The Research Process: A Step-By-Step Guide: 5a. Plagarism

Even if you paraphrase or put something into your own words, you still need to cite the original source.

In the College of Coastal Georgia 2010-2011 Student Handbook, under Student Responsibilities and Rights on page 10, the Conduct Code states, students who enroll at college of Coastal Georgia are expected to conduct themselves responsibly and to pursue their studies with integrity. Listed below are your academic responsibilities found on page 11.

ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITIES
• A student shall not take passages or ideas from another and use them as his/her own.
• A student should consult his/her instructor on proper documentation methods.
• A student shall not receive or give assistance not authorized by the instructor in the preparation of any academic assignment such as an essay, laboratory report, or examination.
• A student shall not obtain or attempt to obtain in an unauthorized manner any material pertaining to a class or course work.
• A student is prohibited from selling, giving, lending or otherwise furnishing to any unauthorized person the questions and/or answers to any examination or test known to be scheduled to be given at a subsequent date.
• A student shall not fabricate, forge, or falsify information or citations.
• A student shall not cheat or be dishonest in any way in his/her academic work.
• Academic dishonesty cases will be dealt with through the Academic Appeals Process. Appeals of decisions made by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, which recommend

Think plagiarism is just an issue for college students writing research papers. Think again!  Check out these real world examples of celebrities being accused of plagiarizing.

• Ann Coulter
• Barack Obama
• Coldplay
• Jessica Seinfeld

Posted with permission from Washburn University.

To avoid plagiarizing someone else words or ideas, make sure you:

• Paraphrase the original text into your own words. Be sure you are not just rearranging phrases or replacing a couple of words.
• Use quotation marks around text that has been taken directly from the original source.
• Cite every source of information you use to write your paper unless it is common knowledge or the results of your own research. This includes facts, figures, and statistics as well as opinions and arguments.