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ore than “a [stationary]
aircraft carrier,” which he described as “the USS Honduras.”2
2 See Walter Lafeber, Inevitable Revolutions (New York, 1989), p. 307-310 (quote p. 309): and Peter
Kornbluh, Nicaragua, in Michael Kiare ted), Low Intensity Warfare (NewYork, 1983), 139.
EXAMPLE #3
Lazy Plagiarism
In this example, the student may have made a sincere effort to write an original passage, but sloppy
research and documentation raise the possibility of plagiarism. Note the characteristic errors: confusion of
original and student’s language, quotation marks in the wrong place, improper or incomplete footnotes.
Originals
Source 1:
“Despite the strong public opposition, the Reagan administration continued to install so many
North American men, supplies, and facilities in Honduras that one expert called it “the USS
Honduras, a [stationary] aircraft carrier of sorts.” (Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions (New
York, 1989), 309.)
Source 2:
“By December 1981, American agents—some CIA, some U.S. Special Forces— were working
through Argentine intermediaries to set up contra safe houses, training centres, and base camps
along the Nicaraguan-Honduran border.” (Peter Kornbluh, “Nicaragua,” in Michael Klare (ed),
Low Intensity Warfare (New York, 1983), 139.)
Plagiarized Version
Despite strong public opposition, the Reagan Administration “continued to install so many North
American men, supplies, and facilities in Honduras that one expert called it the USS Honduras, a
stationary aircraft carrier of sorts.”3
In December 1981, American agents—some CIA Special Forces—were working through
Argentine intermediaries to set up “contra safe houses, training centres, and base camps along
the Nicaraguan-Honduran border.”4
3 Walter Lafeber, Inevitable Revolutions (New York, 1989). p. 309.
4 Michael Klare (ed), Low Intensity Warfare (New York, 1983)
EXAMPLE #4
Close Paraphrasing
Students anxious about committing plagiarism often ask: “How much do I have to change a sentence
to be sure I’m not plagiarizing?” A simple answer to this is: If you have to ask, you’re probably
plagiarizing.
This is important. Avoiding plagiarism is not an exercise in inventive paraphrasing. There is no magic
number of words that you can add or change to make a passage your own. Original work demands
original thought and organization of thoughts. In the following example, although almost all the words
have been changed. the student has still plagiarized. An acceptable use of this material is also
provided below.
Original
Shortly after the two rogues, who pass themselves off as a duke and a king, invade the raft of
Huck and Jim, they decide to raise funds by performing scenes from Shakespeare’s Romeo
and Juliet and Richard III. That the presentation of Shakespeare in small Mississippi towns
could be conceived of as potentially lucrative tells us much about the position of
Shakespeare in the nineteenth century. (Lawrence Levine, Highbrow, Lowbrow: The
Emergence of a Cultural Hierarchy in America (Cambridge, 1986), p. 10)
Plagiarized Version
Soon after the two thieves, who pretend they are a king and a duke, capture Huck and Jim’s
raft, they try to make money by putting on two Shakespeare plays
(Romeo and Juliet and Richard III). Because the production of Shakespeare in
tiny Southern towns is seen as possibly profitable, we learn a lot about t