Information Literacy : Plagiarism

Plagiarism is to use the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own words or ideas. (Merriam-Webster.com)

• When creating your own works remember to acknowledge (cite) work that it not your own. 
• The Logan Library has resources to help you correctly cite the sources you use.
• Your professors have access to tools to help detect and identify plagiarism.

Tips to prevent unintentional Plagiarism:

• Don’t copy from books, newspapers, journals, presentations, databases, websites, speeches, pamphlets, poster projects, dissertations, personal interview, blogs, email, etc. and not cite it.
• Don’t borrow someone else’s text, words, statistics, charts, tables, graphs, spreadsheets, images, photos, graphics, computer code, experimental data files, etc. and not cite it.
• Don’t borrow someone else’s ideas, arguments, opinion, theories, or conclusions and not cite it.
• Don’t summarize or paraphrase someone else’s work without citing it.

III: Academic Misconduct

Actions by an Instructor

1. Academic Misconduct includes actions such as cheating, plagiarizing, or interfering with the academic progress of other students.
2. In such cases, the instructor may choose to give reduced credit or no credit for work dishonestly done. This may result in a lowering of the student's course grade.
3. In addition, the instructor may appropriately levy some further penalty, since the student has violated the Institute Code. Penalties include but are not limited to a warning, (further) lowering the course grade, failure in the course, or turning the case over to the Institute Rules and Discipline Committee.
4. The student has the right to appeal the instructor's decision to the Institute Rules and Discipline Committee. The instructor should inform the student of this right of appeal at the time the decision is discussed with the student.
5. In all instances, the instructor shall submit a brief written report of the case and any action taken to the Dean of Students, the Head of department, and the student. In case a penalty course grade (F, D, or D+) has been assigned, a copy of the report shall also be submitted to the Registrar. These reports will be kept on file until the student graduates, at which time the records will be destroyed. If the case is successfully appealed, the records will be expunged unless the student requests that they be retained. For example, they may be retained in an instance where the course grade has been lowered by the instructor but the Committee subsequently exonerated the student. (See: "Hearings Before the Institute Rules and Discipline Committee: Committee Actions.")

Rose-Hulman Student Handbook