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What is Plagiarism?

What does the Ivy Tech Bloomington Student Handbook say about plagiarism?  Here is a definition of plagiarism from the "College Rules: Academic Integrity" section of the Handbook:

Plagiarism: Presenting within one’s own work the ideas, representations, or words of another person without customary and proper acknowledgement of that person’s authorship is considered plagiarism. Students who are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism should consult with their instructors. Claims of ignorance will not necessarily excuse the offense. Instructors reserve the right to use the resources of the college to check student work for plagiarism.

View the full-text of the Student handbook

In simpler terms, plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work as your own.  For example:

• If you borrow or buy a paper from a friend and turn it in with your name on it, that’s plagiarism.
• If you copy a paper from the Internet (or a magazine or any other source) and turn it in with your name on it, that’s plagiarism.
• If you use ideas from a source (a book, magazine, website, etc.) and don’t indicate or document which source they’re from, that’s plagiarism.
• If you duplicate language from a source and don’t put the words inside quotation marks, that’s plagiarism.

Intentional Plagiarism

Sometimes students plagiarize intentionally.  They run out of time to complete an assignment or they’re worried about their ability to complete an assignment successfully or they get lazy, and they copy information from a source. 

Obviously, intentional plagiarism is a serious academic offense, and students who commit this type of offense and are caught face serious academic consequences.

Unintentional Plagiarism

Sometimes students plagiarize unintentionally.  They don’t have a great deal of practice at paraphrasing and documenting correctly, and they make errors.

When unintentional plagiarism occurs, it can represent a learning opportunity for the student – a time to seek help from the instructor and additional information about documentation styles and how to use them appropriately.

Please note, though, that even unintentional plagiarism can result in serious academic consequences for the student - depending on the specific context within which the plagiarism occurs.

 

Resource Links:

Plagiarism: What it is and How to Recognize and Avoid It --Indiana University