Academic Honesty, Plagiarism, Citing

Sources
What is academic honesty?
All students are required to uphold the values of honesty, fairness, trust, responsibility and
respect. These are the foundations of teaching and learning and they are the very same values or
principles associated with intellectual property rights and responsibilities.
What does this mean?
It means you must not cheat or try to cheat in any way. It means that you, too, value achievement
when it is honestly, fairly and respectfully earned through hard work. It also means that you must
acknowledge when the ideas, answers, words that you are submitting on an assignment belong to
someone else.

What is intellectual property?

Intellectual Property (IP) refers to creations of the mind. Those creations might be inventions,
literary or artistic works, symbols, names, images, or designs.
IP is divided into two categories:

Industrial property which includes inventions, trademarks, and designs

Copyright which includes literary and artistic works such as an essay, a novel, a film, a
drawing, a photograph, a song

Who can own intellectual property?

Anyone! You dont need to be famous to have created intellectual property and you dont need to
get paid for the item for it to be your intellectual property.

What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism occurs when someone presents another persons intellectual property as if it were
their own.
This can happen in an accidental, nave, careless or reckless way:

I forgot to cite my sources.

I forgot to write down the place where I got the work from.

Or it can be very intentional:

You copy and paste work from the Internet including from ask a question type sites.

You submit an assignment where all or some of the work was done by someone else.

You work together with another person on the assignment and she does half the questions
and you do half and you trade answers.

All of these are examples of plagiarism!

What happens at the ILC if I plagiarize my work?
If you plagiarize your work you will be removed from the course with no refund. You may be
prevented from enrolling again for an extended period of time.
Does every single thing need to be cited?
No. Common knowledge doesnt need to be cited.
What is common knowledge?
Common knowledge is information that is widely and commonly known.
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada.
Torontos Major League Baseball team is called the Blue Jays.
Plants grow through a process of photosynthesis.
World War II happened from 1939-1945.

How do I cite my sources?

May I use an online citation site (e.g. Citation Machine) to create the format of my sources
for my Works Cited or Bibliography page?
Yes. Certain sites work better than others. If you choose to use an online citation site, be sure to
select the proper format (APA, MLA or Chicago Style) and the format of the item that you are
citing (Web page, Web document, journal article, essay, book, newspaper article, etc.) If you used
a website or online article you will cite that differently from a book.
How do I know which format to use?
History, Geography, Social Science, Business, Technology, Art courses use APA format
English courses use MLA format
Science courses use the Chicago Manual of Style
How do I identify the source? Should I use endnotes, footnotes or parenthetical references?
You can use any of these methods unless the lesson says something else. But, if you do have a
choice, use parenthetical references. They are the easiest to do
List the authors name, the year of publication and the page number right after the quotation.

Place them in brackets or parentheses.

Example: The theory was first introduced by John Doe in 1825. (Hern, 2010 p.118)
The first word in parentheses following the quotation is the last name of the author. You put the
rest of the authors name, and the name of the book, article, website, etc. in the Works Cited List
or Bibliography, in alphabetical order.
Some sources don't have an author. Then just use the first word or two of the title of the item.
(History of the John Doe Theory)
If I use parenthetical references, do I still need a Bibliography or Works Cited List at the
end of my assignment?
Yes. Parenthetical References only tell the reader some of the information about your source.
You must include the rest of the information in your Bibliography or Works Cited List.
Will teachers really know I have plagiarized?
Yes.
Remember they are seeing many of the same assignments. Teachers quickly learn where students
go to find material for their assignments. Teachers can recognize language and ideas that dont
seem to be those of a typical student. Assessment tasks often ask you to submit your rough notes
and planning drafts too. For some assignments, teachers wont mark final good copies if no
rough work is provided when asked for.

Good practices for avoiding plagiarism

-take good notes while you are researching
-use quotation marks, even in your rough notes
-cite points, images or anything taken from an online source
-write down the source first and include all the information about that source so you dont have
to go back later to complete a works cited list or bibliography
-summarize and paraphrase in your own words

Practice proper paraphrasing

A paraphrase is a re-statement of the ideas in your own words.
Some good techniques for paraphrasing include:

Combine two or three sentences into one.

Take a technical term and explain it in everyday language.

Write down point form jot notes instead of copying whole sections word for word.

Conclusion

This concludes the online Academic Honesty Module.

Please confirm your understanding

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