What is plagiarism? This may seem like such a simple question, but a lot of people do not understand what exactly constitutes plagiarism, and the consequences of conducting it. However, in university, plagiarism is just referred to as just one form of academic dishonesty. According to McMaster’s Academic Integrity Policy:
Academic dishonesty is to knowingly act or fail to act in a way that results or could result in unearned academic credit or advantage.
But what exactly is considered to be an act of academic dishonesty?
Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not your own for which credit is obtained
- Improper collaboration in group work
- Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests
- Submitting the same academic work to more than one course
- Aid or abet another student’s academic integrity
- Procure, distribute or receive an examination, test or course materials that are in preparation for an academic assessment (in other words, stealing, distributing or receiving a copy of an the exam, quiz or test before writing it)
- Removing without authorization, academic work (e.g. previous assignments or labs) submitted by other students to the instructor (in other words, stealing another person’s work before it gets marked)
- Altering a grade on academic work after it has been marked, and then using the altered materials to get the recorded grade changed
- Stealing, destroying or tampering with another student’s academic work
- Preventing another student(s) from completing a task for academic assessment
- Failing to take reasonable precautions (e.g. making your computer files inaccessible to others, refusing to send assignments, essays, etc to peers) to protect academic work from being used by another student
- Misrepresenting academic credentials from other institutions or submit false information for the purpose of gaining admission or credits
- Submitting false information or false medical documentation
Now, I know a lot of these you probably had no clue that you could even get in trouble for doing, but that is the exact point of this article. Academic Integrity is a big issue and it is very important to understand everything that constitutes it. So read this over and over, print it out and stick it on your wall…do whatever you got to do to make sure you don’t get in trouble for being academically dishonest.
For more information on academic dishonesty, make sure you visit this website which provides the full Academic Integrity Policy and quizzes to test your knowledge:
http://mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity...n ts/index.html
