date (specific locator is not required),
   • the bibliographic reference.

Not plagiarism if it contains

1. no word-for-word plagiarism, and
2. no paraphrasing plagiarism, and
3. no other form of plagiarism, such as borrowing illustrative material without acknowledging the source (e.g., photos, drawings, diagrams, etc.).

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See also:

• Instruction: arranged from easy to hard, includes practice with immediate feedback
• Decision support: step-by-step help for answering Certification Test questions
• Indiana University test criteria: decision table, rules of thumb, test clues
• Quiz: What Is Plagiarism at Indiana University? 10 questions with immediate feedback which progressively identify salient criteria for identifying plagiarism
• Patterns of plagiarism: examples of 15 patterns of plagiarism + 3 patterns of non-plagiarism.
• An exemplary paper: that avoids plagiarism, with color coding of key elements for proper quotations, paraphrasing, citations, and references (in APA Style).

Note: These online Plagiarism Tutorials use the style of the American Psychological Association (APA Style, Version 6) for quotations, citations and references. In our tutorials and tests, determination of type of plagiarism and non-plagiarism does not depend on whether APA style conforms to the latest version (now 7). The same rules apply regardless--see https://plagiarism.iu.edu/IUcriteria.html. See the Purdue OWL website for examples of other styles such as MLA, Chicago, and AMA.