The first paragraph is the original, and then the second one is mine, can you tell me if it is close enough to be concidered plagarism?
Link to original text - http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/history/fall.htm
My paragraph -
Instantly, the Germans and Goths began to realize the new young and inexperienced emperors taking control of Rome were weak, making a perfect time to attack. When Theodosius died in 395 AD, he left the Roman Empire to his two sons Honorius and Arcadius. Honorius took throne over Western Rome and Arcadius of the East. These two emperors were superlatively young, inexperienced, and flat out uninterested in the leadership. As Constantine marched his troops throughout England into France collecting troops to march into Rome, it was obvious his plans were to conquer Rome at its weakest.
2006-10-28 07:09:31 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Ya, I'm kind of POed because I got a 0 on my essay for "plagarising" this paragraph (There are more paragraphs, but he couldnt' find any forms of plagarism on there... because there was none.... Asshole)
2006-10-28 07:14:38 · update #1
Whether it is plagiarism or not is a matter for a jury. But I think that the teacher's point may have been that the work was unoriginal. You have obviously paraphrased at least half of the other author's work. And if this is the only source material you used then it is definitely questionable.
Do yourself a favor. You are in school to learn so stop asking yourself, "Is this plagiarism?". This only leads to mediocre and questionable writing. Instead, start asking yourself, "Is this original?", so you will learn to excel at writing.
I promise you will need to know how to write with originality if you expect to do anything valuable with yourself.
WK
2006-10-28 07:28:13 · answer #1 · answered by olin1963 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is plagarism. You claimed someone else's hard work as your own, it doesn't matter if you move words around. It's alright to paraphrase or quote a few lines from a source as long as you give proper credit. However, your paragraph goes beyond. Your teacher was looking for your research and take on the situation. Just because you and your source are talking about the same thing doesn't mean there's only one way to present facts and that's the point of research projects. So next time, do your own work, not rely on websites to write your report.
2006-10-28 07:30:21 · answer #2 · answered by erythisis 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You simply paraphrased the original text. It's still considered plagiarism because the ideas didn't come from your brain. It's practically the same thing, but you just changed a few words.
If you didn't acknowledge the article as the source of your information, then it's considered plagiarism.
2006-10-28 07:20:27 · answer #3 · answered by Kaonashi 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As a historian, yes. You paraphrased the whole thing, which is plagiarism, since you didn't do any work on your own. If you want to avoid that next time, use more sources and come to your own conclusions, and ALWAYS cite where you've gotten your information and/or opinions.
2006-10-28 14:53:35 · answer #4 · answered by Ophelia193 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Even when you paraphrase, you should cite the source of the information. Whenever you write a research paper and you use information that did not come out of your own brain, cite the souce!
2006-10-28 07:25:05 · answer #5 · answered by willow oak 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't appear to be. Is the rest of your essay written in the same style using the same types of words. Perhaps he doubts your ability to write this good.
2006-10-28 12:21:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
What you did is called paraphrasing. It is not plagrism BUT teachers really don't appreciate it that much.
2006-10-28 07:12:33 · answer #7 · answered by J. P 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