Plagiarism Policy: Traditions of Rhetoric

Introduction | Plagiarism Defined | Subtleties | Intellectual Boundaries
Public and Private Property | Hearing Your Voice | Traditions of Rhetoric | Think About Alternatives

Traditions of Rhetoric
Avoiding plagiarism can be especially difficult for international students. Universities in the U.S. require a different style and form of writing than expected in other countries. Each culture has its own style. This includes differences in how other texts and ideas are introduced into a student's essay.

In some cultures, students are taught to integrate another author's words in their own sentences without citation (a technique called "pasting"). This technique signifies the student's respect for the other writer's ideas. Such a technique also compliments the audience of the essay. It assumes that the audience has read the same texts as the student and will recognize the other author's words without needing a direct reference.

In the U.S., however, respect is shown by direct attribution of all ideas developed by other writers. Writers are assumed to own their ideas, and to not acknowledge the source of an idea is effectively to steal from them.

The assumptions about audience are different, too. In the U.S., the audience is assumed to have general knowledge and critical reasoning, but may not have specific knowledge about the particular topic you are writing about. You need to acknowledge directly whose ideas you are citing and what text that idea comes from so that readers can read for themselves the texts and authors you cite.

Finally, direct quoting and citation are important because of how readers evaluate the strength of an argument. Readers need to see the passage of text you analyze in a direct quotation so that they can read it themselves and develop their own interpretation. Readers then decide if your argument is persuasive by comparing their interpretation to the one you provide in your essay.

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