What is Academic Integrity? Let’s looks at a definition from the University of Oklahoma: (http://integrity.ou.edu/students_guide.html)
Academic integrity means honesty and responsibility in scholarship. Academic assignments exist to help students learn; grades exist to show how fully this goal is attained. Therefore all work and all grades should result from the student’s own understanding and effort.
What is academic misconduct?
- CHEATING AND UNAUTHORIZED MATERIAL ON EXAMINATIONS AND OTHER ASSIGNMENTS
- IMPROPER COLLABORATION
- ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT IN ONLINE COURSES
- SUBMITTING THE SAME ASSIGNMENT FOR DIFFERENT CLASSES
- FABRICATION, FORGERY, ALTERATION OF DOCUMENTS, LYING, ETC., IN ORDER TO OBTAIN ACADEMIC ADVANTAGE
- ASSISTING OTHERS IN ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
- ATTEMPTING TO COMMIT ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
- DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, HACKING, ETC.
- INTIMIDATION AND INTERFERENCE WITH INTEGRITY PROCESSES
- PLAGIARISM
There is basically no college-level assignment that can be satisfactorily completed by copying. All writing is that all written assignments show the student’s own understanding in the student’s own words. That means all writing assignments, in class or out, are assumed to be composed entirely of words generated (not simply found) by the student, except where words written by someone else are specifically marked as such with proper citation. Including other people’s words in your paper is helpful when you do it honestly and correctly.
- IT IS PLAGIARISM TO COPY WORDS AND PRESENT THEM AS YOUR OWN WRITING.
- It is the worst form of plagiarism to copy part or all of a paper from the Internet, from a book, or from another source without indicating in any way that the words are someone else’s. To avoid this form of plagiarism, the paper must BOTH place the quoted material in quotation marks AND use an acceptable form of citation to indicate where the words come from.
- IT IS PLAGIARISM TO COPY WORDS, EVEN IF YOU GIVE THE SOURCE, UNLESS YOU ALSO INDICATE THAT THE COPIED WORDS ARE A DIRECT QUOTATION.
- Simply documenting the source in a footnote or bibliography isn’t good enough. You must also indicate that the words themselves are quoted from someone else. To avoid this form of plagiarism, put all quoted words in quotation marks or use equivalent punctuation.
- IT IS PLAGIARISM TO COPY WORDS AND THEN CHANGE THEM A LITTLE, EVEN IF YOU GIVE THE SOURCE.
- Putting someone else’s ideas into your own words so it’s not a direct quotation is called “paraphrasing.” Paraphrasing is fine when you cite the source and indicate the new expression is actually your own. When it’s not — when the expression remains substantially similar to the source as a whole or in one of its parts — it’s plagiarism. Even if not specifically prohibited by the instructor, “writing” a paper by copying words and then altering them violates OU’s basic assumption about writing and may easily result in a charge of academic misconduct. To count as “your own words,” your paper must be so significantly different from your sources that a reasonable reader would consider it a new piece of writing. If it’s not — if “your writing” is substantially similar to somebody else’s where individual variations would be expected, it’s plagiarism.
- EVEN IF YOU EXPRESS THEM IN YOUR OWN WORDS, IT IS PLAGIARISM TO PRESENT SOMEONE ELSE’S IDEAS AS YOUR OWN.
- It is plagiarism to present someone else’s original arguments, lines of reasoning, or factual discoveries as your own, even if you put the material in your own words. To avoid this form of plagiarism, cite the source.
- THE RULES AGAINST PLAGIARISM APPLY TO ALL ASSIGNMENTS.
- Take-home tests, comprehensive examinations, “review of the literature” sections of theses or dissertations, and all other assignments are subject to these rules. There is basically no college-level assignment that can be satisfactorily completed by copying.