On its surface, plagiarism seems pretty straight forward—if you copy someone else’s work and claim it as your own, you’ve plagiarized. At it’s most basic definition, that definitely true. But plagiarism is actually a little more complicated than that. Truth is, if you break it down, there are at least twelve different ways to plagiarize! Some violations are more serious than others but plagiarms, in any form, is serious. So let’s break this down to ensure you don’t accidentally plagiarize!
What is Considered Plagiarism?
The basic idea of plagiarism is that you unfairly and unethically take credit for work that someone else produced. While plagiarism is most commonly thought of in the writing of essays, it can also occur in artwork, live presentations, theater, business communications, and beyond. If you create something and you fill it with content or base it on ideas that other people developed—and you don’t give them credit by citing them as sources—you’re essentially stealing their intellectual property, or their own creative thoughts and ideas, and taking credit for it. Plagiarizing is considered a serious breach of integrity in nearly all industries and educational institutions. If you’re caught plagiarizing, you can often be fired, penalized, or expelled from a school or professional organization.
But plagiarism doesn’t just happen when you intentionally steal someone’s work and call it your own. At the root of plagiarism, if the original author/creator isn’t given appropriate credit for the work they produced, some form of plagiarism has occurred. And that’s where it gets a little muddy. Being careless, sloppy, or even unaware of the way you use and cite sources may actually lead you to plagiarizing someone’s work.
It’s important you understand all twelve types of plagiarism to ensure you’re haven’t plagiarized. See the graphic for quick reference and read the more detailed description below.
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Plagiarism Type #1: Miscue
What It Is
Miscue plagiarism occurs when you make errors in a citation, such as spelling the original author’s name wrong; citing the wrong person for the source; citing the wrong work; or even mis-citing page numbers or dates. Miscue plagiarism usually happens by mistake and it still shows that you are not trying to take credit. As such, even though all types of plagiarism is serious, this is considered the least serious type.
Why It’s Plagiarism
While you may have cited all your sources and credited others for work you didn’t produce, if you make errors in the way you spell their name, in what they actually said, or what source the quote or information came from, the original author isn’t being given appropriate credit for their work. If they’re not being given appropriate credit, you aren’t fairly using their work.
How to Avoid Miscue Plagiarism
Pay real close attention to all sources you cite. Double-check all spellings, page numbers, quoted words and phrases, and source material.
Plagiarism Type #2: Reflection
What It Is
Reflection plagiarism occurs when you cite all your sources correctly but your overall work unintentionally sounds similar in structure, tone, and concept to someone else’s. Often this type of plagiarism happens as a result of reading or viewing something that made an impression on your mind at some point in the past but over time you begin to think you originated the idea. Sometimes it occurs when someone is new to a field of study and they have been unknowingly influenced by a way of thinking and they begin to mirror it.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Even if it’s unintentional, generating a work that has a similar structure, tone, and/or concept isn’t fairly giving credit to the originator. Many famous examples of this have happened in the music industry, where an artist has written a song that sounds eerily similar to someone else’s, even from decades prior. Many lawsuits have been filed claiming this type of plagiarism. Claiming it was an accident or coincidence hasn’t always held up in the court of law.
How to Avoid Reflection Plagiarism
Sometimes this type is difficult to catch by yourself since you often subconsciously believe you originated the idea. The best way to avoid reflection plagiarism is to have others experienced in the field read your work and get their feedback before you submit it.
Plagiarism Type #3: Mosaic
What It Is
Mosaic plagiarism occurs when you cite all your sources but you provide very little, if any, of your own original thoughts. Mosaic plagiarism often looks or reads like a patchwork compilation of many others’ quotes, moving simply from one quote to the next without a clear or coherent thread that you develop.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Mosaic plagiarism may not seem like the traditional sense of plagiarism since you’re citing your sources and the final product doesn’t mirror another’s work. However, without including any of your own thoughts, you’re essentially copying and pasting others’ ideas and calling it something new. The issue occurs when readers get lost in the patchwork and have a difficult time telling what is a quote and what is your words. Readers may begin to think some of it is your own, especially if some of the quotations are lengthy.
How to Avoid Mosaic Plagiarism
Ensure that you are using sources to support and supplment your ideas, not be the ideas. Your main point or argument should drive the work with supportive evidence, not the other way around.
Plagiarism Type #4: Warp
What It Is
Warp plagiarism occurs when you cite your sources but you either misinterpret the source or you intentially omit parts in order to distort or place the quote out of context. Warp plagiarism misuses sources to suggest an original author’s work provides evidence to support your claim when, in fact, the original author meant something different entirely.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Warping, misunderstanding, and miscontextualizing sources may not seem like plagiarism because you are, on a technical level, citing sources accurately. However, the distortion of meaning created by an out-of-context quote essentially makes up the intent and original use of the source, which is very similar to a more serious type of plagiarism, Plagiarism Type #6: Ghost Citation.
How to Avoid Warp Plagiarism
Whenever you cite a source, be sure that you understand clearly what the original author meant; avoid warping that author’s meaning; and don’t omit critical parts of their original thought in order to fit the purposes of your own argument.
