METHODS

OF
RESEARCH

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 CHAPTER 1
ACADEMIC
HONESTY/PLAGIARISM

Objectives:

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

• Define Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

• Identify common examples of Plagiarism.
• Identify strategies for avoiding Plagiarism

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 Academic Honesty

Academic honesty is as crucial and meaningful as communication of knowledge

in an educational institution. Students are taught to produce their independent work and
if they are using any information from the other sources, then they are expected to cite
those sources; in other words, when information is used that is somebody else’s work,
than credit should be given to those persons by citing their reference (Whittier, n.d.).

Academic honesty means doing honest, truthful and sincere work in school or
college. Students are encouraged to write their own concepts and ideas; when they are
using information that has not been produced by themselves and has been produced by
other people then they should cite the source; exactly the same words of the author
used should always be quoted as well as cited. Research materials should always be
presented truthfully and accurately and at the end of the manuscript, sources should be
listed under a bibliography (Marquette University, 2005).

Academic honesty means making use of one’s own feelings, ideas, thoughts,
knowledge and information in writing papers, articles, taking examinations,
presentations, group discussions and other activities that take place within the
classroom setting during the course of academic learning. Students may use
information from internet, books and other documents that are not produced by them, in
that case, they are expected to give credit to those sources by citing them; whose
sources they are using in their performances and not citing sources is referred to as
plagiarism (Howard Community College, 2010).

The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity

Educational institutions and society values academic integrity; academic honesty

or integrity provides foundation for a vibrant academic life, promote scientific progress,
and prepare students to become responsible citizens of the country in which they
reside.

There are five fundamental values of academic integrity: (Keohane, 1999).

1. Honesty – Academic integrity demands truthfulness, fairness, accuracy and
overall justice in academic institutions, performance as well as the behavior
patterns of the students and the staff members; honesty should be clearly
seen in learning, teaching, research and services. The staff members are
expected to make provision of accurate and truthful examples and other

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 information when instructing and students are required to produce honest
work which is accurate and precise.
2. Trust – In order to promote academic integrity there should be an
environment of mutual trust, communicating freely with each other and
enabling everybody to be well trained in order to achieve their potential goals.
People who are part of an educational institution do largely support trust in all
kinds of dealings with each other such as student evaluation, guidelines for
assignments etc. Fieldwork is also a part of higher learning; hence students
are expected to provide truthful information to their teachers.
3. Fairness – There should be prevalence of fair attitude, dealings in all
interactions as well as transactions that are carried out in an academic
institution; each and every member of an institution have to participate in
ensuring fairness in all kinds of functions; justice, equality and
evenhandedness are the factors that should be taken into consideration in
ensuring academic integrity.
4. Respect – In order to reward both teaching and learning on the part of the
instructors and the students respectively, it is essential to show as well as
have respect for everybody else’s opinion, ideas, thoughts, feelings and
performance. The staff members and students must be respectful to each
other in gaining knowledge, testing new skills, achieving success and learning
from failure.
5. Responsibility – Every member of the academic institution is responsible for
upholding the academic honesty of scholarship and research; being
responsible means taking care or looking after some tasks, it also means not
attempting to make any errors, despite pressure from peers, loyalty,
compassion or insecurity. If an individual has taken up an assignment, then
he has to hold the responsibility for its completion before the closing date.

Academic Honesty Policy

All the colleges and academic institutions in all the countries across the world expect
their students to be honest in their work and performance; no matter whether the
institution is well recognized or not, if they provide education to the students, they
expect them to be truthful, honest and fair in their conduct and performance. When
students seek admission into an educational institution, they agree to comply with
academic integrity and perform up to the academic standards. They also understand
that failure to abide by honest performance would lead to academic and disciplinary
action, including expulsion from the academic institution. It is also an obligation upon
the students that they may report all kinds of violations of academic honesty which they
may witness to the staff members (St. Petersburg College, 2011). It is an ethical

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obligation to adhere to the Honor Code and all students are required to abide by
academic honesty policies:
1. The policy is that before registering for the semester classes, they have to agree
that they would be honest in their performance and any kind of failure would lead
to disciplinary action including expulsion from the academic institution. If the
students do not cite the sources adequately, if they do not properly do their field
work when they are expected to do and seek someone else’s assistance to do
the work for them, these are considered to be violations of academic honesty
policies.

