Aphorisms on Academic Integrity

Plagiarism and Misuse of Sources: For both students and teachers, it is important to note that there is a difference between plagiarism and the misuse of sources. Students are not guilty of plagiarism when they try in good faith to acknowledge others’ work but fail to do so accurately or fully. Plagiarism is a deliberate attempt to deceive, or an ignorance of the need to cite sources, whereas the misuse of sources can occur because students do not (though they should) know how to integrate the ideas of others and document those ideas, or because students are careless or they make mistakes. But misuse of sources is still a very serious issue of academic integrity. 

Here are some rules to avoid any problems with academic integrity. These rules apply regardless of the citation form or style you may be using.

Direct Quotations: Whenever you directly quote someone else, you must provide a citation to the source of the material from which you are quoting. Moreover, you must put the material in quotation marks or otherwise set it off in an indented quote so the reader knows what words are yours and what words are quoted. It is not acceptable to use the words of others and only partially quote the original source. This is true even if you provide citation to the source both in-text and in your references section.

Paraphrasing: Whenever you paraphrase the work of another (i.e., rephrase it in your own words), you must provide a citation to the source of the material from which you are paraphrasing. Simply changing the structure of a sentence, or of a few words in a sentence so that the sentence you write is not an exact quote from the original source, does not mean a citation is not needed. This is because the idea you are expressing is not your own, but rather someone else's.

Using Others’ Ideas: Even if you compose an entire paragraph of writing in your own words (i.e., neither quoted nor paraphrased), if the idea you are expressing in that paragraph is not your own, original idea, you must provide a citation to the source from which you obtained this idea. If you wouldn't have had an idea without having first read something someone else had writtern, you need to cite that source. 

Collaborative Work: If you collaborate on any work with someone else and fail to acknowledge that collaboration, you are guilty of plagiarism. If you have received permission from you professor to collaborate on some assignment, be sure that all of the contributor's names appear on the submission.

Altering or Revising Another's Work: If you alter or revise the work done by someone and submit that work as your own, you have plagiarized. Similarly, if you allow someone else to alter or revise work that you have done and then allow that person to submit it as his or her own work, you are both guilty of plagiarism. Work that is not entirely your own must be credited by citation, both in your text and in your references page.

Altering or Revising Your Own Prior Work: You should also be aware that altering or revising your own work that was prepared for another class or another professor, and not bringing it to the attention of the professor to whom you are submitting the revised work, is also academic dishonesty. If, for example, you have two classes that require a term paper, and you can write one paper that meets the requirements of both classes, you may not submit that paper to both professors unless you get permission to do so in advance from both professors. Similarly, if you wrote a paper several semesters ago that can be revised and submitted to satisfy a paper requirement for a course in which you are currently enrolled, doing so is academic dishonesty unless you get the advanced permission of your professor to do so. The reason this is dishonest is that it is not an original work prepared in satisfaction for the requirements on the course you are currently taking.