JL MC 592: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication

Academic misconduct is considered a very serious breach of ethics. You can find out detailed information to help you recognize and avoid being accused of plagiarism on this LibGuide.

Simply put plagiarism is using someone else’s ideas or words without giving them credit. As students and scholars we frequently incorporate the research and writings of others into our own work. It is critical that we give credit to those who produced the information we are using to complete or further our scholarship.

Make sure to give credit when you:

• use or restate opinions, ideas, or facts generated by others
• incorporate a graph, image, map, statistics, or other data produced by others
• when you quote someone else's spoken words or writing
• when you paraphrase someone else’s spoken or written words

Try this quiz developed by Cornell University to see how well you  Recognize and Understand What Plagiarism Is. 

Plagiarism: the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language, creative works, and/or thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work, as by not crediting the author (Adapted from: Dictionary.com)

Paraphrase: a restatement of a text or passage giving the meaning in another form, as for clearness; rewording. (Source: Dictionary.com)

Intellectual property: Law - property that results from original creative thought, as patents, copyright material, and trademarks. (Source: Dictionary.com)