Plagiarism is an Improvised Explosive Device

The University says that professors ought report instances of plagiarism to the University academic integrity committee. Whether it is a matter of penalty or a matter of educating the student about academic integrity, they want to know--in part to protect the reputation of the University, in part to make sure you don't continue to do something that will eventually get you in trouble. Some of my colleagues tell me that they do this as a matter of course, and are pleased with how the committee handles this.  

The Graduate School might even put your dissertation through Turnitin--it seems they might well do so (see below). In any case, now that dissertations are part of the Digital Library, others can readily gain access and if they wish they can put it through Turnitin. Also, pdf's of past dissertations are available from Pro-Quest. Hence, plagiarism turns your thesis into an landmine or an Improvised Explosive Device.

I mention all this because at least some students' work, and even some dissertations I have reviewed, have pervasive "mosaic" plagiarism. I'll give you an example, using text from this email:

Original text: Whether it is a matter of penalty or a matter of educating the student about academic integrity, they want to know--in part to protect the reputation of the University, in part to make sure you don't continue to do something that will eventually get you in trouble.  

Plagiarism:  It is a matter of penalty or a matter of educating the student about academic integrity, the academic integrity committee needs to protect the reputation of the University. (Krieger, 2013)  

This will get you in trouble: The reference is there but the fact that some of the text is quoted verbatim is not indicated nor is a page given.

Right Way:  "[I]t is a matter of penalty or a matter of educating the student about academic integrity," the academic integrity committee needs "to protect the reputation of the University . . ." (Krieger, 2013, p. 1)  

Note that I have used brackets around the initial letter of the first word, to indicate that it is not capitalized in the original, and " . . ." at the end to indicate that the quoted passage is part of a longer text and does not end at a period.

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In the Graduate School's presentation about Thesis and Dissertation Process, they have the above slide. If you are unsure of how to avoid plagiarism, there is good guidance provided by every university. In effect, you never want to use someone else's words without quotation marks and reference (page also), their ideas without reference (and pages). If you are paraphrasing, give a reference. If you are quoting from someone's article where what you are quoting is a quote from another source, go back to the original source, and then give that reference and the reference where you got the quote in the first place. 

It's not just a matter of academic integrity. Scholarship is a network of research presented in articles and by giving the right references, you show that you are a member of the community. On the other hand, it is quite likely that the person you quote without attribution will read your work (they share your interests!, who else will read your work?). No one wants to be ripped off.

There is no reason for you to worry if you follow standard practice. (My experience has been that people who tell me, "I am not a plagiarist" or "I am not a cheater" are almost always deceiving themselves, often because they do not appreciate just what is academic integrity.) 

Proudhon's "property is theft," does not have many scholars' agreement, because their property is their words and ideas. On the other hand, they depend on your referring to their work for it to be influential. Hence the peculiarities of scholarly reference. 

To quote a bit, with attribution, is divine. To quote lots is to violate fair use.