Plagiarism: Defined & a Contract

1. Plagiarism includes the literal repetition without acknowledgment of the writings of another author. All significant phrases, clauses, or passages taken directly from source material must be enclosed in quotation marks and acknowledged in the text.

Example 1:

Student A’s paper:

“Jane is aware of other passionate feelings that she still has for Rochester. She is not a woman who would deny herself any emotion she has. Jane would never sacrifice her own integrity for the sake of emotional gratification.”

Sparknotes commentary:

“Jane believes that ‘marrying’ Rochester while he remains legally tied to Bertha would mean rendering herself a mistress and sacrificing her own integrity for the sake of emotional gratification”

2. Plagiarism includes borrowing another’s ideas and representing them as one’s own. To paraphrase the thought of another writer without acknowledgment is to plagiarize.

Example 2:

Student B's paper:

"In anger, Jane cries out, 'You are like a murderer—you are like a slave-driver—you are like the Roman emperors' (Bronte 43). Jane's reference to John as a slave-driver is very fitting because Roman slave-drivers would suppress their slaves while also depriving them of an education. Mrs. Reed physically contains Jane after this whole incident by locking her up in the 'red-room.'"

Paper by Adam S., submitted February 22, 1996 in an English class at Vanderbilt University, stored in the databases at "Turnitin.com," a plagiarism prevention and detection resource to which Professor Umbach subscribes through John Jay:

"In anger, Jane cries out, 'You are like a murderer—you are like a slave-driver—you are like the Roman emperors' (Bronte 43). In this passage, Jane compares John Reed to a slave-driver because, like a slave-driver, he deprives Jane of her attempt at education and keeps her suppressed. Afterwards, Jane is blamed for the entire incident and experiences true physical containment as she is locked up in the 'red-room.'"

(This discussion of plagiarism has been adopted from Chip Rogers, Department of English, The Citadel )

PLEASE READ AND SIGN THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BELOW

I have read the above definition of plagiarism and understand it in its entirety. I have no further questions regarding what constitutes plagiarism. I understand that even a single act of plagiarism in this course will automatically result in a failing grade for the semester as well as potential disciplinary action from John Jay College.

____________________ ______________________ ___________

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