Against Plagiarism

in academic writing

Rewriting the text is also plagiarism

A typical mistake made by students is to rewrite the text in this manner:

Not all aspects of the Internet interfere with the gender system. In the case of e-mail between individuals who know each other, the cyborg individual does not displace the embodied individual. However, some studies have shown differences in self-presentation in e-mail, such as more spontaneity and less guardedness.

That is plagiarism, pure and simple. Compare it with the original:

According to Poster (1995): "Some aspects of the Internet, such as electronic mail between individuals who know each other, may introduce no strong disruption of the gender system. In this case, the cyborg individual does not overtake or displace the embodied individual, though even here studies have shown some differences in self-presentation (more spontaneity and less guardedness)."

You should not even attempt to rewrite in this piecemeal way. It does not make the text your own. It is still essentially what Mark Poster wrote -- and you are just stealing it.

Without including a citation, you are falsely representing the text as your own work.

Do not even think about putting quotes around that rewrite! Quotation marks are used only when the words are exactly the words of the original writer.