Psychology & Mental Health

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work without giving him or her credit.  “Work” includes text, ideas, images, videos, and audio. In the academic world, you must follow these rules:

• When you use the exact words, you must use quotation marks and provide a citation.

• When you put the information into your own words, you must provide a citation.

• When you use an image, audio, or video created by someone else, you must provide a citation.

Plagiarism could happen with a sentence, a paragraph, or even just a word!

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. Penalties can range from failing the assignment to failing the course to being expelled. See the VWCC Student Policies webpage for more information about academic misconduct and penalties.

Don’t procrastinate.  

Students who rush make careless mistakes, such as forgetting to include a particular citation or not having all the information needed for documentation. Students under pressure may also make poor choices, such as not documenting sources and hoping the professor won’t notice. Believe us–your professor will notice, and you won’t like the long-term consequences.

Take careful notes.  

You need to be very clear in your notes whether you are writing down word-for-word what you found somewhere else, or if you are jotting down your own idea. You should take down all the information you will need to create your citations.

Cite your sources.

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or share an unusual fact, tell your reader where the information came from.

Document at the same time you draft.

As you begin drafting, prepare a correctly formatted Works Cited page that captures the information also needed for in-text citations. Insert citations into your paper as you are writing it. If you cite-as-you-go, you won’t consume time looking up information all over again at the end, and you make it less likely that you will misidentify or omit necessary documentation.

Get comfortable with the required citation style.  

The most commonly used citation styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian.  While they share many similarities, they also have differing requirements in regards to what and when to cite.

Ask your professor.

If you’re not sure about citing something, check with your instructor. Ultimately, they will be the one grading your assignment–or bringing you up on plagiarism charges. Instructors may use various technology tools to identify plagiarism & cheating in their courses.