Plagiarism

As the student guide entitled Academic Integrity puts it, "academic integrity means being responsible for the quality of your work, preparing it honestly and respecting the intellectual community you are part of as a student. It is a core value in all scholarly work." Therefore, submitting work that goes against this core value is considered to be academic fraud.

According to the University of Ottawa's Academic Regulation 14, academic fraud refers to "any act by a student that may result in a distorted academic evaluation for that student or another student." Among other things, acts of academic fraud include plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, unauthorized resubmission, forgery, and helping someone else commit academic fraud.

The Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost offers a clear definition of these acts of academic fraud. For instance, it defines plagiarism as the act of "using words, sentences and ideas from various sources and passing them off as your own by deliberately or unintentionally failing to quote or reference them correctly." Therefore, submitting work that includes elements borrowed from research requires a clear indication of their provenance, both in the text and in the bibliography.

For more information on the proper use of source material, see our online handouts or book an appointment with one of our writing advisors.