Plagiarism Type #5: Half-n-half
What It Is
Half-n-half plagiarism occurs when you cite some sources but not others.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Only citing some sources is deceptive. It leads the reader to believe you have ethically and accurately cited all sources yet it hides the fact that you used other sources, didn’t cite them, and thereby claimed credit for their work. Sometimes half-n-half plagiarism occurs accidentally when you believe something you are discussing is common knowledge (such as the earth is round) and doesn’t need a source. While it’s true that widely accepted common knowledge doesn’t always need to be cited, there is a gray area in determining if some types of knowledge are common or if the original author still needs to be cited.
How to Avoid Half-n-half Plagiarism
Cite every source you reference. If you are ever in doubt if something is common knowledge, always err on the side of citing.
Plagiarism Type #6: Ghost Citation
What It Is
Ghost plagiarism occurs when you either cite real sources that you never included in your work or you cite made-up sources that don’t actually exist.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Citing sources that never show up in your work falsely leads a reader to believe you referenced more sources—and thereby have more supporting evidence—than you actually do. This sometimes happens by accident when you write a section of a paper and include the reference in the works cited page but then later remove that section while editing and forget to remove the citation from the works cited page. Making up a citation altogether, however, doesn’t happen by accident and is much more serious. Making up sources to suggest evidence of your work is deceptively bolstering your argument and it is lying to the reader.
How to Avoid Ghost Plagiarism
Double-check that you don’t have references in the works cited page that aren’t addressed with in-text citations in your paper. Never simply make up a source that doesn’t exist.
Plagiarism Type #7: Remix
What It Is
Remix plagiarism occurs when you use somebody else’s work but simply modify the tone by adjusting diction, sentention structure, and occasional organization. The modification may sound different, but like a remix of a song, the original idea is still dominating the work.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Even though modifications have been made, the original concept is still there; you have not done enough to call it your own work. The one exception to this is if you are making a parady of an original. A parody will seem similar to an original work but your satirical adjustments are, in fact, creating an original idea. Parody and satire, if done correctly, are not considered plagiarism.
How to Avoid Remix Plagiarism
Ensure that your original idea dominates the work and that you beging your original work from scratch. Do not start from someone else’s work and attempt to rework it.
Plagiarism Type #8: Recycle
What It Is
Recycle plagiarism occurs when you reuse portions of your previously submitted or published work to fill in gaps in a new original work.
Why It’s Plagiarism
In educational institutions, instructors often expect you to create original work for a class to develop and showcase new learning. Reusing material from previous works is a shortcut and is often considered deceptive. Outside of school, reusing published work in a new original work can create copyright violations since your previously published work is often owned or controlled by the original publisher. Reusing old material in a new work without citing yourself is considered deceptive and can get you in a lot of trouble.
How to Avoid Recycle Plagiarism
If you need to use a portion of something you have created in the past, simply cite yourself as you would any other author. Make it clear that what you are citing is from a previously published or submitted document. If for a class, obtain permission from your instructor to use previously created material.
Plagiarism Type #9: Mitosis
What It Is
Mitosis plagiarism occurs when you duplicate an entire work of your own an reuse it for another class or publication.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Like with recycle plagiarism (#8), reusing old material and claiming it as new is dishonest in school and can be illegal with previously published works. Reusing material you have created previously without disclosing it is deceptive and lazy, it impedes learning, and it doesn’t showcase original work.
How to Avoid Mitosis Plagiarism
Never use an entire work for a new course or publication with express permission. If you need to use portions of a previous work, be sure to cite your previous work as you would any other source (see #8).
Plagiarism Type #10: Cherry-pick
What It Is
Cherry-pick plagiarism occurs when you use an entire work of someone else but you cherry-pick a few words and phrases to modify. The work is essentially that of another but you’ve updated a few terms and concepts.
Why It’s Plagiarism
While some words and phrases may have changed, the work is still that of another. Making minor tweaks to a document doesn’t make it original work.
How to Avoid Cherry-pick Plagiarism
Start your work from scratch and use sources to supplement your work. Never start with someone else’s work, no matter how small, and simply try to modify or tweak it.
Plagiarism Type #11: Copycat
What It Is
Copycat plagiarism occurs when you use some of your own work but you copy major portions of others’ works, integrate thme into your work, and claim it all as your own.
Why It’s Plagiarism
As one of the more serious and blatant forms of plagiarism, copycatting others’ works and intentionally hiding the fact that there is copied material between portions of your own work, is deceptive and unethical. Using others’ works, even if in sections, without citing them is a serious form of plagiarism.
How to Avoid Copycat Plagiarism
Never use portions of someone else’s work, no matter how small, without giving them credit. Cite all sources.
Plagiarism Type #12: Identity Theft
What It Is
Identify theft plagiarism occurs when you either pay someone to create a work for you; ask a friend or acquaintance to create a work for you; or use an artificial intelligence engine to create a work for you and claim that you created the work yourself.
Why It’s Plagiarism
Often considered the most serious form of plagiarism, this form cannot happen by accident. When you ask someone, pay someone, or program artificial intelligence to write or design a work for you and you claim that you created with your own mind, you are intentionally lying to the reader and to whomever you are submitting the work.
How to Avoid Identity Theft Plagiarism
Never ask someone, pay someone, or request an artificial intelligence program to create a work for you and then claim that you created the work yourself. Always create original work and give full and appropriate credit to anyone or anything that assisted you.