Plagiarism Policy: Introduction

Introduction | Plagiarism Defined | Subtleties | Intellectual Boundaries
Public and Private Property | Hearing Your Voice | Traditions of Rhetoric | Think About Alternatives

All students should be familiar with the University's policy on academic integrity. If you've never seen it, you can read the entire policy online (as well as learn about your responsibilities as a student) at the Teaching Excellence Center website. It's a somewhat complicated document, though, and even after reading it you may not understand what plagiarism is or how you can avoid it. And, given the fact that the consequences can be severe (you could be suspended from the University for a minimum of one semester with the notation of "academic disciplinary suspension" permanentally placed on your transcript, not to mention failing the class and having to start all over again), it's crucial that you develop a good understanding of just what plagiarism is.

That's what this page will help you do. Not only will you learn the University's official policy on plagiarism, but you'll also be able to explore some gray areas of this serious academic offense as well. To help you resolve these gray areas, and to help you avoid them in your own writing, we'll look at the underlying issues in plagiarism. Then, you'll learn what makes instructors usually suspect plagiarism, in the process actually learning more about your own writing. Finally, we'll look at some alternatives to plagiarism.

Plagiarism Defined >>