What is plagiarism?

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• The UC Student Code of Conduct defines plagiarism as:
  • Submitting another's published or unpublished work, in whole, in part, or in paraphrase, as one's own without fully and properly crediting the author with footnotes, citations or bibliographic reference.
  • Submitting as one's own, original work, material obtained from an individual or agency without reference to the person or agency as the source of the material.
  • Submitting as one's own, original work, material that has been produced through unacknowledged collaboration with others without release in writing from collaborators.
• Academic Integrity and Honor Pledge
  • In pursuit of its teaching, learning and research goals, the University of Cincinnati holds its students, faculty and administrators to the highest ethical standards defined by The Center for Academic Integrity as “a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility”.  Although not all students are subject to a college honor code or pledge, every student is bound by the academic misconduct provisions of this code enforced to assure academic integrity.  When dishonest students cheat to gain unfair competitive advantage over other students, they cheat themselves out of a decent education.  
  • Some faculty members and academic units may require students before taking tests and/or when submitting assignments to sign a pledge.  The pledge may contain language such as: “On my honor I pledge that this work of mine does not violate the U.C. Student Code of Conduct provisions on cheating and plagiarism.”  Honor pledges serve primarily as a teaching tool; unless a college has a mandatory honor code, pledges are used at the discretion of the instructor.
• What are the penalties for plagiarism?
  • Disciplinary sanctions that may be imposed as a consequence of plagiarism as a form of academic misconduct are listed in the Student Code of Conduct:
    

    Formal report of academic misconduct.  (UC student disciplinary records are maintained for 6 years with access limited to those with an

    educational need to know and those who receive permission from the student – law school admissions, government employers, etc.)

    Reduced or failing grade on the exercise.

    Reduced or failing grade for the course.

    Recommendation to the College Hearing Panel/Dean/Provost for probation, suspension, dismissal.

• How to avoid plagiarism
  • Put in quotations all the text you use directly.
  • When paraphrasing and summarizing, use your own words and your own style to express ideas.
  • If you are not sure whether you have paraphrased or summarized the source correctly, ask a writing tutor or a librarian.
  • Helpful resource:  Practice Exercises in Paraphrasing at the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) (provides a number of passages for paraphrasing and sample answers for comparing your attempts at paraphrasing).
  • Give credits by providing citations for all quotations, summaries and paraphrases.
    • Helpful resource: Need help citing sources? - links to citation style guides and information about citation formatters.
  • Give credits for the image, audio, and any other files from other sources that you include in your work, including information obtained by e-mail, chat, and discussion boards. Give proper credits if you translate the information from another language.
  • Use note cards to record your citation information. If you are photocopying an article or an excerpt from a book or printing/downloading it from an electronic source, keep the citation information together with the text.
  • Err on the side of caution: when in doubt, cite.
  • For a comprehensive list of pitfalls to avoid see Definite don'ts (University of Maine at Farmington)
  • Ask a librarian to help you with citing your sources properly in the required format.
  • Resources for further exploration:
    • Acknowledging Sources (UT Arlington Library) - take this brief tutorial, which includes an at-a-glance citation chart (what you need to cite and related notes). Take a quiz to test your understanding of concept and get instant feedback.

    • Plagiarism: Video from Paul Robeson Library (Rutgers University) - watch this fun movie and take the quiz to see if you "got it."

    • Plagiarism: The Crime of Intellectual Kidnapping - this tutorial from San Jose State University (also available in a Flash version) includes good examples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrasing.

    • What every student should know about avoiding plagiarism. Langsam Stacks, Clermont Stacks. PN167 .S74 2007. Catalog record.
• SafeAssign in Blackboard
  • SafeAssign™ is a plagiarism prevention service, offered by Blackboard. Instructors can set up SafeAssignments in their Blackboard courses. Whenever encounter an item in Blackboard which is using SafeAssign, it should be accompanied by the following statement:
    

  Please note that material submitted for this assignment will be screened by Blackboard's SafeAssign feature against a variety of databases. The purpose of this feature is to minimize plagiarism and to help educate students about the proper citation of any borrowed content. For more information about plagiarism and citation conventions, please see http://www.libraries.uc.edu/help/students/plagiarism.html. As part of the submission process, you will also have the opportunity to leave a copy of your work within the SafeAssign Global Reference Database, which helps to protect the originality of your work across institutions. This step is voluntary and you may choose not to participate in this part of the submission process. For more information please check with your instructor.

• Getting Help from Libraries and Writing Centers
  
  
  • Libraries
  • E-mail : Submit your writing sample by e-mail using the online Ask a Reference Question form. You will receive a response within 24 hours of submission, Monday through Friday.
  • Chat: chat with a librarian from UC or one of the OhioLINK institutions.
  • In person :
  • University of Cincinnati Libraries (West Campus)
    Visit the Langsam Library Info Commons located on the fourth floor of the library, or visit any librarian in the College and Departmental Libraries. Langsam Library's Reference Consultation Office number is: (513) 556-1867.
  • Clermont College Library
    Rosemary Young, (513) 732-5232, email Rosemary.Young@uc.edu
  • Raymond Walters College Library
    Heather Maloney, (513) 745-5712
  • Writing Centers
    
    McMicken College of Arts & Sciences Writing Center
    257 McMicken, (513) 556-3912
    Ask a question
    Clermont College Learning Center
    100 EDSR Building, (513) 732-5228
    UC Blue Ash Writing Center
    112I Muntz Hall, (513) 745-5733

     

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The page was last updated on January 17, 2012