2. Another policy is that violation of academic honesty shall lead to discipline up to

expulsion; legitimate communication between the instructors and students is not
violating the academic honesty, when students are obtaining certain ideas and
thoughts from the instructors, they are expected to formulate the ideas, language
and the sentence structure by themselves in their work, they have to make sure
that it is their own and not of the instructors. Violations of the Honor Code and
Policies are included to be cheating, plagiarism, bribery, misrepresentation,
conspiracy, fabrication, collusion, duplicate submission, academic misconduct,
improper use of computers, calculators or technology, improper online usage and
blended course use, disruptive behavior, inappropriate conduct, theft, right to
confidentiality, unethical and unprofessional behavioral traits, speaking in an
impolite manner, and showing discourteous attitude; all these factors indicate
violation of academic honesty policies (St. Petersburg College, 2011).

Sigficance of Maintaining Academic Honesty

When one is looking towards academic honesty, the main aim is that it gives the
reflection of the individual. Honesty and integrity in academic performance determines
who you are and what kind of human being you will become, in other words, academic
performance frames the mindset, personality as well as the behavioral traits of an
individual; it also determines what kind of employee an individual will be when he will
get engaged in a job and what kind of a social community member he will become in
future, in other words, the kind of participation that he will render towards the society
(Bentley, n.d.).

Within the society, planning, measurements, methods have been formulated in

schools, colleges, universities and departments to maintain academic honesty and
integrity. All individuals in today’s world desire to be successful, accomplish the
formulated goals and objectives; society, globalization, emergence of technology and
advancement and all the social standards are making an attempt to drive people to work

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towards the best of their abilities and accomplish the desired goals and objectives,
whether it is a good score in one’s academic performance or a good job opportunity.
This drive has led to the emergence of a different viewpoint within the mindsets of the
individuals regarding honesty and integrity (Bentley, n.d.).

Students pursue online courses and take online classes as well and in this case,
they do not have to sit in the classroom and listen to the lecture, but they have to make
use of technology and do their work by themselves through online sources. In other
words, some students are not completely aware of plagiarism and academic dishonesty.
When students get enrolled into the program, it is the job duty of the instructors and the
university or school staff members to educate students about the concepts of academic
honesty, plagiarism and academic dishonesty policies. The academic institutions are
not only expected to communicate to the students about the academic honesty,
plagiarism and academic dishonesty policies but they also have to communicate to
them the policies and codes and students are expected to implement these codes
accurately and precisely. Acts and commitments of academic dishonesty traits have to
be dealt with immediately and fairly (Bentley, n.d.).

In all cases, areas and fields, intellectual honesty makes provision of the clearest
path to accuracy, knowledge, facts and understanding of an academic goal. Schools,
colleges and educational institutions expects from all the students of all the programs,
levels, age groups to be academically honest in their performances. Just as acts like
theft, stealing, killing, attacking and abusing are considered to be illegal and demand
severe penalties, in the same way cheating, plagiarizing, fraud are viewed as illegal acts
in an academic institution and demand for a penalty, including expulsion from college.
Academic honesty is extremely vital to attain ones desired goals and objectives in life
and career. All students across the globe no matter what religion, caste, class, race,
creed, ethnicity or socio-economic background they belong to, are expected to take up
this responsibility that they would support their academic performance through honesty
and integrity (Example Essays.com, 2012).

Plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs when you, intentionally, or due to your own negligence, use
someone else’s words, ideas, or data without proper acknowledgment. To avoid
plagiarism, whenever you use exact wording of another author in your written text, you
must enclose the words in quotation marks, whether it be a paragraph, a sentence, or
merely an aptly expressed phrase. You must then acknowledge the source in a precise
and complete citation. It is not enough to cite the source without indicating by quotation

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marks that the words are someone else’s. It is also not enough to change one or two
words in a sentence; that does not make it your own sentence.
Another common error is to use another person’s ideas or data without indicating
the source. Even if you paraphrase the ideas, you must give credit in a citation to their
originators. In oral presentations, the original source also should be given proper credit
in the form of internal source references and in bibliographic entries. While all of the
above applies primarily to plagiarism from texts, scholarly articles, review, handbooks,
encyclopedias, etc., it also applies to the use, either wholly or in part, of another
student’s paper.

The use of another student’s ideas or words on an examination or report

obviously constitutes plagiarism and is taken seriously by the faculty. Similarly, giving
your ideas or words to another student to represent as their own also constitutes
plagiarism. It is a form of cheating; indeed, it is a form of theft. It indicates dishonesty
and a lack of personal integrity, which may affect not only your grade, but also how your
professors perceive your academic commitment.

Plagiarism as Seious Offense

Plagiarists are seen not only as dishonest but also as incompetent, incapable of
doing research and expressing original thoughts. When professional writers are
exposed as plagiarists, they are likely to lose their jobs and are certain to suffer public
embarrassment, diminished prestige, and loss of future credibility. The same is true of
other professionals who write in connection with their jobs, even when they are not
writing for publication. The charge of plagiarism is serious because it calls into question
everything about the writer’s work: if this piece of writing is misrepresented as being
original, how can a reader trust any work by the writer? One instance of plagiarism can
cast a shadow across an entire career.

Schools consider plagiarism a grave matter for the same reason. If a student fails
to give credit for the work of others in one project, how can a teacher trust any of the
student’s work? Plagiarism undermines the relationship between teachers and students,
turning teachers into detectives instead of mentors, fostering suspicion instead of trust,
and making it difficult for learning to take place. Students who plagiarize deprive
themselves of the knowledge they would have gained if they had done their own writing.
Plagiarism also can undermine public trust in educational institutions, if students are
routinely allowed to pass courses and receive diplomas without doing the required work.

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 Common types of Plagiarism

There are different types of plagiarism and all are serious violations of academic
honesty.

1. Direct Plagiarism
Direct plagiarism is the word-for-word transcription of a section of
someone else’s work, without attribution and without quotation marks. The
deliberate plagiarism of someone else's work is unethical, academically
dishonest, and grounds for disciplinary actions, including expulsion.

Examples: Direct Plagiarism

Word-for-word borrowing from an unacknowledged source, whether intentional or

not.

Example 1:

Source:
Student Writer A:
"In ages which have no record these islands
Long ago, when there was no written
were the home of millions of happy birds, the
history, these islands were the home of
resort of a hundred times more millions of
millions of happy birds; the resort of a
fishes, of sea lions, and other
hundred times more millions of fishes,
creatures whose names are not so common;
sea lions, and other creatures. Here
the marine residence, in fact, of innumerable
lived innumerable creatures predestined
creatures predestined from the creation of
from the creation of the world to lay up a
the world to lay up a store of wealth for the
store of wealth for the British farmer, and
British farmer, and a store of quite another
a store of quite another sort for an
sort for an immaculate Republican
immaculate Republican government.
government."

Writer A has included a word-for-word passage from his/her source without any
indication that it is a direct quotation.

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 Example 2:
Source:
Student Writer A:
"In ages which have no record these
Long ago, when there was no written
islands were the home of millions of happy
history, these islands were the home of
birds, the resort of a hundred times more
millions of happy birds; the resort of a
millions of fishes, of sea lions, and other
hundred times more millions of fishes, sea
creatures whose names are not so
lions, and other creatures. Here lived
common; the marine residence, in fact, of
innumerable creatures predestined from
innumerable creatures predestined from
the creation of the world to lay up a
the creation of the world to lay up a store of
store of wealth for the British farmer,
wealth for the British farmer, and a store of
and a store of quite another sort for an
quite another sort for an immaculate
immaculate Republican government.
Republican government."

