1. Last summer, my family and I traveled to Chicago, which was quite different from the rural area I grew up in. We saw the dinosaur Sue at the Field Museum, and ate pizza at Gino's East.
My response to number one is that it is not an example of plagiarism. The references are just names. There are no quotations or specific ideas or opinions to cite.
2. Americans want to create a more perfect union; they also want to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for everybody.
This is plagiarism for sure. Here you have fragments of the constitution being used without any reference what so ever. If the author was trying to paraphrase, it is far to close to the original in my opinion. I would certainly use quotations and a citation when using the U.S. constitution. Or I would paraphrase without using nearly the exact wording found in the original. Either way there needs to be a parenthetic citation here at the end.
3. I find it ridiculous that 57% of high school students think their teachers assign too much homework.
This is likely plagiarism. The reader would no doubt appreciate the origin of this statistic, even if it is a result of the author's personal study. Use a parenthetic citation here at the end.
Numbers 4, 5, and 6 all refer to the following passage from Martin Luther King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail":
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.
4. Martin Luther King was certain that nobody would want to be contented with a surfacy type of social analysis that concerns itself only with effects and doesn't deal with root causes.
This is a fine paraphrase of the original idea. It captures the essence without stealing any of the wording. However, the author didn't use a citation at the end of the sentence or paragraph. Unfortunately this could be considered plagiarism.
5. Martin Luther King wrote that the city of Birmingham's "white power structure" left African-Americans there "no alternative" but to demonstrate ("Letter from the Birmingham Jail" para. 5).
Overall I see no plagiarism here. However, this is confusing to the reader because the author has their own words mixed in too closely with the original. I would consider quoting the entire sentence here instead, or perhaps paraphrase completely. The citation at the end looks fine.
6. In "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," King writes to fellow clergy saying that although they "deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, your statement fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations."
The quotations here look good but again, the citation is missing at the end of the sentence.
7. My friend Kara told me that she loves living so close to the ocean.
This is fine. There is nothing here that requires citation. This would fall under the "common knowledge" category I suppose.
8. Americans are guaranteed the right to freely gather for peaceful meetings.
As far as I know this is acceptable. Unless it's stolen from something I just don't recognize. I'd say it's fine. It appears to be the author's personal or original concept.
This assignment has given me a more focused perspective on what is and what is not plagiarism. I learned a little about it in my English 101 class but this assignment has taken it much further. In the future I can avoid plagiarism by taking notes as I use various sources. I can follow the COP (collect, organize, punctuation) guidelines of the given format required for my situation. If I should have questions about citation, I have many resources online including our library. I also own a copy of "The Curious Researcher" in the event that I need a reference. Above all, I've learned that it's very important to understand plagiarism so you don't have to find out the hard way. As long as I follow these precautions I should be able to avoid plagiarism throughout my academic and professional life.
