How to Avoid Plagiarism

To ensure effective learning, the University has established standards that demonstrate concern with academic dishonesty and a responsibility to learners to maintain its reputation. Integral to these standards is a fair procedure for resolving violations of academic integrity. Violations of this policy generally fall into the following broad areas; however, they are not limited to these areas.

1. Plagiarism: All work submitted in a course must be the learner’s own work. The knowing submission of another’s work represented as that of the learner such as copying and pasting to piece together work of other individuals, purchasing papers for submission, duplication – manual or electronic, or paraphrasing with only minor word changes without citing the source. 2. Academic deceit: Fabrication of data or information; falsifying data or information; submission of the same work to multiple courses to include discussion forums. 3. Dishonesty in taking exams: Cheating; using sources not allowed on exams; copying from another individual; having another individual take the exam. 4. Assisting, or attempting to assist, with academic dishonesty.

Academic integrity violation charges may be brought by anyone to include the faculty mentor, administrators, staff, and learner’s peers. When a violation of academic integrity is discovered, the following procedures shall apply:

1. The details will be presented to the faculty mentor. 2. If the faculty mentor determines the violation is credible, they will contact the learner and request an explanation. 3. After receiving a response, or absence a response, from the learner, the faculty mentor may do one of the following: a. Accept the learner’s explanation and close the matter. b. Assign a score of 0 for the assignment and allow the learner to resubmit the assignment correcting the alleged violation. c. Assign a score of 0 for the assignments and not allow the learner to resubmit the assignment. d. Assign a failing grade for the course based on the violation. e. Refer the matter to the Office of Student Affairs and School Dean for appropriate action up to and including dismissal from the University.

Withdrawing or dropping from a course does not excuse the learner from violations of this policy and any of the above listed sanctions may still apply. If a learner is found in violation of this policy CalSouthern reserves the right to review all previously submitted coursework for all courses taken. If violations of this policy are identified in previous coursework the Learner Support Services Department and School Dean will take appropriate action up to and including dismissal of the learner from the University. The learner who is accused of violating this policy can accept the accusation made by the faculty mentor and accept the subsequent consequences or appeal to the Director, Learner Support Services. If the learner appeals to the Director, Learner Support Services, they must submit their appeal in writing to the Director, Learner Support Services clearly stating the reasons the appeal is based on. When their appeal is received a thorough investigation into the allegation will be conducted and all evidence of the violation and in support of the learner’s appeal will be presented to the Academic Committee at its next meeting. The decision from the Academic Committee following the learner’s appeal will be considered final.

Now that you are aware of the seriousness of plagiarism and consequences even if unintended “copying” the smartest and easiest approach is to avoid anything that may even suggest plagiarism. Here are five simple steps to prevent problems: 1. Learn to paraphrase another’s work to use it for your own paper. Take an idea or an author’s words and put the idea and words into your own words. Do not copy more than the same several words together. So, read it first and then restate it in your own words. 2. Citing is another effective way to avoid plagiarism by indicating the author, publication information such as date and page where the original material was sourced. We recommend you follow the APA guidelines for recognizing