Writer A has included a verbatim passage from his/her source and has failed to
indicate it's a direct quotation.

2. Self-Plagiarism
Self-plagiarism occurs when a student submits his or her own previous
work, or mixes parts of previous works, without permission from all professors
involved. For example, it would be unacceptable to incorporate part of a term
paper you wrote in high school into a paper assigned in a college course. Self-
plagiarism also applies to submitting the same piece of work for assignments in
different classes without previous permission from both professors.

3. Mosaic Plagiarism
Mosaic Plagiarism occurs when a student borrows phrases from a source
without using quotation marks, or finds synonyms for the author’s language while
keeping to the same general structure and meaning of the original. Sometimes
called “patch writing,” this kind of paraphrasing, whether intentional or not, is
academically dishonest and punishable – even if you footnote your source!

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 Examples: Mosaic Plagiarism

Mosaic plagiarism occurs when a writer reuses a mix of word, phrases,

and ideas from a source without indicating which words and ideas have been
borrowed and/or without properly citing the source.

Example 1:
Source:

"In ages which have no record these

Student Writer B:
islands were the home of millions of
"Contrast the condition into which all these
Only two years later, all these friendly
friendly Indians are suddenly plunged now,
Sioux were suddenly plunged into new
with their condition only two years previous:
conditions, including starvation, martial
martial law now in force on all their
law on all their reservations, and constant
reservations; themselves in danger of
urging by their friends and relations to join
starvation, and constantly exposed to the
in warfare against the treacherous
influence of emissaries from their friends
government that had kept faith with neither
and relations, urging them to join in fighting
friend nor foe.
this treacherous government that had kept
faith with nobody--neither with friend nor
with foe."

Writer B has borrowed with slight variations an uncited phrase from his/her
source. As it's written, the passage would not constitute a paraphrase (even if
Writer B had acknowledged his/her source) because it contains keywords from
the original source that do not appear in quotation marks.

Example 2:
Student Writer B: Source:

Only two years later, all these friendly
Sioux were suddenly plunged into new
conditions, including starvation, martial
law on all their reservations, and constant
urging by their friends and relations to join
in warfare against the treacherous
government that had kept faith with neither
friend nor foe.
"In ages which have no record these
islands were the home of millions of
"Contrast the condition into which all these
friendly Indians are suddenly plunged now,
with their condition only two years previous:
martial law now in force on all their
reservations; themselves in danger of
starvation, and constantly exposed to the

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 influence of emissaries from their friends
and relations, urging them to join in fighting
this treacherous government that had kept
faith with nobody--neither with friend nor
with foe."

Writer B has borrowed an unacknowledged key word from his/her source, and
has not indicated the omission of words with an ellipsis.

4. Accidental Plagiarism
Accidental plagiarism occurs when a person neglects to cite their sources,
or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source by using
similar words, groups of words, and/or sentence structure without attribution.
Students must learn how to cite their sources and to take careful and accurate
notes when doing research. Lack of intent does not absolve the student of
responsibility for plagiarism. Cases of accidental plagiarism are taken as
seriously as any other plagiarism and are subject to the same range of
consequences as other types of plagiarism.

Common Examples of Plagiarism

Plagiarism can take a number of forms, including buying papers from a service
on the Internet, reusing work done by another student, and copying text from published
sources without giving credit to those who produced the sources. All forms of plagiarism
have in common the misrepresentation of work not done by the writer as the writer’s
own. (And, yes, that includes work you pay for: while celebrities may put their names on
work by ghostwriters, students may not.)

Even borrowing just a few words from an author without clearly indicating that
you did so constitutes plagiarism. Moreover, you can plagiarize unintentionally; in hastily
taken notes, it is easy to mistake a phrase copied from a source as your original thought
and then to use it without crediting the source.

