Plagiarism is the act of taking any portion of a published work or another's work and submitting it as your own without giving credit to the original author(s).

Plagiarism is a serious offense because it is dishonest on both a personal level and on an academic level. On the personal level, it shows a dishonest individual and/or one who cannot discipline him/herself to academic undertakings. Academically, it shows that the plagiarist cannot properly research and/or use academic citation.

Post-secondary institutions consider plagiarism a very serious offense. Students who are found to have plagiarized may be asked to leave the university.

The following policy will be applied to anyone who plagiarizes:

1. If the teacher discovers that the student has copied the published or unpublished work of another to benefit the evaluation of the assignment, the assignment will receive a zero. In addition, the Project Leader, Program Coordinator, and the parent/guardian of the student involved will be notified of the incident in writing.

2. If the student is discovered plagiarizing again in the same class, a recommendation will be made to the administration that the student be denied the privilege of continuing in this class and that further disciplinary procedures be considered.

It should be noted that plagiarism can be easily avoided. If a student wants to use a portion of a published or unpublished work to support or enhance what he/she is writing, that work may be used as long as it is cited. Simply by honestly admitting the use of the published or unpublished work and by referring to it in foot notations, there will never be any question about plagiarism. If a student is honest, his/her papers and prose will reflect that honesty.

(Adapted from Evan Hardy English Department)