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Plagiarism: Plagiarism

This guide offers information on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

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What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the fraudulent presentation of another person's ideas or work as the student's own, or the presentation of the student's previous work as new and original.

-Lindenwood Student Handbook, 19-20

Plagiarism has severe consequences. As stated in the Academic Honesty policy in the LU Student Handbook:

A first offense of academic dishonesty may result in a reduced or failing grade on the work/test or possible failure of the class. A second offense by an undergraduate student will lead to failure of the class, and a third offense by an undergraduate student will result in expulsion from the University. Graduate students are expelled after the second offense.

 

To ensure these don't happen to you, use the resources throughout this guide to understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

Examples of Plagiarism

  • Submitting a paper that has been written by another writer.
  • Submitting a paper you wrote in one class for another assignment. (yes, you can plagiarize yourself)
  • Appropriating the words of another writer as if it were your own, without enclosing the words of others in quotation marks. Whether a phrase, a sentence or two, or a full paragraph, taking the words of another without giving credit is plagiarism.
  • Paraphrasing material without giving the source of information. Any time you do not give another writer credit for her/his ideas, you have plagiarized.
  • “Falsely paraphrasing”: a student only changes some of the words but the language is still too close to the original. 
  • Copying from the Internet, from a web page, or from another person/writer without giving credit. Materials on the internet are not “up for grabs.”
  • Using the ideas of another without using footnotes and other citations to give the original source credit.
  • Collaborating excessively with another person, tutor, student, friend, former teacher…anyone.

UCLA, Preventing Plagiarism

The MAIN issue with plagiarism is not giving credit or citing your source. Just know, if it is not your idea, thought, or own words, you need to cite it. When in doubt, cite!