Students plagiarize when they do not credit the sources of their work—the words, information, ideas, or opinions of others. Plagiarism takes several forms, and the most blatant forms of plagiarism involve large-scale copying, or cutting and pasting, from books, articles, websites, text generators, online essay repositories, or other sources. Most students who blatantly plagiarize know that they are being dishonest. Plagiarism in all its forms deserves a response from the student’s instructor and from Calvin.
Yet some plagiarism results from carelessness. When you copy words, phrases, or ideas from other texts and integrate them with your own words, you must carefully distinguish between your own words and those of the other texts. The Written Rhetoric program at Calvin explains that students plagiarize if they submit as their own work any of the following:
1) An entire essay written by someone else. This form of plagiarism includes, for example, essays purchased from web sites that specialize in academic essays, essays published on the web or in other sources, and unpublished essays written by others. It also includes replicating a response from an AI text generator without acknowledging what that generator provided.
2) The exact words of someone else without quotation marks around those words. This form of plagiarism can include copying exact wording (from books, articles, websites, AI text generators, and other source) without quotation marks even if a student provides documentation in the Works Cited section.
3) A paraphrase of someone else’s words without documentation. This form of plagiarism includes reordering or replacing someone else’s words while keeping the main idea or the central information.
4) A summary of someone else’s words or ideas without documentation. This form of plagiarism includes using some, few, or even none of the original words to reproduce a shorter version of some or all of someone else’s ideas or text.
5) Undocumented use of information from someone else or from an AI generator. In this kind of plagiarism, a student takes information that she found in a particular source and presents it as her own knowledge or as common knowledge. A student must document information that appears in one or only a few specialized sources, is the work or idea of a particular person, or represents a controversial stance on a topic. A student need not document information that is common knowledge.
6) Undocumented use of information that someone else or an AI generator has collected. A student must document research aids such as web-based “research” services and annotated bibliographies.
7) The sequence of ideas, arrangement of material, pattern of thought, or visual representation of information (images, tables, charts, or graphs) from someone else. This form of plagiarism includes any of these textual features even if students present the ideas or information in their own words.
How is Plagiarism Addressed at Calvin?
Calvin University takes plagiarism very seriously. Faculty members must report all cases of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, to the Office of Student Conduct. Students who plagiarize face serious consequences, which can include a failing grade on the assignment, a failing grade in the course, and suspension/expulsion from the university.
Please see the Student Code of Conduct (Section VI) for more detailed information about Calvin’s policy on academic dishonesty and the judicial procedure.