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Encouraging Academic Honesty: Home

Resources for faculty and students on academic honesty . Includes information on Plagiarism, citing sources, and the Heidelberg IRB office

Academic Honesty

“Academic Honesty” means performing all academic work without plagiarism, cheating, lying, tampering, stealing, receiving unauthorized help from another person, or using any source of information that is not common knowledge.

(West Hills College)

 

Here at the Berg, we value honesty and integrity as fundamental to learning and personal success.The University values honesty and integrity as fundamental to learning and personal success. All members of the University should respect the integrity of another’s work and recognize the importance of acknowledging and safeguarding intellectual property. (Student Handbook)

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's words, art, data, or ideas  as your own.​ Cutting and pasting is so easy that many people plagiarize without meaning to and sometimes even incorrectly citing things can lead to accidental plagiarism!

You might be Plagiarizing if you...

  • Submit someone else's work as your own.
  • Buy a paper or project from another student or a website.
  • Copy and paste phrases, ideas, and sentences from a variety of sources to write a paper, discussion post, or project, especially if you don't properly credit them.
  • Copy words, art, or data from someone else's work--again without properly crediting the original creator.
  • Resubmit your own previous works as 'new' or original'
  • Giving or receiving unauthorized assistance during homework, quizzes, tests, or examinations.

Consequences

Academic Dishonesty and/or Plagiarism can result in

  • Failing grades
  • Failing courses
  • Academic probation
  • Ineligibility to join student organizations
  • Academic suspension
  • Academic expulsion
  • Revocation of a degree

See the Heidelberg Student Handbook for more information

Tips on avoiding Plagiarism

  • Get into the habit of citing your sources properly- don't wait to format everything correctly the night a paper is due!
  • Understand how paraphrasing works- changing out words doesn't make a sentence or idea your own. Proper paraphrasing requires that you cite the original source, not pass it off as your own.
  • Make sure you have your citation style guide at the ready and if you have questions on citing, ask a writing center coach or your instructor.
  • Don't assume what "common knowledge" is. Not everyone knows the ins and outs of nuclear physics!
  • When in doubt, cite, cite, cite!