Plagiarism

Why Citation is Important from Kimbel Library on Vimeo.

Identifying and Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism

Whether intentional or not, plagiarism is submitting work that is not the student’s own thoughts and opinions but has originated from another source and is not properly documented.

Examples of plagiarism: (this is not a comprehensive list)

• Copying from the Internet or books
• Having someone else write your paper
• Sharing answers
• Rearranging someone else’s words to use in your own writing
• Downloading Internet papers
• Copying another student’s work: part or all
• Reusing a paper you wrote for another class

Tips for avoiding plagiarism

1. Start your work early.
2. Start your Works Cited page (or References page) when you start your research.
3. Keep track of where you get your information.
4. If words or ideas aren't your own, you need to cite them.
5. If you're unsure, ask!

Liberty University Online, is committed to ensuring that students are properly equipped (through lessons, textbook readings, learning labs, and instructors) to follow accepted guidelines of research, to properly cite sources used, and receive appropriate feedback and consequences to guide the students in the right direction when they fail to do so. At the beginning class, students are provided with instruction for properly citing reference sources and practical measures to avoid plagiarism. All writings that require research and source citation must have a works cited (or references) page in order for students to receive credit. These writings also require the use of in-text citation called “parenthetical documentation” (MLA and APA citation style) or footnotes/endnotes (Turabian citation style). Writing that does not comply may be returned to the student for re-submission before any grading takes place.

To ensure academic integrity, teachers use Safe Assign—a national plagiarism detection database. Teachers electronically submit assignments, essays, and projects, to the database and receive a report detailing the level of plagiarism (if any) included in the material and the possible sources from which the material was copied. When plagiarism is identified in a student’s writing, the plagiarized work will be returned to the student.

• Consequences for plagiarized writings range from resubmitting the report for a maximum grade of 80% for a first offense to no course credit for repeat offenses. 

"Self-plagiarism" is when a student submits written work from another course or another context as if it is original work for a current writing assignment. This is not acceptable.

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Additional Resources

Interactive tutorial

Tutorial: You Quote It, You Note It! (Vaughn Memorial Library, Acadia University) 

Interactive tutorial defining plagiarism and explaining correct use of common knowledge, quotes, and paraphrases. 

Avoiding Plagiarism:  Mastering the Art of Scholarship (University of California, Davis)

Explanation of plagiarism and guidelines for correctly citing and paraphrasing sources, from the Office of Student Judicial Affairs at the University of California, Davis.

Straight Talk about Plagiarism (Bedford/St. Martins)

A Bedford/St. Martin's handout on the importance of academic honesty and ways to avoid plagiarism when writing a paper.  

Avoiding Plagiarism (Duke University Libraries)
Discussion of the personal pressures of college that can lead to plagiarism.  

Plagiarism Game (Snowden Library, Lycoming College)

Destroy the plagiarism goblins by demonstrating your knowledge of the proper use of sources.