What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's work, words, or ideas without giving proper credit or attribution to the original author or source.
Work includes, but is not limited to text, art, music, videos, interviews, lectures, media, or data.
Why should you be concerned with plagiarism?
- Plagiarism is dishonest and unethical.
- Plagiarism violates Medicine Hat College’s “Academic Regulations and Policies” and can result in failure or expulsion. See the excerpts below taken from the Medicine Hat College Academic Calendar 2022/23
How to avoid plagiarism
- Hand in your own work. Do not hand in another person’s work as your own.
- Learn how to use the required citation style. Most citation styles require TWO parts for proper citation: brief in-text citations in your paper with corresponding full citations at the end of your paper.
- Properly cite and seek permission to reuse work submitted in a previous class. Failure to cite your previous work and seek approval from your instructors is considered self-plagiarism.
- Understand good paraphrasing. Rearranging sentences or using synonyms to rephrase an author’s words is plagiarism. Make sure to use your own words and style of writing when using information from sources AND cite the source.
- Give credit for information that you have put into your own words. Even though you have stated the information in your own words, you still must give credit to the source of the information.
- Use quotation marks to indicate copied text. When you repeat another’s exact words, you must use quotation marks to indicate that the information was copied directly from the source.
- Cite as you write. As you take notes or as you write your paper make sure to properly cite every time you use information from a source. DO NOT LEAVE CITING FOR LATER, this practice will lead to mistakes, missing or inaccurate citations. Even though you did not intend to plagiarize, you are responsible for ensuring your work is accurate and complete.
- Keep track of your sources. The first time you borrow information from a source, record the necessary information from the source: author, title, copyright date, publisher, and any additional information that is required by the citation style.
