Avoid Plagiarism

Crediting sources is a crucial aspect of any speech. Plagiarism—the passing off of another person’s information as one’s own—is unethical. To plagiarize is to use other people’s ideas or words without acknowledging the source. You are obviously plagiarizing when you simply “cut-and-paste” material from sources into your speech and represent it as your own. But it is also plagiarism to copy material into your speech draft from a source (such as a magazine article or website) and then change and rearrange words and sentence structures here and there to make it appear as if it were your own.17 For example, one form of plagiarism in a public speaking course is taking a written essay and turning it into a speaking outline. A student might read an article in the Atlantic Monthly on problems faced by refugees fleeing from a war-torn country. The student bases the entire presentation on this one article, outlining it point by point and turning it into a speech. Even if he or she acknowledges the source of the information, this is an act of plagiarism because the student copied the organization and structure of another person’s work; as much if not more an essential feature of the article than the facts and ideas is the unique manner in which the author expresses them.

Conceptions of what constitute plagiarism, however, do differ by culture. In schools and universities in the United States, strict policies require students to acknowledge the source of other people’s ideas or words. Students in Chinese culture, however, learn to memorize what famous philosophers or scholars have said and cite them directly, without attribution, in their written and spoken work.18 Chinese students who study in the United States sometimes struggle with learning the Western conventions regarding intellectual property.

Whether it’s done intentionally or not, in the United States plagiarism is regarded as a serious breach of ethics. When you present plagiarized material as your own speech material, you abuse the trust that an audience places in you. More than any other single action, acknowledging sources lets listeners know that you are trustworthy and will represent both fact and opinion fairly and responsibly.

Rules for Avoiding Plagiarism

The rule for avoiding plagiarism as a public speaker is straightforward: Any sources that require credit in written form should be acknowledged in oral form. These sources include direct quotations, as well as paraphrased and summarized information—any facts and statistics, ideas, opinions, or theories gathered and reported by others. For each source that requires citation, you need to include the type of source (magazine, book, personal interview, website, etc.), the author or origin of the source, the title or a description of the source, and the date of the source.

Oral presentations need not include full bibliographic references (i.e., full names, dates, titles, and volume and page numbers). However, you should include complete references in a bibliography or at the end of the speech outline. (For more on creating a written bibliography for your speeches, see Chapter 13 and Appendices BC and HI.) Rules for avoiding plagiarism apply equally to print and online sources. It may be tempting to copy information from a website without attribution, but you must always accurately credit direct quotations, paraphrased information, facts, statistics, or other information posted online that was gathered and reported by someone other than yourself. For specific guidelines on how to record and cite sources found on LaunchPad, see “From Source to Speech: Recording and Citing Web Sources” in Chapter 9.

Citing Quotations, Paraphrases, and Summaries

When citing other people’s ideas, you can present them in one of three ways:

Note how a speaker could paraphrase and summarize, with credit, the following excerpt from an article published in the New Yorker titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” by John Calapinto.

Original Version:

Açai was virtually unknown outside Brazil until 10 years ago, when Ryan and Jeremy Black, two brothers from Southern California, and their friend Edmund Nichols began exporting it to the United States. Since then, the fruit has followed a cycle of popularity befitting a teenage pop singer: a Miley Cyrus–like trajectory from obscurity to hype, critical backlash, and eventual ubiquity. Embraced as a “superfruit”—a potent combination of cholesterol-reducing fats and anti-aging antioxidants—açai became one of the fastest-growing foods in history. . . .

Compare the original version of the excerpt to how it could be properly quoted, paraphrased, or summarized in a speech. Oral citation language is bolded for easy identification.

Direct Quotation:

As John Calapinto states in an article titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” published in the May 30, 2011, issue of the New Yorker, “The fruit has followed a cycle of popularity befitting a teenage pop singer: a Miley Cyrus–like trajectory from obscurity to hype, critical backlash, and eventual ubiquity.”

Oral Paraphrase:

In an article titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” published in the May 30, 2011, issue of the New Yorker, John Calapinto explains that until two brothers from Southern California named Ryan and Jeremy Black, along with their friend Edmund Nichols, began exporting açai to the United States ten years ago, it was unknown here. Now, says Calapinto, açai is seen as a “superfruit” that can help with everything from lowering cholesterol to fighting aging through its antioxidant properties.

Oral Summary:

In an article titled “Strange Fruit: The Rise and Fall of Açai,” published in the May 30, 2011, issue of the New Yorker, John Calapinto says that açai, a fruit grown in Brazil that was unknown in this country until ten years ago, is now marketed as a “superfruit” that has powerful health benefits.

CORRECTLY QUOTE, PARAPHRASE, AND SUMMARIZE INFORMATION

imageIf directly quoting a source, repeat the source word for word and acknowledge whose words you are using.

imageIf paraphrasing someone else’s ideas, restate the ideas in your own words and acknowledge the source.

imageIf summarizing someone else’s ideas, briefly describe their essence and acknowledge the source.