Shmoop on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is taking someone else's writing, ideas, or research and passing it off as your own. As you might guess, it is a tad frowned upon. In fact, we're frowning right now just thinking about it.

So if you find an awesome idea on the Internet or in a book—or, say, on Shmoop—that you think would be great in your paper, you must remember to state in your paper that you got it from another source. All the original writer wants is a little shout-out. Not too much to ask.

Here are some examples of plagiarism:

Copying Verbatim without Citation. This one's a no-brainer. Copying someone's work word-for-word without citation is like stealing someone else's signature move and calling it your own. Not good.

Copying Verbatim with Citation. "But I cited!" Too freakin' bad. If you don't put quotes around the copied section, it's still considered plagiarism. Don't try pleading ignorance on this one. It won't work. Plus, how hard is it to just put quotation marks around it?

Paraphrasing without Citation Feel like paraphrasing? Go for it. BUT CITE. If you don't, it's 100% plagiarism.

To see it in action...

Shmoop U.S. History says, "In the Columbian Exchange, ecology became destiny. Powerful environmental forces, understood by no one alive at the time and by very few people even today, determined who would thrive and who would die."

Paraphrasing in any of the following ways would be considered plagiarism:

• "Ecology was destiny in the Columbian Exchange. Strong environmental forces, which no one understood then, and few understand even now, dictated who would live and who would die."
• "In the Columbian Exchange, destiny depended entirely on ecology. The environment was a powerful force that no one understood. This ecological force determined who lived and who died."
• "The Columbian Exchange showed us that ecology became destiny. The fates of both the living and the dead were determined by powerful environmental forces that people did not understand (and many still do not understand today)."

And if you're not sure if you should cite...cite. We promise you won't get kicked out of school for citing too much.

Usually, your teacher will tell you what formatting you should use to cite your sources. But even if you get confused about the exact formatting, make sure that it's clear to your readers which information was taken from a source. Even if you have to write something as vague and unofficial as "The New England Journal of Medicine was here." You might get a few points docked for incorrect formatting, but at least your record will be clean.

Seriously, just don't do it.

High schools and universities treat plagiarism harshly: you can fail classes, be put on academic probation, or even get expelled. If plagiarism becomes exposed by the media, the public and career-related consequences can be devastating. We're talking losing your reputation, your job, and your freedom (orange looks good on no one). Don't believe us? Google it.

Plus...why do it? Have some respect for yourself—do you really think you're incapable of having an original thought? You're not.

And we're here to help. Throughout our content, we present multiple points-of-view and ask tough questions. We want to force you onto a soap box, force you to form your own opinions, and force you to argue for those opinions.

The takeaway? Plagiarizing isn't just illegal; it's disrespectful: to the original author, to your teachers, and to yourself.

If you're using Shmoop for school, go ahead and cite us. Quote us in your papers! Mention us in class! Shout our praises from the rooftops!

Just. Remember. To. Cite. (We even have a little "Cite this Page" button at the top of all of our Learning Guides to make the process easier.)

But for the rest of you in Internetland:

Copying the content from our free or premium content and putting it somewhere else on the web (your teacher blog, Answers.com, a cheat-site for essay writing, whatever)—even if you cite it—is illegal. (Thanks, 1998.)

So even if you think, "Oh hey, this content is super helpful. I'm going to share it with the masses, and it's totally fine because I'm citing it"...

It's not.

We need to keep the lights on over here at Shmoop, and if you put our content elsewhere, we lose business...and brand recognition...and SEO...and and and…

And did we mention it's illegal?

For those of you who want to subscribe to Shmoop, pay $24.68 one time, and then plaster our content all over the web…

Ha. Good luck.

Here are the Top 3 Reasons Not to Copy Our Content Somewhere Else

1. Real people worked hard to put out our smirk-inducing, epiphany-creating content. We spent too much time, energy, and Specialty's cookies budget for our content to be treated with disrespect.
2. You're getting tens of thousands of dollars of content for $24.68/month. If you don't think that's a good deal, then just...don't subscribe. Go ahead and find yourself a better deal, and we'll all go our separate ways.
3. We'll find you. Big Brother is alive and well. We've nastygrammed plenty of folks who've posted our content elsewhere on the Internet (and even printed it in hard-copy books), and our pride is on the line, so we'll do the same for you. You're welcome. Hope you have enough money to cover the lawyer bills. (If not, check out our Finance section for some tips.)