Academic honesty or academic integrity is a set of values held by the academic community. These values are defined by the Center for Academic Integrity as "commitment, even in the face of adversity, to...honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility."

There are four basic types of academic dishonesty: cheating, facilitation, plagiarism, and fabrication. Sometimes plagiarism is used as a catch-all term for all kinds of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is using somebody else's ideas or expression of ideas (writing, art, music, speech, etc.) and representing them as your own.

More specifically, plagiarism is the "unattributed use of a source of information that is not considered common knowledge. Three acts are considered plagiarism: (1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words."
~~Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual

Get to know the Academic Honesty Policy at your school. It is the student's responsibility to understand and adhere to policies. Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional, but in all cases violations are taken seriously and disciplinary action will be taken. Avoid getting into trouble by reviewing the rules and making sure you understand them.

Institutional Policies:

• UWB Policy on Academic and Behavioral Conduct
• UW Student Conduct Code
• CCC Student Code of Conduct see "Standards of classroom behavior"

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Strategies for staying out of trouble

1. Get familiar with the academic honesty policy and make sure you understand it.
2. Plan ahead. Give yourself enough time to plan, research, write, and edit your work.
3. When you need help or clarification, ask!
4. Document your research as you write. It's difficult and time-consuming to retrace your research after the fact.

Recommended tutorials:

• Road to Research from the UCLA College Library. This is interactive, and does a good job of posing questions to answer.
• All About Plagiarism Tutorial from the University of Texas Libraries
• You Quote It, You Note It! from the Vaughan Memorial Library at Acadia University

Text-based Tutorials

• The Plagiarism Court:  You Be the Judge This well know tutorial is from the DiMenna-Nyselius Library at Fairfield University.
• VAIL, The Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory from the University of Maryland University College. Some resources for faculty such as policies on academic integrity from other institutions.

More guides and tutorials:

• Avoiding plagiarism exercises (Diana Hacker, Pocket Style Manual)

Select:
1. Research Exercises
2. Click on the cancel button to go foward without an account, or set-up a student account.
3. Click on either APA, MLA, or the Chicago option (choose one).
4. Then look for and click on the "Avoiding Plagiarism in" option.

• Northwestern University's "How to Avoid Plagiarism" guide
• UCLA's "Bruin Success with Less Stress"
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) "Avoiding Plagiarism" handout

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