19 Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s work as your own.  It is claiming language, ideas, opinions, theories, software code, artistic material, or anything else developed by another person without acknowledging that person as the source of the material.

In the world of cut and paste, it is easy to commit plagiarism and not even be aware of doing so. Regardless of whether it is intentional or unintentional, plagiarism is dishonest, unfair, and unethical.

There are serious consequences for both intentional and unintentional plagiarism. Ignorance is not an excuse. As a student, the consequences of plagiarism can range from the loss of credit for a course to expulsion from school. In the work world, the consequences of plagiarism can range from loss of your professional reputation to loss of your job and destruction of your career. As a student, you should be familiar with your school’s academic integrity policies. As one example, Central Oregon Community College (COCC) publishes the COCC Student Rights and Responsibilities, which spells out the consequences for committing plagiarism at COCC (see the “Academic Honesty” sub-heading in Section C of the Rights and Responsibilities).  Widely known facts can be used without citing the source.

Credit must always be given to others for

• their words, either quoted or paraphrased
• their artistic material
• their research findings, analysis, and conclusions