Crediting sources

code | scenario | smart strategies | consequences

Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters

1. It shall be an offence for a student knowingly:

(d) to represent as one’s own an idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e. to commit plagiarism;

Wherever in the Code an offence is described as depending on “knowing”, the offence shall likewise be deemed to have been committed if the person ought reasonably to have known.

Scenario – Crediting or citing sources

Your instructor has just informed you that the essay you submitted in your Anthropology course contained many passages taken verbatim or nearly verbatim from an online source without proper acknowledgement or citation.

Unfortunately, in the previous term you submitted a History essay that also contained several verbatim quotes from a book without citation. After meeting with the Office of the Dean, you were given a zero on the History essay given that you had committed the offence of plagiarism.  In assigning the penalty, the Dean explained that by failing to cite to the book’s author, you had represented the work of the book’s author as your own; this constitutes plagiarism.

The Issue

As this is a second offence of plagiarism, you knew that the University takes plagiarism seriously, and that it is extremely important to give credit to the author of each of your sources. You will most likely receive a sanction for committing a second offence of plagiarism. What’s more, the fact that this is a second offence under the Code will likely lead to a more serious penalty for this second offence than it did for the first offence.

Smart Strategies

  • Citations, quoting and paraphrasing; Taking notes; Information literacy and academic integrity; Internet sources
  • If you are unsure how to properly cite material in an essay, approach your instructor or a TA in your course for help, or a librarian at U of T.
  • Colour-coding each source you use and immediately documenting the page number helps you to organize your sources and create an accurate list of references and bibliography.
  • Consult your course syllabus. Many instructors have details on plagiarism and what citation styles they expect from you.
  • Consult the helpful document ‘How not to Plagiarize’ for more detail on avoiding plagiarism (U of T Writing Centres) and the ‘Why Cite’ Library guide (U of T Libraries).

Range of Consequences

For a discussion of consequences see Key Consequences.