Criteria Used for Indiana University Plagiarism Tests
Classification rules, rules of thumb, and test clues are provided below. These are the criteria which you should apply when taking an Indiana University Plagiarism test. These criteria will help you to decide if a student version is word-for-word plagiarism, paraphrasing plagiarism, or not plagiarism.
The criteria listed below are not the only valid criteria for classifying plagiarism in every context. However, applying the criteria listed below should help you to be successful in the context of passing an Indiana University Plagiarism Test.
Decision Table: Apply repeatedly 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? |
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Yes |
No |
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Is at least one idea taken from the original source a direct word-for-word quote of 7 or more words? |
Not plagiarism:
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Yes |
No |
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Is the direct word-for-word quote missing any of the following:
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Is the paraphrased idea missing any of the following:
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Yes Word-for-word plagiarism |
No Not word-for-word plagiarism |
Yes Paraphrasing plagiarism |
No Not |
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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. However, on a Certification Test, you can only choose one of the alternatives. Think of ranking the choices from worst to best, as indicated by the rules of thumb below.
Rules of Thumb: Ask yourself before answering each test question
- Is there word-for-word plagiarism anywhere in the student version? If yes, select "Word-for-Word plagiarism." You're done with that question.
- 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.
- If there is no word-for-word and no paraphrasing plagiarism anywhere in the student version, then select "This is not plagiarism."
Perhaps an analogy from the U.S. legal system will help: felonies are the most serious crimes, and misdemeanors are less serious offences. We want our citizens to follow the laws (commit no felonies and no misdemeanors). While plagiarism is usually not a crime, word-for-word plagiarism is arguably more serious than paraphrasing plagiarism, but the goal is avoid both in our writing and speaking.
You may find our decision support tool helpful in leading you step-by-step through these questions.
Plagiarism Test Clues
- Some examples will include both word-for-word plagiarism and paraphrasing plagiarism. If both kinds of plagiarism are present, you must choose word-for-word for a correct answer. You would choose this if you follow in order the rules of thumb above.
- Sneaky plagiarism is the hardest kind to detect. See examples of such patterns.
We have seen students do this in their writing. In some places, they will paraphrase correctly, quote correctly, and cite correctly, but in other places they also include a string of 7 or more words in sequence taken from the source, or paraphrase without citation. This is still word-for-word plagiarism, if quotation marks are missing or the full in-text citation is missing which must include a specific locator (e.g., page number); or it is paraphrasing plagiarism if ideas in the source are used without clear attribution by proper citation.
If the reference is missing, it is still plagiarism even if the in-text citation is correct. Nothing can be missing that is needed to avoid plagiarism, according to the criteria in the table above.
Some test takers might claim that these are "trick questions." Nonetheless, plagiarism is still plagiarism, even if disguised this way.
- To avoid paraphrasing plagiarism: In a paragraph which summarizes someone else's ideas, the citation should occur in the sentence which begins the paraphrase. When done appropriately this way, the citation signals the reader when the paraphrase is starting. Paraphrased sentences that immediately follow need not be cited individually, as long as it is clear in each subsequent sentence whose ideas are whose. See also the examples and explanation here.
- Some people may believe that the "seven-words-in-a-row" criterion we use is too strict. Others may think it is too lenient (e.g., more than 3 words in a row from the source is word-for-word plagiarism).
- There should be no test question for which the right answer depends on determining if the idea taken from the original source material qualifies as "common knowledge."
For other ways of viewing this, see hints, decision support for answering test questions, and the diagram in the Overview section.