Plagiarism Quiz
Jean-Marie Kauth1
Fall 2004
1. You include the following sentence in your paper on European post-Cold War relations: “All the
king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put the Berlin Wall together again.” You are quoting the
well-known nursery rhyme, “Humpty Dumpty,” without citation. Are you plagiarizing?
Yes No
2. You begin a paper on patriotism with the statement, “Laws are in vain without swords to maintain;
stand by your flag upon mountain and plain.” You are quoting lines from the obscure Thomas Davis
poem, “A Rally for Ireland,” without citation. Are you plagiarizing?
Yes No
3. You realize that Orwell’s 1984 is assigned reading for both your Contemporary World course and your
Politics of Fiction course, so you save some time by cutting and pasting chunks of your own writing
from your Contemporary World paper into your Politics of Fiction paper. Are you plagiarizing?
Yes No
The following excerpt is from Mark Kurlansky’s book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the
World.
Even a century after Cabot, Englishmen wrote of catching five-foot codfish off Maine, and there are
persistent accounts in Canada of “codfish as big as a man.” In 1838, a 180-pounder was caught on
Georges Bank, and in May 1895, a six-foot cod weighing 211 pounds was hauled in on a line off the
Massachusetts coast. Cabot’s men may well have been able to scoop cod out of the sea in baskets.
Which of the following are plagiarized (choose as many as you can find):
A) According to Mark Kurlansky, in 1838, a 180-pounder was caught on Georges Bank, and in May
1895, a six-foot cod weighing 211 pounds was hauled in on a line off the Massachusetts coast.
B) According to Mark Kurlansky, “in 1838, a 180-pounder was caught on Georges Bank, and in May
1895, a six-foot cod weighing 211 pounds was hauled in on a line off the Massachusetts coast”
(49).
C) At the end of the nineteenth century, it was still possible to catch a codfish over 200 pounds near
Massachusetts.
D) Mark Kurlansky has noted that at the end of the nineteenth century, it was still possible to catch a
codfish over 200 pounds near Massachusetts.
I have completed this quiz and been given the opportunity to ask any questions I might have about
plagiarism.
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Name Signature Date
1 Used with permission of Dr. Julie Dugger.
