Academic Dishonesty

Academic Dishonesty Plagiarism: The use, intentional or unintentional, of another’s words, ideas, or work without credit. Blatant plagiarism is intentionally submitting the work or ideas of another as one’s own.

Common Examples Copying homework/classwork Cheating on Exams

Inadvertent plagiarism, also referred to as “misuse of sources,” is often the result of not clearly understanding rules for citation. Writers of papers containing inadvertent plagiarism do not use the correct format for citing sources, do not use quotation marks appropriately, or assume that paraphrasing and summarizing make citation unnecessary. These students require training in the proper use of sources. Common Examples Copying and Pasting parts of documents into research papers Using quotes and not citing the source

Basic Guidelines 1. 2. 3. 4.

Common knowledge does not need citation. Any use of exact words needs to be quoted and cited. Any summary or paraphrase of an idea needs to be cited. Any facts or ideas specific to a source and not commonly known need to be cited.

NOTE: Your source does not have to be written. Television, movies, and YouTube count as well. Remember, if in doubt, cite.

Assistance More information can be found in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, copies of which are with the English Department. In addition, many universities have very good online writing centers that address this issue. See, for example, Purdue University’s OWL (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/).