Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas in written or oral presentations and passing them off as your own. If you are charged with plagiarism, you can fail an assignment, fail a course, or be suspended from the University.

This can include:

• Passing off the work of others as your own.
• Submitting an essay that you have entirely (or partially) copied.
• Using wording from published material (including material found on the Web) without using quotation marks or citing the source.
• Paraphrasing (rewriting in your own words) ideas or information from published or spoken material without citing the source. An exception is information that is common knowledge (i.e. you don’t need to cite well-known scientific or historical facts). You do have to cite claims and you do have to cite statistics.

Common knowledge: facts that do not have to be referenced. Example: Paul Martin was sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada on December 12, 2003.

However... if you went on to list a number of his policies – you would have to reference those facts because they are not well-known and subject to change.

Stats: The source of statistical information must be referenced because numbers change and claims are made based on that information. Example: 46 percent of the population enjoys potato chips. (When was the survey? Who did it?)

Claims: Ideas that require research must be referenced (either the claim itself – or how you came to that conclusion). Example: Verdana is the best font style to use when writing web pages. (Are you an expert? You need credible research to support this statement.)

When in doubt: if you’re not sure if it’s common knowledge or a claim…find a reference and cite it!!