Plagiarism: Types of Plagiarism

The most common plagiarism offenses are unintentional, so it's important to know what to avoid before you begin your research. Some of the most common mistakes include:

• Quoting something verbatim but not including a citation
• Paraphrasing or summarizing another text but not including a citation
• Paraphrasing poorly by rearranging sentences and simply replacing certain words
• Creating sloppy in-text citations and Works Cited pages

Avoiding these pitfalls is easy so long as you review the contents of this guide, give yourself enough time to complete an assignment, and be honest about which ideas are your own and which ideas come from others' works.

This useful graphic shows the most common forms of plagiarism, with the most severe at the top. Numbers 1 and 8 are intentional and flagrant plagiarism violations, but every other form could be committed either intentionally or unintentionally.

(image source: originally from plagiarism.org)

Specific examples and a more detailed description of each type you can find on the website of Turnitin or, click download 

Intentional plagiarism is often treated more severely than unintentional plagiarism. Students accused of plagiarism often admit that they knew what they were doing was wrong, but "had no choice" because they began the assignment too late or didn't do enough research beforehand. Regardless of the circumstances, intentional plagiarism (like intentional fouls in sports) is treated very seriously by Whittier College. Types of intentional plagiarism include:

• Purchasing a paper online and submitting it as your own
• Submitting a paper given to you by a friend, classmate, or family member
• Having someone else write a paper for you
• Submitting a paper you already submitted in another class
• Making up sources to cite

In each of these cases, even if you make substantial revisions, it's still considered plagiarism.