Intentional and Accidental Plagiarism

Two common types of plagiarism are Intentional and Accidental Plagiarism. Intentional Plagiarism, as the name implies, is when someone intentionally copies text or takes ideas from another author without citing them. This can sometimes be called mosaic plagiarism, especially when the writer only copies a little bit of text intermittently. On the other hand, there’s Accidental Plagiarism, which is by far the most common type. It happens when a writer forgets to cite their sources or does so improperly.

Plagiarism is considered an act of academic dishonesty whether it’s intentional or accidental. Thus, it’s important for you to know which citation method your professor has asked for, and how to use it.

Here are some examples of plagiarism:

Intentional Plagiarism

At 10pm, Jaime remembers she has a paper due at midnight worth 25% of her grade. She realizes that there’s no way she can write 15 pages on Emily Dickinson in two hours, so she finds a paper online that’s about the same topic. She downloads it, turns it in, and then hopes for the best.

Brandon really needs a good grade on his final paper for his psych class. He currently has a C+ in the class, and knows that a great final paper could bump his grade up to a B-, maybe even a B. As he’s looking through sources he might use, he comes across a few paragraphs that he thinks sound amazing and would be sure to land well with his professor. Brandon decides that after changing a few words he’ll put them right into his essay without citing where he got the paragraphs from.

Accidental Plagiarism

Willow couldn’t remember feeling as relieved as they were when they turned in their first paper at college. They were sure that they did a great job, putting a lot of hours into their ideas and sentences. It was only when they saw an email from their professor with a rather ominous subject line, “We Need to Meet- ASAP,” that it dawned on them: they forgot to cite their sources.

Ruben knew his professor wanted his references in University of Chicago style but when he tried to figure out how to do it, it made his head spin. So, he just mentioned the reference author’s name in the text and submitted his essay.