Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty which involves claiming credit for ideas or work without proper acknowledgement.

As far as the university is concerned, plagiarism means to use the work and/or ideas of another person as if it were your own, without proper acknowledgment.

Plagiarism can include, but is not limited to:

• plagiarism of ideas - claiming credit for someone else’s thoughts, ideas or inventions;
• word-for-word plagiarism - copying the exact expression of someone’s writing or a very close approximation to it.  The most common examples of this in student work is the word-for-word plagiarism of books, journal articles and websites;
• plagiarism of sources – using another person’s citations without acknowledging the source of those citations;
• plagiarism of authorship – where a person claims to be the author of an entire piece of work, such as an article, an essay, a book, a musical composition, which is fully or substantially authored by another.  An example of this is when a student submits an essay written by someone else (such as a friend or by someone who has been paid to write it); and
• fabrication – the falsification or invention of any information or citation in an assessment.

Your guiding principle when writing your essays should be that the work is your own. It should be immediately apparent to the essay's marker, simply by reading your references, where your information came from and where they can go to check the veracity of your sources.

The College of Arts and Sciences takes a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to plagiarism.  Plagiarism is deceitful, it demeans both the student and the University, and is an insult to other students who research and write their essays following acceptable University standards.

Students found to have plagiarised in a piece of submitted work will be penalised in accordance with the University’s policy of plagiarism.  Accordingly, he or she may face one or more of the following measures:

• be called before the unit coordinator and receive a grade of fail for the submitted assessment;
• be reported to the Dean for a reprimand and for possible further disciplinary action;
• be referred to the University counsellor;
• have their offence registered with the School and the Provost;
• be suspended for a minimum of one semester from the University and receive a failing grade for the unit; and
• be terminated from the University in the event of serious or repeated plagiarism, including the permanent notation of ‘academic disciplinary separation’ on the student’s transcript.

The College of Arts and Sciences places extreme importance on protecting the academic integrity of its students, our College and the University.

This statement is based largely on the University’s policy regarding plagiarism.  If you have any questions regarding plagiarism or essay referencing more generally, please consult with the University’s Policy on Plagiarism, with the College’s Style and Referencing Guide and/or with your lecturers.  The College’s  Style and Referencing Guide has a particularly good document called ‘What is plagiarism, and how to avoid it’ (produced by the University of Indiana) which we recommend you read thoroughly.

Assoc. Prof. Dylan Korczynskyj
Dean of Arts & Sciences