2.3: Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
- Page ID
- 290139
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[Instructor Giving Instructions Not to Cheat by RDNE Stock Project, licensed under the Pexels License]
Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's words, ideas, or work without giving them proper credit, and presenting it as if it were your own. This can happen in writing, music, art, and even scientific research. Plagiarism violates the trust between the creator and the user, and it’s a serious issue in academics because it’s seen as dishonest and disrespectful to the original creator’s work. Avoiding plagiarism is an important part of academic integrity, which is the commitment to honesty, fairness, and responsibility in academic settings. In the classroom, assignments are giving in order to enhance and test your learning. When someone commits plagiarism, they cheat by using another person's information inappropriately, which defeats the purpose of the assignment.
Common Examples of Plagiarism
- Copying another person's work word-for-word without quotation marks or credit. For example, copying a paragraph from a website without giving credit.
- Rewriting someone else's ideas or writing into your own words without giving credit. Even if you change the wording, the ideas still belong to the original author.
- Self-Plagiarism: Self-plagiarism is when a student reuses their previous work without permission or acknowledge. For example, submitting an essay to two different classes without letting the teachers know.
- Accidentally committing plagiarism by unintentionally copying another person's content. This usually happens due to poor note-taking or a misunderstanding of citation rules.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is about upholding ethical values in all academic work. It means being respectful and trustworthy. Students who practice academic integrity demonstrate that they value learning and respect others' contributions.
Examples of Academic Integrity and Plagiarism in Real-Life Scenarios
- Example of Academic Integrity: When writing a research paper on climate change, a student carefully includes citations for each source they consulted, whether they quoted directly or paraphrased the ideas. This shows respect for the original authors, allows readers to check the sources themselves, and strengthens the paper’s credibility.
- Example of Plagiarism: A student finds an article online that explains climate change in simple terms. They copy several sentences directly from the article and paste them into their paper without quotes or a citation. This is plagiarism because they did not give credit to the original source and are presenting the words as if they were their own.
- Example of Plagiarism: Another student needs to submit an essay quickly, so they copy an old paper of theirs from a previous semester and change a few sentences before turning it in. This is self-plagiarism, which goes against academic integrity because each submission is expected to be new work unless otherwise stated by the instructor.
Why Academic Integrity Matters
Practicing academic integrity builds a foundation of honesty and respect in all your work, which will serve you in school, your career, and beyond. By respecting other people's work, we create a fair and trustworthy academic environment where everyone can learn and grow. In addition, knowing how to correctly use, credit, and build on others’ ideas helps you become a more independent, confident, and respected thinker. This isn't just important in the classroom, but also in your career. Many careers require you to be able to research and find reliable information, and you'll be expected to show where that information came from as well.
Furthermore, research is not just a solo activity. Finding, evaluating, and sharing information is a part of ongoing scholarly conversations. Even as a student, you have a place in learning about the movers and shakers in your intended career fields, reviewing and sharing their information, and even in contributing your own voice to those discussions as well. Academic information and research rarely ends with just a couple quick studies. They are often the product of years of ongoing 'conversation' through research and writing; which only works because of academic integrity and citation!