Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of representing someone else's work as one's own.  Many cases of plagiarism are accidental because the student did not quote, paraphrase, summarize, and/or cite correctly.

During your time at Eckerd, you will complete many research assignments. We want to ensure that you understand how to incorporate the works of others into these assignments without plagiarizing.

 Academic Honor Council website outlines more about the Honor Code at Eckerd. Cheating and plagiarism are offenses that strike at the heart of the academic community and are strictly prohibited as set forth by the Eckerd College Academic Honor Code.

"On my honor, as an Eckerd College student, I pledge not to lie, cheat, or steal nor to tolerate these behaviors in others."

Students found in violation of the Academic Honor Code may face failure of the course, suspension or expulsion.

Reasons not to plagiarize :

• Plagiarism erases the author's voice.
  • If you plagiarize, you are claiming the author's ideas and work as your own - effectively stealing the author's voice.
• You cheat yourself by plagiarizing.
  • If you plagiarize, you are cheating yourself of knowledge and the opportunity to be a part of the scholarly conversation.
• You cheat your readers by plagiarizing.
  • When you plagiarize, you deny your readers the opportunity to learn more by not providing proper citations.
• You harm your relationship with your professor(s) by plagiarizing. 
  • A key part of fruitful professor-student relationships is trust - you damage this trust if you plagiarize.
• You harm your relationships with your classmates by plagiarizing.
  • If you plagiarize, your classmates who worked hard on their assignment may resent you.
• Plagiarizing as a professional could ruin your career.

  • Consequences for real-world plagiarism can include: being sued; legal fees; revocation of diploma(s); ruination of career; harm to reputation