Plagiarism
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Eaton, S. E., (2022). Academic Integrity and Referencing: Plagiarism. In SAGE Skills: Student Success. SAGE Publications, Inc., [https://
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Overview
Plagiarism is a common type of academic misconduct. It can be unintentional or intentional, but either way, it is often treated as a breach of academic integrity. The word plagiarism comes from a Latin word meaning “to kidnap.” Its meaning later evolved to mean “literary theft.” Sometimes people think that plagiarism means copying and pasting text from one document into another, but there are many nuances to plagiarism that extend beyond copying and pasting.
There is no single definition of plagiarism. In many countries, educational bodies such as government ministries or even individual schools might have their own definitions of plagiarism in their policies. In some countries, it is easier to find policies and procedures relating to academic misconduct and plagiarism than in other countries. It is worth checking to see what policies and guidelines exist at your school regarding academic misconduct in general, and plagiarism, specifically. You might also look at the syllabus for your courses to find links to academic integrity information for the school, including policies and procedures. Institutional definitions of plagiarism apply to all students at the school and often schools make it a student’s responsibility to understand the policies.
It is important to know that plagiarism can happen with text, ideas, data, music, art, computer code, and design. Don’t use others’ words, ideas, or other creative outputs without giving them credit and claim it as your own.
Plagiarism is a common form of academic misconduct. Plagiarism can be intentional or accidental. An example of accidental plagiarism can occur when a student lacks adequate citing and referencing skills. Learning these skills requires time and practice; many schools will place the responsibility for learning these skills on the student. Plagiarism is often considered a breach of academic integrity even if it is accidental, so it is important for students to develop excellent citing and referencing skills in order to uphold academic integrity.
Many schools often include self-plagiarism as a form of plagiarism. In a school context, self-plagiarism occurs when students submit work for a course that they have previously submitted for assessment in a previous course without the knowledge or permission of the professors.
In addition to skills such as citing, referencing, and paraphrasing, learning related skills such as time management will help you learn with integrity and maintain academic integrity standards throughout your academic program.
Some schools use technology to help professors find exact matches between student work and original source material. These tools are erroneously referred to as plagiarism detection tools, but it is more accurate to call them text-matching software. There are a number of commercial products used by schools, including Turnitin, but there are many other similar software packages available to professors and students. Some schools require the use of such tools, while others forbid them. It is important to find out your school’s expectations regarding the use of text-matching software and follow the guidelines provided by your school.
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