Policy on Plagiarism and Academic Honesty

Plagiarism refers to any situation in which you claim as your own the words or ideas of others.  This includes submitting entire papers that you did not write, but also includes submitting a paper that uses text (sentences, paragraphs, etc.) from someone else’s work without acknowledgement.  This is true whether you use the text as is, or you paraphrase it (when quoting directly, always use quotation marks). When in doubt, include a citation to the original work.  Plagiarism also includes using information gathered by other people, or the ideas or analysis of other people, without acknowledgement.  Again, when in doubt, include a citation.

Submitting a paper for evaluation that has also been submitted elsewhere also constitutes plagiarism, unless you have the explicit permission of all of the instructors involved. In other words, you cannot submit a paper for course credit that you have submitted, or are submitting, elsewhere.

The following does NOT constitute plagiarism.  You can discuss your work with other people and respond to the comments of other people on your work, as long as the work that you submit is, except where cited, in your own words and the result of your own thinking.

Plagiarism and academic dishonesty are serious academic offenses.  Academic dishonesty in this context refers mainly to any effort to cheat on exams.  Getting caught committing such an offence will result at minimum in a grade of zero on the paper or examination in question.  It may, at the instructor’s discretion, result in a failing grade in the course as a whole and in being reported to the appropriate University authorities.