As a student, you will most commonly hear about plagiarism when it is time to write a paper. Whether you are writing an informative essay for your Composition class or a research paper for your Psychology class, avoiding plagiarism is a top priority!
The easiest way to avoid plagiarism is to cite every source you use in your paper. This means you need to give credit to the original sources where you found ideas, thoughts, or analysis. Every time you use a direct quote, paraphrase (put information in your own words), rephrase, or summarize information from a source, you need to cite the information.
Each instructor can choose how they want you to cite. You will follow a style guide with specific rules for citing a source. You are most likely to use MLA, APA, or Chicago style guides in your academic writing at JCCC. For more information about these different style guides, visit the Citations page.
Plagiarism is not just a concern when writing a paper. In a variety of technology courses on campus (such as CS, CIS, Web Development, Game Development, etc.), plagiarism is a serious offense and students must work to avoid directly copying another’s work.
Generally speaking, if you use a snippet of code found online or via another source, you need to include the original source in a comment on the assignment. If instructors have other directions about citing sources when working on a coding project, they will specify those instructions. Additionally, you cannot directly copy another student’s code for your assignment, even if it is a group project. You also cannot have another student type out code for you on a project. Both scenarios are examples of plagiarism.
Always check your instructor’s syllabus or Canvas page and ask them about their rules for using code and citing it properly.
Below are scenarios you may find yourself in as a student. Each scenario shows a situation in which a student(s) chooses a path of academic integrity or a path of committing plagiarism. In all situations, students should choose to strive for acting with integrity.
Example 1
Linda is writing a paper on Pride and Prejudice for her Literature class. She is focusing on the famous first line of the novel and wants to incorporate the sentence into her introduction paragraph.
Academic Integrity: “It is a truth universally acknowledged” that the opening line of Pride and Prejudice sets a satirical and playful tone for the rest of the novel (Austin 1).
Plagiarism: It is a truth universally acknowledged that the opening line of Pride and Prejudice sets a satirical and playful tone for the rest of the novel.
Example 2
Tony and Dan are in the same programming class and are working on the same assignment. They sit side-by-side on different computers wile working through the assignment.
Academic Integrity: Tony and Dan discuss their progress and occasionally consult one another on difficult parts of the assignment. Though they helped each other talk through different concepts and problems, they each did their own, original work on the assignment.
Plagiarism: Tony and Dan split up the assignment. Tony works on half while Dan works on the other half. When each student is finished, they copy the section the other student worked on and turned in the assignment.
Example 3
Graham works full-time and realizes on Friday night that he has a paper due in his Psychology class on Sunday night. He has done some research for the paper but has not started writing.
Academic Integrity: Graham works ALL weekend to write his paper. He is exhausted and it may not be his best work, but he turns in a paper that is his own on Sunday night ahead of the deadline.
Plagiarism: Graham doesn’t want to sacrifice his weekend to write a paper, so he buys a paper online. He changes some of the details, but largely leaves the paper untouched. He turns in the paper he bought online ahead of the deadline.
Example 4
Lydia has a discussion board response due tonight in her Psychology class, but she works late and is worried about getting the discussion post submitted on time.
Academic Integrity: Lydia stays up late working on her assignment but gets the discussion board post submitted before the deadline.
Plagiarism: Lydia reuses a discussion board post from another Psychology class she has taken. The topics are similar, so she copies and pastes her previous response into the discussion board and submits the assignment.