Avoiding Plagiarism

The first concern that ThinkQuest New York City needs to make known to all teams is that which we know will block your progress in entrance into the ThinkQuest New York City Library as a Quality Site. We are letting you know up front that these are things you need to know and abide by.

“What could that possibly be?”, you might be wondering.

“We’ve got a good topic, we’re working on a really good design, we’re collaborating…”

These concerns are: PLAGIARISM and INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

PLAGIARISM
Basically, plagiarism is using other’s work as if it was yours. You may not realize it, but certain practices lead others to conclude that other’s works are your own.Here are some of these practices:

  1. Using someone’s exact words and not putting quotation marks around them, which means the reader has no way of understanding this is not the work of the site author.
  2. Using someone’s work and not attributing the source.
  3. Paraphrasing so closely (same order of sentences, same order of paragraphs, same order of sections ), with merely a word substituted here and there. This indicates that the work is really still someone else’s. The intellectual work of re-thinking the meaning wasn’t done. This is true even if the source is given.
  4. Cut ‘N Paste: Using parts of several people’s work, which some think is original - Not!The sum of sentences from other authors doesn’t make the combination original,
  5. It is possible to plagiarize someone’s graphic work: taking an image and changing a small part. This also is copyright violation, in which an image cannot be “derived” . Look at Copyright Website: http://www.benedict.com for examples of this.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Intellectual property violations are legal concerns and include copyright infringement or trademark violation. ThinkQuest New York City takes the issue of intellectual property very seriously, and makes it clear in the ThinkQuest New York City Rules that infringement is not tolerated.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY covers “the properties generated by thought processes, creativity, and organizational capabilities of individuals and legal entities which are fixed in a tangible form” (Caseiro,2000, p.18). There are four kinds of intellectual property. We are most concerned with Copyrights and Trademarks in entries.

COPYRIGHT: First, think simply: If you did not write it, draw it, or produce the .gif or applet, etc….then you need to pay close attention to what is OK legally. Copyright means “Original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression “(Caseiro,2000, p.20) “Copyright” means that the author or artist or software developer claims protection for the expression of original work they did. They have the right to have their work used for pay or with permission, and their work cannot be used without permission. You can see this symbol: © on a work protected with a copyright.

One Frequently Asked Question is worth answering for all of you: “If something I see says “For Educational Use” or “For Personal Use”, can I use it on my site?”

The answer is NO. When you publish on the web, you publish for the whole world. “Educational use” means IN A CLASSROOM. “Personal Use” means for your private use.These are tough ideas to think about. If you have any questions about specifics, use the HELP DESK, but more importantly, ASK YOUR COACH.

Reference:
Caseiro, Chris. Basics of Intellectual Property. GPSOLO, American Bar Association, 17, 3, 18-23 (April/May).