Common knowledge refers to information that a person can reasonably expect that another person would know. The types of information that might count as common knowledge in the US are: July 4th is Independence Day; Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States; there are 360 degrees in a circle.
Technically, you do not need to cite a fact that is common knowledge; however, what is common knowledge is almost impossible to determine. You will never get in trouble for citing your sources, so if you are unsure whether something is common knowledge or not you can either: 1) ask your teacher or 2) go ahead and cite it - it can't hurt to show that you've done your research!
"The belief that an idea or fact may be “common knowledge” is no reason not to cite your source. It’s certainly not a defense against the charge of plagiarism, although many students offer that excuse during the disciplinary process. [...] Fall back on the fundamental rule: when in doubt, cite. It’s too risky to make assumptions about what’s expected or permissible" ("Not-So-Common Knowledge").
Work Cited
"Not-So-Common Knowledge." Academic Integrity at Princeton. Ed. Office of the Dean of the College. Princeton University, Aug. 2011. Web. 21 July 2014. <http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/integrity/pages/notcommon/>
Image credit: By MazeNL77 (FindIcons.com) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Parody and allusion are when an author makes reference back to an earlier work (book, film, music, etc.). The goal of allusion and parody are to use an idea or phrase that the reader will recognize, in order to bring up associations with, or comment on, the original work. It is not plagiarism because the author of the new work is not pretending that he/she created the ideas in the original work.
“Often works […] will allude to an earlier work. [...] Allusion is not plagiarism, because the reader is expected to recognize the allusion” (Posner 18).
“A parody may quote extensively from the work parodied, and always it will copy distinctive features of style and theme, yet often without mentioning the parodied work. But the parodist will plant clues so numerous and unmistakable that the reader will recognize the copying, for otherwise the parody will not be recognized as a parody and the parodist’s intensions will be thwarted” (Posner 17-18).
Work Cited
Posner, Richard. The Little Book of Plagiarism. New York: Pantheon, 2007. Print.
If you give your work to a friend, you are 100% responsible for how he/she chooses to use it. Be sure to think about all the consequences before sharing your work. If your friend copies your work and turns it in, you will get in trouble too.
If you have friends who need assistance with their schoolwork, it is certainly fine for you to help them learn. However, just giving them your own work to turn in isn't actually helping them, because then your friends won't actually gain the skills themselves. What you can do to help them is to talk to your friends about what they are having trouble with, help them understand what your teacher is looking for, proofread their work together, and/or go together with your friend to visit your teacher to get additional help.
Image credit: Hariadhi, myself (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
It is occasionally possible to encounter someone else's idea and later forget that it was not original to you, but it is not possible to copy long passages of someone else's text without realizing that the words are not original to you.
“Unconscious plagiarism is a more plausible defense to a charge of copying someone’s idea […] as distinct from his words, without attribution” (Posner 99).
"When plagiarists are caught they invariably argue that their plagiarism was unconscious. […] There is even a word for unconscious plagiarism – cryptomnesia. The plagiarist had read something and he remembers it without remember that he had read it. Psychologists have investigated the phenomenon and have found no evidence that people can recite entire passages written by someone else yet believe they are their own – no evidence of a photographic memory that forgets the act of photographing” (Posner 92).
Work Cited
Posner, Richard. The Little Book of Plagiarism. New York: Pantheon, 2007. Print.
It is a problem if you are trying to trick the reader/teacher into thinking that you wrote the paper for the first time in his or her class.
However, it can be useful to revise old work to learn how to improve it. If you think that a previous paper you've written might be useful as a starting point, you can talk to your teacher about whether or not you can revise it for the new assignment. If you just submit the recycled paper without talking to your teacher about it, to avoid doing new work, you have committed plagiarism.
"In writing, self-plagiarism occurs when authors reuse their own previously written work or data in a ‘new’ written product without letting the reader know that this material has appeared elsewhere."
Work Cited
"Self Plagiarism." The Office of Research Integrity. US Health and Human Services. 2016. Web. 2 Sept 2016.
