Today you will

• learn what plagiarism is and how people slip into it by accident
• spot a quote, a citation, a paraphrase and an attribute
• rewrite one sentence from your investigation in your own words, with a citation

Warm-up

Say you change five words in a paragraph you found online, and you don't name the source. Is that still plagiarism? Be ready to say why.

Plagiarism is passing off someone else's words or ideas as your own, even by accident.

A quote keeps the exact words inside inverted commas.

A paraphrase puts the idea in your own words and sentence shape.

A citation names the source in brackets. Quotes and paraphrases both need one.

An attribute names the source inside the sentence, like "According to…".

Example

According to Fáilte Ireland, day-trippers from nearby counties caused most of the festival rise (Fáilte Ireland, festival note, date accessed).

You will sort these cards together as a class.

Common snags

• I only changed a few words. That is still plagiarism. Hide the source and rewrite the idea from memory.
• I forgot the citation. Add one now, and add the full entry to {{code:sm4_references}}.
• AI wrote some of it. Edit it until you can explain every line, and add one line saying what AI helped with.

Practise together first

Read this sentence from a source. Then look away from the screen.

Local visitor numbers rose after a weekend festival, mainly because of day-trippers from nearby counties.

1. As a class, say the same idea in a new sentence, from memory.
2. Look back at the source, just to check the facts.
3. Add a short citation together, like (Fáilte Ireland, festival note, date accessed).

Always use your memory first, then the source, then the citation.