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Guide to Plagiarism & Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity | What is Plagiarism? | Plagiarism at NAU | Why Should You be Concerned? | Quotations | Quoting Using APA Style | When to Paraphrase | How to Paraphrase

Why Have Academic Integrity?

In today's world, students are faced with a wide variety of choices. As a member of an academic community, each student defines his or her own learning environment through his or her actions.

The college experience is full of ethical decisions that each of you will make. The consequences of making the wrong decisions can be serious, and can devalue your education--and yourself. By making the right choices, you empower yourself and become a valued member of all communities.

From the NAU Academic Dishonesty Policy:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY means that students and faculty jointly agree to adhere to a code of conduct appropriate to the mutually trusting relationship that must exist between student and teacher. Those values will not allow either to take credit for work not their own, or to be deceitful in any way, or to take unfair advantage of other students or of each other, or to be other than totally truthful and straightforward in all that they do.

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What is Plagiarism?

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, to plagiarize is to "take (ideas, writings, etc.) from (another) and offer them as one's own."

Plagiarism can be deliberate or unintentional. NAU students are responsible for knowing what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

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Plagiarism at NAU

At NAU, plagiarism is a form of misconduct known as "Academic Dishonesty." Check the Academic Dishonesty appendix of the NAU Student Handbook and you'll see the various forms: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, fraud and facilitating academic dishonesty. All are subject to disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct.

Faculty members aren't the only ones who can initiate allegations of Academic Dishonesty. Students and in some cases administrative personnel can do so as well.

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Why Should You Be Concerned About Plagiarism?

At NAU, plagiarism is a form of Academic Dishonesty subject to disciplinary action as stated in the NAU Student Handbook.

What kinds of disciplinary action? Consequences can vary from a verbal reprimand to a failing grade in a course to suspension and dismissal from school.

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What a Quotation Is and When to Quote

What a Quotation Is
A quotation is one way to credit another's work. Use a quotation:

For example:
According to Helen Taylor, "When an entity as complex as a human being is being assessed by another human being, reliability may not always be possible."

When to Quote
According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, you must quote the following word for word:

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How to Quote Using APA Style

According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, "always provide the author, year, and specific page citation in the text, and include a complete reference in the reference list."

Short quote

When: 40 words or less

How: Incorporate the quote into your text, and enclose it in double quotation marks.

Here are two examples of how to quote a short piece appropriately:

Example 1
Harmon (1993) found that "evidence shows that DARE students had more beliefs in prosocial norms, more attitudes against substance abuse, more assertiveness and more positive peer associations than the control group" (p. 232).

Example 2
She stated, "Evidence shows that DARE students had more beliefs in prosocial norms, more attitudes against substance abuse, more assertiveness and more positive peer associations than the control group" (Harmon, 1993, p. 233).

Long quote

When: 40 words or more

How: Create a block quotation

  1. Go to a new line
  2. Start a new block of text that is indented around 5 spaces from the left margin (like a new paragraph)
  3. Double-space the block quote
  4. Do not enclose the block itself with quotation marks. (If there is a quote within the block, enclose the quote with double quotation marks.)

Here is an example of how to quote a longer piece appropriately:

Example

Harmon (1993) found the following:

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What and When to Paraphrase

What a Paraphrase Is

Quoting is one way to give credit to someone else's words and ideas. Paraphrasing is another.

According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, when you paraphrase, you "summarize a passage or rearrange the order of a sentence and change some of the words."

A paraphrase is usually about the same length as the original text. A summary is when you paraphrase and also use fewer words to convey the same meaning.

Example:

Original sentence:
According to Boyd and Dwyer (1998), "A potential barrier to offering nutrition services in the dental office is that dental patients may fail to recognize the significance of overall nutritional status and food habits to their overall health" (p. 31).

Paraphrase:
Dental patients may not see the connection between their nutritional status and food habits to their health in general, and this may make it more difficult for a dental office to provide nutrition services (Boyd & Dwyer, 1998, p. 31.)

When to Paraphrase Instead of Quote

Paraphrase:

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How to Paraphrase

You may find paraphrasing a convenient and valuable skill, but it takes a little practice to do well.

A good paraphrase:

How to Paraphrase a Source (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center) gives general tips on how to create a good paraphrase.

Successful and Unsuccessful Paraphrases (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center) gives examples of good and bad paraphrases.

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This page last modified January 28, 2008

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