Student Guide to Understanding Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?

The easy answer is using someone else’s ideas as your own and not giving credit to the original author. There are different ways to plagiarize:

  • Using direct quotations from another source without citing it.
  • Paraphrasing someone else’s ideas without acknowledging the source.

Changing a few words of someone else’s work and passing it off as your own.

What if I plagiarize?

If an instructor determines that you have plagiarized, there are some options he or she can take. As outlined in the Student Handbook, you may be subject to:

  • A zero or “F” on the assignment in question;
  • An “F” in the course;
  • Other academic penalties as outlined in the course requirements and expectations;
  • Disciplinary action as specified in Student Rights and Responsibilities;
  • Any combination of the above.

Procedural due process, including the right to appeal, is to be followed in making a determination of whether academic misconduct has occurred .

See also Student Code of Conduct

Avoiding Plagiarism

If you are unsure whether something would be considered plagiarism, it is your responsibility to check with your instructor before the assignment is due.

It is not expected that everyone can write a perfectly researched and well-cited paper. That is why there is help available, such as the UNC Writing Center.

Because different faculty members may have different concepts of plagiarism, you should not assume that what works in one course would work in another. If an instructor questions you as to where you found your material, you might offer notes you have taken, or articles you have read.

It is not worth the risk of trying to fool your instructors. Keep in mind your professors are experts in their field. With the Internet, it is also much easier for your instructors to find out if a paper has been plagiarized. UNC has a license with safeassignment.com, which is a program that helps identify if plagiarism has occurred.

Examples of Plagiarism

Let’s look at some examples using the following paragraph from the Dean of Students Office:

Original Paragraph:

As long as a student adequately acknowledges his/her sources and as long as there is no reason to believe that the student has attempted to pose as the originator, the student will not be charged with plagiarism even though the form of the acknowledgment may be unacceptable.

Example 1: Unacceptable paraphrase:

There is no reason to believe that a student will be charged with plagiarism as long as the student acknowledges his/her sources and as long as the student has not tried to pose as the original author.

This is unacceptable because:

  1. There is no citation saying where the work comes from.
  2. Direct phrases are used without quotation marks.
  3. Words and phrases have been rearranged to give the appearance that the sentence was not copied verbatim

Example 2: Acceptable Paraphrase

At times, there may be instances where a student’s work seems to be plagiarized. However, if the student made a reasonable attempt at citing the original work and did not try to take credit for the work, the student will not be found responsible for plagiarism (Dean of Students website, retrieved from Defining Plagiarism Page).

This is acceptable because:

  1. The author made an attempt to use his/her own words in paraphrasing the first part of the sentence.
  2. Credit was given to the appropriate source.

For more information on this topic, visit the Dean of Students Website.

Phone number: 970-351-2796