Plagiarism can refer to a wide range of academic integrity issues both inside and outside of academic writing. The Writing Center’s plagiarism prevention modules focus specifically on the appropriate ways writers should incorporate and cite sources they use in their writing.

In these modules you will:

• Explore examples of plagiarism,
• Practice the appropriate way to cite sources to avoid plagiarism, and
• Learn about possible writing habits that might encourage or contribute to a writer plagiarizing.

Because there are different types of plagiarism, the Writing Center has created two plagiarism modules: Avoiding Overt Plagiarism and Avoiding Passive Plagiarism. Review the information about each module and watch the module preview below before choosing which one best fits your needs and will help you develop your writing and citing skills. 

If you have questions about which plagiarism prevention module to complete, Ask OASIS.

If you aren’t sure which module will best help you with plagiarism prevention, complete our plagiarism diagnostic quiz. This quiz will tell you which module would most benefit you. The diagnostic quiz takes about 15 minutes to complete.

Take the plagiarism prevention
diagnostic quiz!

Overt plagiarism is one type of plagiarism, often called “copy and paste” plagiarism. Writers exhibit overt plagiarism when they include direct quotes (word-for-word repetitions) of sources without proper attribution of that source: quotation marks and a citation.

This module might be appropriate for you to complete if you

• Are unsure how to include and properly cite quotations of sources in your writing
• Are unfamiliar with U.S. academic conventions for incorporating quotations of sources in your writing.
• Have received feedback from your faculty or the Writing Center that you need to incorporate more quotation marks and citations for quotations in your writing.

I’m ready to start learning!

This module should take 45-60 minutes to complete.

Passive plagiarism is another type of plagiarism, often called “patchwork paraphrasing.” This type of plagiarism most often occurs when writers do not properly paraphrase sources or include enough citations for their sources.

This module might be appropriate for you to complete if you

• Are unsure how to properly paraphrase sources or are new to APA, citing sources, or paraphrasing.
• Are unfamiliar with U.S. academic conventions for paraphrasing sources.
• Have received feedback from your faculty or the Writing Center that you (a) need to use your own word choice or sentence structure when paraphrasing or (b) need to add more citations of sources in your writing.

I’m ready to start learning!

This module should take about 1 hour to complete.

If you have questions or technical issues at any point, Ask OASIS.

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