Avoiding Plagiarism

In the following examples, the first paragraph presents source material that a student wants to cite. Below the source material is several examples of how the student incorporated the source material within his/her own work.

Directions:
1. 1. For each Potential Use, choose whether the use is acceptable or constitutes plagiarism. You can highlight or change the font color.
2. 2. Then, explain and support your choice for each Potential Use.
3. 3. If the Potential Use constitutes plagiarism, rewrite the passage to be acceptable.

Source Material

It is a technical impossibility to write about any great Russian poet without quoting poetry. It is another technical impossibility (overcome so rarely, it is the exception that proves the rule) to feel a poet’s greatness through the haze of translation. This should be kept in mind when reading snippets of Mandelstam in our restrained prose translations, or anyone else in almost any translation. To finish the preamble, let only this be said: Mandelstam’s poems rank among the best, the most improbable, the most magical texts written in a human language. Trust me.

Passage from “Never Anyone's Contemporary” by Viktor Sonkin, p. 38

Potential Use #1

In his article, “Never Anyone’s Contemporary,” Victor Sonkin argues that Osip Mandelstam is considered one of the great modern poets of Russia. Mandelstam’s poetry has survived because his wife managed to smuggle his work to the West; however, it is very difficult for Westerners to understand or feel this poet’s greatness through the haze of translation. Part of the tragedy which extends beyond Mandelstam’s early death is that few modern readers are truly able to appreciate the poetry of Mandelstam which, according to Sonkin, “rank[s] among the best, the most improbable, the most magical texts written in a human language” (38).

Acceptable Plagiarized

Why? This is acceptable because the mention Sonkins before the quote and give the page number at the end of the quote.

Rewrite:

Potential Use #2

Victor Sonkin, in the article “Never Anyone’s Contemporary,” discusses the great Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. In the introduction to the article, Sonkin laments that Westerners who do not speak Russian are unable to truly appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of Mandelstam’s poetry. Sonkin encourages Western readers to keep this fact “in mind when reading snippets of Mandelstam in our restrained prose translations, or anyone else in almost any translation.” Sonkin then concludes his remarks with a rousing endorsement, “Mandelstam’s poems rank among the best, the most improbable, the most magical texts written in a human language.”

Acceptable Plagiarized

Why? At the end of each quote they forgot to put the page number.

Rewrite: Victor Sonkin, in the article “Never Anyone’s Contemporary,” discusses the great Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. In the introduction to the article, Sonkin laments that Westerners who do not speak Russian are unable to truly appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of Mandelstam’s poetry. Sonkin encourages Western readers to keep this fact “in mind when reading snippets of Mandelstam in our restrained prose translations, or anyone else in almost any translation.” (38) Sonkin then concludes his remarks with a rousing endorsement, “Mandelstam’s poems rank among the best, the most improbable, the most magical texts written in a human language.” (38)

Potential Use #3

In his article, “Never Anyone’s Contemporary,” Victor Sonkin argues that Osip Mandelstam is considered one of the great modern poets of Russia. Mandelstam’s poetry has survived because his wife managed to smuggle his work to the West; however, it is very difficult for Westerners to understand or “feel [this] poet’s greatness through the haze of translation” (38). Part of the tragedy which extends beyond Mandelstam’s early