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How do I: Plagiarism vs. Academic Honesty

This guide covers Information, Media, and Digital Literacy concepts and Digital Citizenship for Gr. 9-12 students, as well as teacher and parents.

Plagiarism vs. Academic Integrity

Where do I start?

Before citing your sources, you will need to:

(1)   Determine if your sources of information are subject to Copyright or Creative Commons;

(2)   Collect the information needed for your Bibliographic citations; and

(3)   Identify which citation style that you need to use.

The citation style will likely be identified by your teacher.

Each type of information source is recorded differently in a Bibliography, and is specified in each citation style guide.  For example, a book is cited differntly to a website or an article.

When doing your research, write down as much information about the source as you can.  

Here are examples of the types of information that you should collect to build your Bibliography:  

         1.  Author or editor
         2.  Title of the book or article
         3.  Publisher
         4.  Place of publication for a book
         5.  Date of publication
         6.  URL and/or the database name
         7.  Date document was accessed

Introduction to Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

The Values that Make-Up Academic Honesty, or Academic Integrity are:  

"Academic [Honesty] is having the 5 values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility with the courage to act on these values in your school work." 

The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity (7th ed.).  (1999).  Des Plaines, Illinois: Clemson University.

Definition:

"Plagiarism is the wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or stealing and publication, of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one's own original work." [Center for Global Research Development]
Plagiarism is considered as academic fraud and is a serious offense.  All direct quotations/citations and/or any paraphrasing of another’s work must be properly cited.

What are Copyright and Creative Commons?

What is copyright?

"Copyright is an official, legal right to ownership over a piece of writing, music, video, or other creative content.  The person or organization that owns the copyright is the only one with legal right to publish, broadcast, or perform it, etc. Other people must ask for their permission to use it or any part of it, unless they inform others about the source of this material."

The Canadian Copyright Act must be followed in this manner.  

This definition is from the  Oxford Learner's Dictionarysee "copyright" and "license."

Plagiarism Examples

Rights and Permissions

Often, publishers and webistes have their own permissions application process. If you cannot locate this -- or one does not exist -- use the generic form below:

Paraphrase Properly

Definition of Paraphrase:

"A statement that says something that another person has said or written in a different way."

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary

General Citation Information