Library Sources, Resources, Tools & Tips

Academic Integrity & Avoiding Plagiarism

Do you know what plagiarism means?  Plagiarism is the term used to describe a form of cheating or stealing.

 Your Instructional and Research Librarian has created a comprehensive guide to help you learn the essentials: Academic Honesty, Integrity & Avoiding Plagiarism.

Most cases of plagiarism can be identified by an instructor in a few minutes using today's technology. Plagiarizing in college can have a profound impact on your future, whether you're caught or not.

To avoid plagiarism, all students must document sources correctly using Footnotes, Endnotes, or Parenthetical References, and must write a Bibliography, References, or Works Cited page and place it at the end of the research paper to list the sources used.

Give credit whenever you use:

• another person's idea, opinion, or theory
• any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings, photographs -- any pieces of information -- that are not  common knowledge
• quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words
• a paraphrase of another person's spoken or written words

The only time you do not have to give credit to the source material is when it provides you with ‘common knowledge’ facts.

TIPS

• When taking notes, put noticeable quotation marks around any direct quotes.
• If you paraphrase in your notes, be sure that it is a true paraphrase, not just moving a few words around.
• Always include the page number when you take notes – even if you paraphrase.

• Cite every piece of information that is not a) the result of your own research, or b) common knowledge.
• Make it clear at the beginning of sentences that what comes next is someone else's idea:
  • According to Smith...
  • Jones says...
  • In his 1987 study, Robinson proved...

When in doubt, provide a citation.