Plagiarism Policy

Adapted from the Rudger's University Policy

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense and students are responsible for educating themselves about it.  This site is designed to explain what plagiarism is, why it brings severe penalties in the university, and how to avoid it.

Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that occurs when a person passes off someone else's work as his or her own.  This can range from failing to cite an author for ideas incorporated into a student's paper to cutting and pasting paragraphs from different websites to handing in a paper downloaded from the internet. All are plagiarism.

There are three central things all Euclid students should know about the consequences of plagiarism:

1) Plagiarism is a major academic university offense.  Professors are expected to report all instances of plagiarism to Oversight Council.  Students found guilty of plagiarism will have this entered into their record and may be expelled from the program.

2) Plagiarism in most instances is easy to identify and expose.  The very force that makes plagiarism easy and tempting to some students--the internet--makes its detection easy.  Most professors can locate the source of suspected plagiarism within a few minutes of searching the web. In this context, plagiarism is as much stupidity as it is dishonesty. Students should be aware that all Euclid professors have access to Turnitin.com, a very effective resource for catching plagiarism.

3) All parties to plagiarism are considered equally guilty. If you share your coursework with another student and he or she plagiarizes it, you are considered as guilty as the one who has plagiarized your work, since you enabled the plagiarism to take place. Under no circumstances should a student make his or her coursework available to another student unless the instructor gives explicit permission for this to happen.

Students who plagiarize are likely to be caught, and the consequences will be severe and will include anyone who enabled the plagiarism to take place.
Avoid plagiarism at all costs!

Julie H.C.H. Ryan, Student Plagiarism in an Online World (an excellent article written for faculty members but useful for students to read as well)

Avoid Plagiarism by Citing Sources Properly

Copying someone's work is an extreme and straightforward act of plagiarism.  More commonly, however, students plagiarize without realizing they are doing so.  This generally happens when a student fails to acknowledge the source of an idea or phrasing.  While unintentional plagiarism is generally treated more leniently than intentional plagiarism, it is nonetheless a sign of sloppiness and/or failure to educate oneself about what plagiarism is. The following websites are designed to help you avoid plagiarism.

New Brunswick Writing Program Plagiarism Webpage. A very useful explication of the concept of plagiarism and the subtleties of its application. It recognizes that plagiarism is often unintentional and gives useful hints about how to avoid it.

Information on Plagiarism for Students in Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, by Jon'a Meyer.  Detailed guidelines and advice for Euclid students.

Plagiarism, by Earl Babbie. This short essay by sociologist Earl Babbie explains in simple language why plagiarism is wrong and gives practical advice about how to use (and not to use) a source.  Highly recommended.

Avoiding Plagiarism@Oregon.  This brief webpage from Oregon State University, like Babbie's, gives examples of acceptable and unacceptable uses of sources in student writing.

Plagiarism: A Guide for Students. This brief guide from the Paul Robeson Library provides an excellent quick overview.

In any specific case, if you are unsure about what is acceptable and what is not, the best thing is to ask your teacher.  In general, it is better to err on the side of over-citation than under-citation.