Examples of activities considered plagiarism include:

• Submitting someone else’s work as their own.

• Taking passages from their own previous work without adding citations.

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 • Rewriting someone’s work without properly citing sources.
• Using quotations, but not citing the source.
• Interweaving various sources together in the work without citing.
• Citing some, but not all passages that should be cited.
• Melding together cited and uncited sections of the piece.
• Providing proper citations, but failing to change the structure and wording of the
borrowed ideas enough.
• Inaccurately citing the source.
• Relying too heavily on other people’s work. Failing to bring original thought into
the text.
• Citing a source you did not actually find and read
Avoiding Plagiarism

1) Often, you need to use sources in your assignments

In your assignments, sometimes you are required to use sources to support your
points. You can use sources to find facts. A fact is information that can be
verified by checking a published source, like a book or article, to confirm it is true.

For example:

When writing assignments, ask yourself:

• How do you know it is true? Where did you find the information?

2) All sources need a citation

A citation tells us wherein a source you took words or ideas from. For example,
the fact above came from page 27 of an article written by a person named John
Hardy in 2016. Therefore in an assignment, you must include these details in a
citation in the sentence:

According to Hardy (2016) “property taxes in Canada are used to pay for local
city services such as public transportation, roads, waste removal, and policing”
(p. 27).

3) All citations need a reference

The citation above tells you three details about the source:
• last name of author,

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 • year
• page number

Your instructor needs this information to find the original source you used (for
example, the article’s title). A reference listed at the end of your assignment gives
this information.

4) Copied words need to be in quotation marks and cited

When you copy the exact words from any source, such as a print book, article, or
anything on the Internet, you must put quotation marks (“...”) around the copied
words and include a citation.

For example: Canada’s income tax was first introduced “about 100 years ago, to
help pay for the First World War” (Hardy, 2016, p. 27).

5) Your assignment cannot be made up of just quotations

You can have quotations in your writing, but usually you will need to include your
own writing that explains and/or analyzes the sources you use. If you need help
with this rule, read your assignment instructions carefully and ask your instructor
for more directions.

6) Paraphrases need to be cited

A paraphrase is putting someone else’s ideas or facts into your own words (to do
this, you use a source to write your sentence but do not copy word for word).
Since you took the ideas or facts from a source, you must also include a citation.
A paraphrase does not need quotation marks but still needs a citation.

7) Change the words AND sentence structure when you paraphrase

To paraphrase, you must change both the words and the structure of the
sentence. For example:

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8) Unless it is group work, do not share your work with other students Unless it is a
group assignment, allowing another student to use your work is plagiarism.
Always read directions of your assignments carefully: if it does not say it is a
group assignment, do not share your work with classmates.

9) Do not copy the work of other students

For any type of assignment or situation, including papers, presentations, and
exams, do not copy the work of other students.

10) Do not re-use your own work

It is plagiarism to re-use an assignment or parts of an assignment by submitting
them in a different assignment. This includes assignments in the same course
and different courses.

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 Video links:

What is Plagiarism?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk1pq8sb-eo
What is Academic Honesty?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWR-6qNi-U
Types of Plagiarism
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW3BzAG8aaY
How to avoid Plagiarism?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsFcU1PH_8E

Reference:

• https://bowvalleycollege.libguides.com/academic-
honesty/citation
• https://bowvalleycollege.libguides.com/ld.php?conte
nt_id=32735828
• https://www.whitman.edu/dean-of-students/student-
handbook/student-rights-and-
responsibilities/academic-dishonesty-and-plagiarism
• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-
collegesuccess-lumen1/chapter/academic-honesty/
• https://www.bowdoin.edu/dean-of-students/judicial-
board/academic-honesty-and-plagiarism/common-
types-of-plagiarism.html
• https://style.mla.org/plagiarism-and-academic-
dishonesty/
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323794645
_Academic_Honesty/link/5aab2b49a6fdccd3b9bbfab
c/download

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