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Citation Styles

Academic Integrity & Plagiarism Defined

Academic integrity, student cheating and plagiarism are concerns of the utmost importance to university faculty, administrators, writing center and tutoring staff, librarians and academic advisors. The short, straightforward definitions of academic integrity and plagarism are meant to assist persons interested inunderstanding  more about these issues.

Academic Integrity:
Most sources define academic integrity (or academic honesty) as the foundation for academic life.  It is the manner in which you behave in an academic environment when you do research, writing a paper or creating a project. The fundamental five values in this academic process  are honesty, trust, respect, fairness and responsibility. Academic integrity is the commitment to live by these values. Plagiarism is an aspect of academic integrity in that using another's ideas, words, theories, illustrations or graphics, opinions or facts without giving credit is dishonest.

 

Plagiarism:
To use, steal or represent the ideas, words or products of another as your own ideas, words or products. Use of someone else's ideas, words or products without giving credit to the author or originator is considered plagiarism.

When using or quoting word for word the words of another person it must be acknowledged.  Summarizing or paraphrasing the words or ideas of another without giving that person credit is also plagiarism.

Academic Integrity: Avoiding Plagiarism

One of the most common and unintentional violations of academic integrity is plagiarism.It is acceptable and common practice to present other authors’ ideas in your work. None of us can be original all of the time, and it lends credibility when you integrate other scholars’ ideas into your work. The key is to do this properly!

To avoid plagiarism when borrowing from another source, follow these rules: 

Rule 1: Paraphrase your Source
One common way to incorporate others’ ideas is to paraphrase. Paraphrasing is restating ideas from an original source using your own voice and giving credit to the original source.

Rule 2: Quote your Source
Another common way to incorporate another person’s ideas is through direct quotation. Direct quotation is an extended word-for-word duplication of an author’s original writing. Quotation also requires that you give credit to the original source.

Rule 3: Cite your Source = Give Credit to your Source
When you paraphrase or quote someone else's work, you must cite your source in TWO places:

1)    Within your paragraph. This is called an “in-text citation.”
Your in-text citation includes brief information a reader will need to find the complete reference in your list of sources such as the author, date or page numbers.

AND

2)    At the end of your paper in a list of sources. This list is called “References,” “Works Cited,” or “Bibliography.”
All the sources in your list must include the complete information needed to identify and retrieve that source (author’s name, title of work, date of publication, URL, etc.).