How to Recognize Plagiarism:
Tutorials and Tests

Original Source Material:

Five first principles are elaborated: (a) Learning is promoted when learners are engaged in solving real-world problems. (b) Learning is promoted when existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new knowledge. (c) Learning is promoted when new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner. (d) Learning is promoted when new knowledge is applied by the learner. (e) Learning is promoted when new knowledge is integrated into the learner’s world.

Reference

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

Student Version:

Learning is promoted when first principles of instruction are implemented. Students should solve authentic problems, arranged from simple to complex. Merrill (2002) claims that learning is further promoted when "existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new knowledge, ... new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner, ... new knowledge is applied by the learner, and ... when new knowledge is integrated into the learner’s world" (p. 43).

Reference

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

The student version is paraphrasing plagiarism. Although the the reference is included, the in-text citation with the author and date are missing for the paraphrased text in the beginning 2 sentences.

The placement of the citation in the 3rd sentence makes it appear that the first 2 sentences are the student's own ideas. The 3rd sentence does acknowledge Merrill with a correct quote which includes the citation, quotation marks, locator, and reference. The 3rd sentence is not plagiarized.

Notice that, in the corrected version, the citation for the first 2 paraphrased sentences now occurs in the beginning, so now the reader can see that these are Merrill's ideas, not the student's. The bridging text for the 3rd sentence makes it clear that the source is still Merrill (2002), where his exact words are surrounded by quotation marks, and a locator is provided.

Merrill (2002) claims that learning is promoted when first principles of instruction are implemented. Students should solve authentic problems, arranged from simple to complex. He also says that learning is further promoted when "existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new knowledge, ... new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner, ... new knowledge is applied by the learner, and ... when new knowledge is integrated into the learner’s world" (p. 43).

Reference:

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.