If you take 2-3 paragraphs from other people's opinions from the internet and make an essay of their opinions is that plagiarism?

Answer 1

It depends on how you 'take' what they say and what is meant by 'make an essay of their opinions.'If you copy what they say word for word you must credit your source. Otherwise, you are plagiarizing. If you are paraphrasing them you still need to cite your source unless their opinion would be considered common knowledge.

If you take what other people are saying and just put it together and call it your own you are plagiarizing. If by "make an essay of their opinions" you mean you are using their opinions as a starting point to discuss their opposing points of view then it would not be plagiarism as long as you properly cited your sources.

To better understand what constitutes plagiarism, refer to the following:

Is It Plagiarism If You Take Other People's Opinions Off The Internet?There is sometimes an email address that you can contact the person and ask their permission and if they say yes, then print out that email and keep it for proof. You can also take what they say and turn it around or change some of the wording and it's not considered plagiarism, but if you write word-for-word without their permission or changing things around then it is.

The followinging is from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia:

Very simply, plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of other people's ideas or work. Plagiarism is often unintentional and can be avoided through careful work habits. Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism is recognized as a serious academic offence.

These are some examples of plagiarism. Some are obvious, but some may be new:

• Misrepresenting someone else's work as your own:
  • Copying another student's paper or an article from a journal or website
  • Buying an essay from a term-paper mill
• Copying sentences or paragraphs without properly citing their source:
  • Quoting material without proper use of quotation marks (even if otherwise cited appropriately)
  • Using specific facts without proper attribution (other than information that qualifies as 'common knowledge')
  • Using a specific argument or logic without crediting the source
  • Using art, graphs, illustrations, maps, statistics, photographs, etc. without complete and proper citation
  • Translating a work from one language to another without complete and proper citation
• Paraphrasing
• ** Paraphrasing or summarizing information from a source without proper acknowledgement
  • Re-writing a section but not making it sufficiently different from the original (even if cited appropriately.)

Why is plagiarism considered to be such a serious offence?In academic culture new ideas 'belong' to their creator. Proper and complete citations assist individual creators to retain ownership rights to their work. When sources are not properly acknowledged, a creator's right of ownership is threatened. Secondly, citing sources enables readers of your paper to review the research that you read when initially preparing your paper, and to therefore trace the path of your argument more effectively.

At the university level plagiarism can undermine the credibility of research done at academic institutions, and therefore universities have little tolerance for this type of behaviour.

What are the consequences of plagiarism?Depending on the case, penalties for academic dishonesty at SFU are very severe and range from reprimand, to failure in a course, to suspension. We strongly suggest that you don't do it!

How can I avoid plagiarism?

• Make sure you understand the material you are using
• Avoid relying too heavily on the ideas of others
• Make sure you know how to cite correctly
• Talk to a librarian and attend library instruction workshops
• Stay away from internet 'paper mills'

You must always acknowledge the original sources that you used. Use proper citations whenever you:

• Borrow textual material, ideas, arguments, charts, graphs, maps, illustrations, etc.
• Quote passages directly. If you quote a source, you must quote word for word
• Paraphrase or summarize ideas or arguments
• Present facts that are not 'common knowledge.
• There are several ways to cite a source within a paper. Remember that the source that is cited within the paper must also be included in the bibliography. To be able to correctly cite the sources you have used, it's advisable to consult a citation style guide. that is cited within the paper must also be included in the bibliography. To be able to correctly cite the sources you have used, it's advisable to consult a citation style guide.

Useful Tips:Quoting

• Use quotation marks whenever quoting an exact phrase, sentence or short paragraph.
• Longer quotations should not be included in quotation marks, but indented, as indicated by the citation style in use.
• Select and use quotations carefully. Use them only when they directly contribute to your argument.
• Avoid quotations that only provide detail, common knowledge, or information that can be effectively paraphrased.

Paraphrasing and Summarizing

• Paraphrase when you need to represent another person's ideas, and a quote is not significant or suitable.
• To correctly paraphrase, you must change both language and sentence structure.
• Summarize if you want to provide the main points of another person's argument in a condensed format, more brief than a paraphrase.
• Avoid taking notes verbatim or using the cut & paste tool in your software.

Citing

• Make sure you acknowledged and cited all sources of borrowed ideas and materials.
• Make sure you have a properly prepared bibliography.

Additional InformationIt is best to write most of an essay in your own words. Putting together a bunch of other people's ideas would be plagiarism. If you write most of it yourself, then you can add quotes from other people. For example: Dr. X said "Y," in his 2003 article on Z Website.