Failing to appropriately cite information

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 – Failing to appropriately cite information

You are a fourth year student and have to write an English essay worth 15% of your grade due by the end of next week. While you explore your topic of interest, you locate a few journal articles to help you with some ideas for your paper. Tired and finding it difficult to focus on your essay, you decide to incorporate different sections of the journal articles into some of your written work without using citations. You also paraphrase some of the sources used, but fail to appropriately cite the information. You submit a hard copy of your assignment the following week, since the instructor does not require students to submit their essay through a plagiarism detection software program.

The Issue

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence at the University. It is important to acknowledge the scholarly work of others who share valuable knowledge through their research. Students must keep in mind that instructors can easily identify pieces of literature which may not belong to a student, especially if it does not seem to align with written work previously submitted in the course.

Smart Strategies

Range of Consequences

For a discussion of consequences see Key Consequences.