E.K. Sparks
    Clemson University
    Nov 27, 2000
    How to Convince Your Professor
    That Your Paper Isn't Plagiarized
    Make sure you clearly and explicitly connect your paper to the course you are taking
    • Respond exactly to the assignment, or clear any deviance/inventiveness with your prof
    • Connect what you are discussing up with things you have read/ discussed in the class; don't write on something that has nothing to do with anything else studied in the course
    • Discuss your topic with your prof early in the semester; get his/her suggestions for what to read and be sure you incorporate them into your paper
    Make sure your paper is contemporary and local
    • Cite some sources that have been published in the last couple of years
    • Use books and magazines available at the Clemson University library
    • If you use electronic sources that are not in hard copy at the Clemson library, be sure to document data bases etc.
    Preserve/hand-in the stages of your writing process:
    • Do a preliminary biblio with location of sources marked (ie, which have to be gotten on ILL, which you Xeroxed on your trip to Athens or Columbia, which come from books the prof lent you, etc)
    • Xerox articles and print-out electronic sources
    • Keep your note cards, notes, outlines etc.
    • Do and hand in on time all parts of the assignment that your professor may require (such as proposal, initial bibliography, annotations or summaries of crucial sources, rough drafts, editing)
    • Have and be ready to hand in a xerox of every page from which you quoted (book, magazine, CD, Web site)
    Document your sources correctly
    • Give a source and a page number every single time you quote.
    • Use up-to-date MLA-style parenthetical documentation (footnotes are a dead give away that your paper is decades old).
    • Be paranoid about always quoting when you are using someone else=s ideas. It is usually hideously obvious when students steal from professional writers.
    • If you use sources off the Internet, be sure you have the COMPLETE URL, the exact address the prof would have to type in to get to the exact page you are referring to. Check your URLs before you hand the paper in to make sure they are correct and really work and/or enclose print-outs of sources with your paper.
    Choose reputable and documentable sources
    • Except in special circumstances, cleared with your prof, use a good mixture of print and electronic sources. Don't base your whole paper on Internet sources; make sure you also have investigated the best books and articles in the library.
    • If a website has no posted author and no sponsoring organization, maybe what it says isn't worth quoting
    • Look at the domain name for web sites. .Coms are trying to sell you something: what?  Your best bets are generally .edu, .org, and .gov.  Some of the credibiility of your source will come from the reputation of the sponsoring organization, so always be sure to go through the whole site and find out who is operating it.

     

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    Last update: 11/27/00